How Much Does Video Production in Brisbane Cost?

When it comes to investing in video content to promote your Brisbane business, event, product, or service, it’s important to plan ahead.

You’ll want to decide what you’re filming, where and when you’re filming, who’ll appear in your videos, whether you need to hit any important dates or deadlines, and, of course, how much you’ll need to budget for the project.

As you begin to plan, one of the first things you may be wondering is how much does video production in Brisbane actually cost?

To answer this question – and to help you ensure that you’re comparing apples to apples if you get several video quotes – we’ve put together this guide to explore the price of video production in Brisbane.

What are video production costs based on?

Before we discuss specific pricing, it’s important to understand what you’re being charged for when you pay for video production in Brisbane.

For any video production quote, there are several variables that will inform final pricing.

Below are some of the most common items you may find included in your video production quote:

Time spent filming
Number of cameras, camera operators, and sound recordists while filming
Time spent editing
Equipment costs (some companies bill this separately; others include it with other pricing items such as time spent filming)
Travel and location costs
Work from other professionals (e.g. script writers, animators, graphic designers, voiceover artists, actors and actresses)
Number of editing revisions or time spent on editing revisions
Pre-production work (e.g. time spent meeting with you before production starts)

Typical pricing in Brisbane

In Brisbane, most video production companies will charge you an hourly rate that covers all, or some, of the items we just discussed.

Rates from professional videographers tend to range from $100 to $400 an hour.

Obviously, this is quite a price range! So, what’s the difference?

Most of the difference in hourly pricing from different Brisbane video companies can be attributed to variations in four different areas: the experience and skill level of those involved, the number of staff involved (e.g. one camera operator or two), the quality of the equipment being used (some cameras cost as much as luxury cars), and whether or not you’re also relying on work from other professionals (e.g. animators or actors).

But that may still leave you wondering: Is bigger necessarily better? And does cheaper still offer quality?

How to compare pricing

Keeping all this in mind, here’s what you should be looking for when getting – and comparing – quotes for video production.

Know what’s included

Before you do anything else, make sure you know how many production hours you’re receiving. You should also ask for an itemised list of other expenses such as voiceovers and the other extras we discussed, and you should confirm how many editing revisions are included and how that’s being charged.

This ensures you have the necessary information to know whether you’re comparing metaphorical apples to apples, or whether there are substantial differences between the inclusions for each of the video production quotes you’ve received.

Compare like for like

If you have two or more similar quotes, look at the overall cost and inclusions for video production from each supplier.

For example, let’s consider two hypothetical quotes for a video that includes two hours of production (filming) time. Company A’s quote may include the two hours for on-site filming, plus an hour for editing, and two revisions – a total of four hours’ work. Company B may be charging you for eight total productions hours, because they’re also billing for time spent setting up and packing away when they film and for pre-production (e.g. liaising with you and analysing your brief).

Company A may charge a higher hourly rate of $200 an hour, but is ultimately offering a lower total cost to Company B’s $150 an hour, which is charged for eight hours. Both are essentially offering you the same outcome, but one is more expensive.

Compare and weigh tangible differences

The example above presumes two comparable quotes. However, in many cases, the video production quotes you receive may not be 100% comparable. Instead, you may need to consider and weight the benefits of additional services or inclusions.

For instance, if Company B’s quote included two camera operators in addition to everything else we described, you’d no longer be comparing like for like. Instead, you need to consider whether the benefit of an additional camera operator (and hence camera angle) would justify paying a higher total price, or if this would be an unnecessary extra based on your needs and goals.

Compare intangibles

Of course, as we initially discussed, production time isn’t the only variable you should consider when settling on a price.

It’s also vital that you judge the quality of the end product you’re going to receive, which will depend on the experience and skill of your videographer, and the quality of the equipment they use.

The best way to do this is to look at the portfolio of the video production agency you’re considering employing. This will give you a good idea of the quality of their productions, and whether this quality is up to standard for the quality you need – and the price they’re charging.

Take initiative and save

While we always recommend investing in professional video production rather than DIY, that doesn’t mean your business’s video marketing has to cost you an arm and a leg!

Before you shell out for anything, make sure you take a few simple steps to keep your costs down.

To begin with, take the time to research the market and gather a few different quotes, then compare them following the steps we described above. So long as you ensure you’re comparing like for like, the simple act of shopping around in this way can save you big $$$.

Another way to save is to do as much of the preparation as you can for your videos. For example, take the time to develop your own concepts, brief, and storyboard, so you aren’t paying your video production company to do that. If you’re a good writer, you can also write your own script (or at least draft it) and if you have an enthusiastic team in the office, you can organise for your own staff to appear (or act) in your videos.

The more you take care of these sorts of tasks, the less you’ll pay, without compromising on the benefits of investing in professional video production.

Your next video

So, there you have it.

Now you have a fair idea of the price range for video production in Brisbane, and how you can compare quotes and take other steps to make sure you get maximum return on your video investment.

If you want to invest in video marketing for your business, Starlight Media can help.