Not every brief matches its budget.

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Sometimes we have to just make it work, and be hyper-conscious of all the costs involved and how they contribute to the finished piece.  If your brief has designs for champagne but a budget for prosecco, rather than writing the concept off as unworkable, we're here to help rethink the approach of bringing your brand to screen (and achieving your ambitions!) without breaking the bank.

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We're often trying to stretch the production budget to its fullest to ensure that our clients get the absolute best quality work -- and that frequently requires some creative problem solving and a "back to basics" approach. This means drilling down to the core of an idea, and working out how to separate the essential elements from the “nice to have” elements.

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Creating commercial videos is always a balancing act involving many factors and variables. You want to produce top quality work that you can be proud of, while staying within a predefined fixed budget. If you’re asking yourself, “So how do you do it?” we’ve got some food for thought.

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Deliver the best, whatever the budget

A quick internet search will reveal that there are plenty of people out there who subscribe to the idea of quantity over quality. There can be a temptation to try and create a finished product for as little money as possible. That’s not entirely the wrong approach, but there’s an important proviso: You want to create work that improves brand perception whilst staying within budget. We need to articulate your message clearly and underpin your wider campaign. With anything that you create, you have to ask “how’s it’s going to add value?” A video that’s produced on a shoestring budget can still be a waste of money if it doesn’t do what you want it to. 

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No matter the budget, any work that we take on is always completed to our high standard. The only difference is the scope that budget allows. But while some projects with big budgets can washa away problems with money, other times it’s important to be agile and find clever solutions without devaluing the end product. We understand that.

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Within your production budget for a piece of video content are a large number of aggregate components. Some of these, such as covering the cost of equipment hire, models and editing suites, may seem obvious. But other costs aren’t necessarily the first thought when working out the costs involved. These are elements such as storyboarding and pre-visualising the idea to within an inch of its life, the rights to that music track that you think is perfect, or even just that extra two hours of overtime in the budget, necessary to get the perfect shot as the sun sets. And don’t forget the necessary admin to ensure your finished video is cleared, trafficked and delivered ready to broadcast regulations. All of these things cost time and money. Understanding how these contribute to the budget can help us develop a flexible "back to basics" approach that can get the images created in the most cost efficient way.

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How long is a piece of video?

No two videos cost the same. There’s no such thing as a fixed cost for a 10-second, 20-second, or 30-second film. Everything depends on the specifications we’re working to. A five-day shoot in our studio will cost less than a one-day shoot in the Bahamas. A 10-person crew, with specialists and multiple cameras will cost more than a three-person crew with a director, a lighting cameraman and a runner. A premium, in-demand model will always cost more than someone looking to build their portfolio.

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This opens up possibilities for balancing budgets in a way that can achieve more for less. Reducing crew size to a “skeleton” crew and on-screen talent to a minimum means saving on freelance crew. Another way to reduce overheads is to rely on equipment and locations that we have ready access to, and don’t need to hire in. Doubling up on locations, especially if they’re nearby, means saving on travel costs, including catering. It’s even possible to get multiple videos out of one shoot, so long as the additional pieces of footage are planned ahead of time. A large part of the cost of a video is getting the shoot up and running. Once in play, if we can make more than one video out of the footage.... (time permitting) we can find ways to add extra value to your production budget.

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Not everything is possible on every budget. We will, however, work with clients to explain the compromises and benefits that accompany every decision. We are cost efficient in everything we do, and will also be proactive about helping to find bespoke alternate solutions when an idea is proposed that is unfeasible on a certain budget.

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We feel that video production is an investment, and we want our clients to be positioned to benefit from that investment as best they can. Paragon Pictures is built on customer relationships and in order to make them good ones, we have to be able to produce results. We’re confident that we do exactly that every day. And a big part of that job is making sure we're optimising whatever production budget we have to create great work for everyone involved.

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If you'd like us to take a look at a brief for you, get in touch and we can talk through your project requirements.

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