Nowadays companies promote their products and services through a lot of media like videos and animation. This is one of the most important marketing gigs to competing with other competitors. Companies that have live-action videos about their services tend to have an upper hand on those who don’t.
Live-action videos can be a real solution for you if you want to see a spike in your sales. But, filming a live-action video isn’t very easy. You’ll find a lot of difficulties shooting one if you’re not experienced. Also, your budget will have to make a lot of adjustments and you’ll end up costing way higher than you anticipated.
You’ll think that the live-action video production companies are bagging all of your money for no reason. But, that’s not how it works. A live-action video has a lot of aspects that you don’t think of generally but has its own expense.
Keeping in mind all the aspects, the cost of a live-action video can be around $5000-35000. It can also go up to $50000-60000 if the project is more ambitious.
I know you’ll be very mad right now looking at the cost. But there are also some cost-cutting techniques to have a great live-action video within your budget. The solution is to hire a video production agency that will be creative and budget-friendly.
We’ll break down the live-action video-making process to give you an idea about the steps and how the money is spent overall.
Concept
A live-action video needs a framework of ideas that you want to convey with it.
The concept is something that will keep people engaged with the video. It’s not one of the most costly aspects of a video but is a very important part of the pre-production. Creating a concept from scratch can consume a considerable of time.
And we all know that,
Time is money
The more time it’ll take on the overall production, the more it’ll cost.
Just developing the concept of a video can cost around $500 – $2000.
Scriptwriting
After you’re done with deciding the concept and making a framework, scriptwriting is next which is a very important part. A good concept should be done justice with a good script.
A good script will increase the chances of people liking the video and being interested in your services. So, a good scriptwriter should be put to work to make your concept work.
A good scriptwriter may demand $500-$1500 (or more) for writing a decent script.
Speaking of scriptwriters, Bizexplainer video has an amazing team of scriptwriters that will help you to increase your business conversion rate up to 64%.
Sound and Background Music
Sound and background music is also an important part of a live-action video.
Sometimes a video demands appropriate music. It plays a vital role in making the people engaged with the idea and making an impact emotionally. Buying or creating unique music tracks and other sound effects for your video costs a lot of money.
You can also use free music but that will only take you so far. In front of people of this generation, the potential of your video will be limited.
Pre Production
Location
Your concept and script will need a perfect location for the video. It can be a studio or an outdoor location. Whatever you choose to go with it will need money to rent a suitable space for your shooting.
If you decide to shoot outdoor, you’ll need permission from the local authority. This can also involve money depending on the location. If you don’t get permission there is a possibility that the authority will sue you and you’ll end up spending more money!
Sometimes ideal location doesn’t exist. So, you’ll have to custom-build everything you need from the scratch. That costs a lot of money for obvious reasons.
Making fake walls, curtains, light sources, setting off other elements of the set costs a big chunk of money. But, if your production company is well experienced and have their own flexible sets the process can become less costly.
The cost of a location could be around $500 – $5000.
Artist
Professional artists don’t come for free. The number of artists you need will vary according to your script, but the cost of hiring professional artists is quite significant in making a live-action video. The process of taking the audition, screen tests also costs a lot of money and consumes a lot of time.$500 – $3500 should be your artist budget.
Insurance
You may get annoyed when you see this point but getting insurance of the place you are going to have a shoot is also an important part of making a live-action video!
This can easily cost about $500 – $1000.
The list is getting longer isn’t it?
Wardrobe and Props
Your actors will need to put up costumes as the storyline demands. The wardrobe plays a big factor in making a video realistic and aesthetic. Depending on the concept and story, wardrobe can be expensive if the story demands so.
Your storyline will need a lot of props, to begin with. Props are the decoration part of a video that usually doesn’t come to mind. But props can make the environment of a shooting set look more realistic and believable.
Renting these props will also cost you a bit. Though some of them like laptops, desks can be used from your office.
Based on how you cover it, the cost can be around$0 – $750.
Production
Director
A good story needs a good director. This is a truth you can’t deny when it’s about making a live-action video. A director is one of the main key factors in making the idea of a video work successfully. Usually, they take away a big amount of money.
You shouldn’t try to cut the budget on your director because that will be the worst decision to make. A good director can charge $3000-$5000 for a project.
Cinematographer
Cinematography plays the role of silent killer in a video. Your director will have the vision, tone, and visual progression of a video. But, the one who’ll have to pull everything off is a cinematographer.
So, you’ll need a good cinematographer to pull off the task.
It will cost you about $1500-$2000 to hire a good cinematographer.
Sound Engineer
A sound engineer is also an integral part when your video has dialogues, monologues, and music. Anything you make won’t make any sense if the dialogues aren’t synchronized well with the artist’s lip movements.
A sound engineer will ensure to catch all the words and make them pleasing to the ears.
The sound engineer will not come cheap either. They cost around $500 – $1000/day.
Production Assistant
A production manager is the one who provides all the necessary equipment of a set and coordinates with every sector of a video. Arranging electricity on the set, managing vehicles for the production team, taking all the technical help on set, providing food and other necessary services are on his hand.
He also needs some help from his assistants which will cost a bit. A production assistant will cost $250 – $500/day.
Post-production
Editing
Editing is the part where all the hard work behind a video is bound all together.
The editing process can be long or short. It depends on the length of the video, the number of shots in the video, and the amount of footage that needs to be sorted.
But, editing needs a good editing team to work day and night to put everything together. It’s a skill that will have to be paid a handsome amount.
You should estimate $500 – $2000 to be your editing budget.
Color Grading
You’ll again ask questions like -Why is it important to color grade a video?
But, believe me, or not, it’s very important.
It’s sometimes getting impossible to get the perfect ambiance of lighting and mood during the shoot. Sunsets, clouds, hot lights can easily ruin your video. A good colorist will make sure that the video captures the mood of the script and also make it engaging.
This can cost about $500 – $1000.
Other Costs
Your video may often need some graphics to be installed in. So, this graphic work is also a part of your costing list. Doing graphical work in a live-action video alone can cost you around $1500 – $4000.
Also, there are costs of spot boys on the sets, lighting team that aren’t mentioned above. These things may not cost you a lot, but they will also add a fair amount to that cost book for sure.
Final Thoughts
You may get frustrated after reading all of these!
You have already busted the calculator adding all the numbers.
And by now you are thinking about whether you should switch to animation video or not.
The cost of live-action videos is a big reason why so many businesses are still struggling to create engaging content. There are several ways to cut down on the costs, but it’s important to remember that you need to craft your message and use the right tools for what you want to achieve.
You can easily switch to animation videos instead of live-action ones. They are pretty fun to watch and engaging for the audience.
If you are interested you can contact us.
We’ll be waiting to hear from you.
Good luck.
