How to Create A Video Production Budget

The Big Question

One of the first questions our clients ask about video production is “how much will it cost?” This is often an extremely difficult question to answer because every video is different. Here’s an example we often use to help explain this.

Imagine you want to build a house. So you go to a contractor and ask how much it will cost. They won’t be able to tell you at your first meeting because there are a lot of things they don’t know. For example, how many floors do you want? What kind of materials does it need and what kind of quality? How many square feet will it be? How many windows are there and how big are they? Will the house be built on flat ground or on the side of a hill? All these things factor into the cost of a new house.

It’s the same with video production. Though in this case the questions are different. We ask if your video needs a voice over. Does it require actors? Do you need help with your script? Do we need to find a location to film your video? How many hours will be needed to film it? How many graphics do you need? What style of animation would you like? The list can go on and on.

Now That That’s Out of the Way

We know you’re reading this article to get an answer to your question so let’s get started. You’ll need to identify the who, what, why, and where of your video content. The more information you know, the easier it is to know what your budget needs to be.

The Strategy

Determine your goals. Are you looking to raise awareness with commercial production, improve engagement with animation, raise investment capital with a personalized message, or earn more conversions with a demonstration? Knowing your goal will help you decide which type of video you need.

The type of video you need determines the assets, equipment and skill set required to make the video. Animation and special effects can be simple, or they can require designers, artists and animators. A demonstration video may need an actor or actors, a voice over artist and a lot of planning. Commercial productions may need actors, locations, vehicle rentals and more.

The quality of your video content will have an impact on your budget as well. Do you want the least expensice actor available, or someone with more experience? Do you need a beautiful location, or a simple room in your office? If you’re creating an animated explainer video do you want to use readily available template graphics or custom, personalized graphics?

Where you’ll use the video determines the format(s) and, to some extent, the length it will be. You should know beforehand if your video will be seen on YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, television, social media, etc. Different video platforms have different requirements for video. In addition, if you plan to use your video on multiple platforms, the multiple formats and various cuts required may require additional work that will increase the cost. And generally speaking, longer videos cost more.

Once you have the strategy, move on to the creative assets by determining what you already have on-hand to give the production team (images, previous video content, style guide, branding elements, etc.), what assets the production team will need to create themselves, and how soon you need your video.

The Script

The script for your video can be a good indicator of how involved your video production will be. Generally speaking, the more complex the script is (one interview with a team member vs. having multiple actors, filming in your office vs. needing a location) the more the video will cost to produce. The same goes for the length of the script. If your video is going to be 5 minutes long, that will be more expensive than a 1 minute video.

The Final Step

Talk to your video production partner and give them all the information you can. Use the steps above to round out the scope of the video. They know the costs for all aspects of video production - talent, location, time needed for filming, animation, etc. - and will be able to put together a quote based on what you tell them because once you have an idea of everything you need, the price will start to become apparent.

We always tell clients that the scope and budget is a little fluid until all the final decisions are made. For example, clients may want us to hire actors to portray certain roles in their project. But they may decide to use team members instead of actors to cut down on costs. And because there are so many things that go into video production, there are a lot of things that can be tweaked. Don’t be afraid to work with your creative partner agency to arrive at a number, and a scope, you feel comfortable with.

2025 Video Trends: What Your Brand Needs to Know

Why We Share Video Production Trends With You

Every year Storyboard Media Group compiles a list of the trends we see in video production and digital content strategy. This is important for us to know as a video production agency. But when we work with our clients we do more than just create content. We help guide them through the content creation process so that they get the best return on the time and investment. That’s why we think it’s important for our clients to see these trends. With this knowledge they can inform their video marketing and stay as relevant as possible in an ever-accelerating marketplace.

In today’s post we are merely putting all the trends here for you to see. But keep an eye on our blog because we’ll be diving deeper into each of these trends with dedicated blog posts for each. In fact, we’ve already started. You can read about short-form videos (trend #2) here.

Short-Form Video Content: The Ultimate Guide for Businesses in 2025

In our 2025 Video Trends report, Storyboard Media Group called out short-form video content as something brands need to really pursue to stay relevant, boost e-commerce sales, and to have a strong, continuing online presence. This content is a powerful tool that businesses can use to reach a wider audience and engage with potential customers. And because it has become more and more essential for businesses to create content that is easily consumed and shared on social media, short-form videos are the perfect solution. For busy brands and marketing teams they are quick and easy to make. For audiences they are quick and easy to watch, and can be highly effective in capturing attention.

Short-form content can be made quickly, on-the-fly, and without a ton of planning.

What Are the Benefits of Short-Form Video Content?

There’s not a lot of downside to short-form videos unless you expect them to do all the marketing work you need done. They have their place as attention-grabbers, but they don’t usually go too deep. If you use them correctly they can provide a lot of ROI and engagement.

• They are (relatively) easy to create: Short-form videos can be produced quickly and easily, even with a limited budget. You’re not really telling big, tall and intricate stories with short-form content. You’re creating “bites” to get the attention of viewers. The ease of creation and short length of these videos means you can produce a lot of them and maintain a continuous online presence.

• They make it easy to test your messaging: Because short-form content is quicker to create you can be as creative as you want to be. Have fun, experiment with different formats, play around with different visuals. See what resonates with your audience and then latch onto that and go full-steam ahead.

• Effective marketing tool: Short-form videos are a great way to quickly gain attention on social media. And although short-form videos have a short shelf life, they can be a useful way to promote your longer-form content. When viewers see your shorter videos they become interested in investing more time getting to know you and your brand. In essence, short-form videos lead viewers to your more in-depth content.

• Targeted messaging: Short-form videos should be very specific in the information and visuals they provide. For example, while an About Us video for your brand might be two minutes long and include multiple interviews across different locations, tell viewers all about your brand’s history and mission, and introduce your team and what they do, short-form videos might be a 30 second look at your product being used. It could also be a 15-second clip of your Founder talking. They are used to deliver concise, impactful visuals and messages.

• Messaging NOW/ASAP/STAT: Because short-form content is quick to create, they’re an excellent way to announce things at a moment’s notice. This could be a new product, a new change in service, a sale or a message from your company’s president. They may not be in-depth and complex, but they’re very similar to opening your window and shouting down to the street. People will hear and see you, and you get your point across. However, we don’t suggest you open your window and start yelling out at the people on the street.

How Can Your Brand Use Short-Form Video Content?

This very simply created video provided customers a quick look at the many features of a client’s vest.

Like anything else, you need a plan. Even though this content is quick and easy to make, you’re probably going to create a lot of it. So go into the process like you would any other marketing or sales project and create outlines. What do you want to accomplish? Who are you trying to reach? What type of content do you want to create and why? Here are some ways brands can successfully use short-form videos.

• Boost Your E-Commerce: Short-form videos are perfect to quickly showcase your product on selling sites. They don’t have to be mega-productions, but they should look really nice especially because you’re showing off your product and you want people to buy it.

• Make Product Teasers: These types of video are made of quick cuts showcasing a new product's features with upbeat music. Imagine a smartphone launch video with close-ups of the camera, sleek design, and someone using it seamlessly. Your teaser can use mysterious clips to hint about an upcoming release to build anticipation. For example, a fashion brand could reveal glimpses of a new collection with dramatic lighting that only partially shows the pieces, but gives the audience enough to know that they want to know more.

• Show Your Viewers Behind-the-Scenes (BTS): Make content about a day in the life at your company that showcases your team and culture. This could be a fun montage of employees working, collaborating, and having fun. A video like this should be (mostly) unscripted and inspired by your team itself. You can also show the making of a product, and highlight the craftsmanship and process. A bakery could show the process of making bread from start to finish, with close-ups of kneading dough, the oven, and the final product.

• Create How-Tos and Tutorials: These videos are meant to be quick and to the point. We once had a client with a coat that had all kinds of utility uses, and we created a video showing a person wearing the coat and doing quick mentions of all its uses. We later created a longer video with graphics, call outs, voice over and more. But the original short video was something the client could use immediately and it got viewers interested to learn more.

• Create Customer Testimonials: These are short and snappy reviews from satisfied customers. There’s almost nothing more effective than a happy customer sharing their positive experience with a product or service in a video for your brand to use. Testimonial videos show that you have clients who are willing to take the time and effort to speak on your behalf because they’re so happy. If you have a customer who seems willing to do this for you, just ask them to record something on their phone (in vertical mode). It’s quick and easy for them, and a gold mine for you.

• Make Before and After Videos: These are almost like testimonial videos but no one needs to talk on camera. Just showcase the impact of your product. For example, skincare companies show clients’ skin before and after using their product. This is also a great way to have User-Generated Content (UGC) which is another trend we’re following in 2025.

• The All-Important FAQ Video: Answering common customer questions in a visually engaging way is a great use of short-form video content. A tech company could create a short video explaining how to reset a password or troubleshoot a common issue. These videos don’t mess around. They get right to the solution of a frequently asked question. You can also address concerns or misconceptions about your product or service. An example of this is a sustainable clothing brand answering questions about their ethical practices, use of materials and the level of waste they create.

• Event Highlight Videos: Use this type of video to recap key moments from a conference, workshop, or launch party by creating a series of short clips showcasing exciting moments and highlights from the event. You can also tease your upcoming event with snippets of speakers and/or expected activities.

Our Tips for Creating Short-Form Video Content

We already mentioned earlier in this post that you need to develop some kind of plan before you embark on the process of creating this content. It’s always practical to make sure you get a return for the work and effort you’re putting in. But in addition you should:

• Keep it short and sweet: Videos should be no longer than 60 seconds. If you really want to be bold, go for 10 seconds per video.

• Use quick visuals: For the most part, it’s a good idea to change up what viewers see in your video. For example, if someone on your team is talking to the camera have them moving through your office. If they’re outside have them move around so the audience can see the surroundings. If you’re showing off a product, show the product off in multiple settings.

• Add music or sound effects: Whether we’re talking about by Hollywood movies or brand videos, audio helps to enhance the viewing experience for your audience. There’s a saying that good audio is 90% of good video content. We think it’s true. So take a little time when deciding what music to add to your finished content.

• Include a call to action: Don’t forget this one…tell viewers what you want them to do after watching your video. This can be said by whoever is in the video, it can be a clickable button, and it can be in the description of the video.

• Don’t Be Afraid To Be Different: With all the content creation tools available to businesses it’s easy to create content that stands out. Think outside the box. Have fun. Be weird (if this fits your brand). Try to make content that looks different from your competitors. Use stop-motion video. Use slo-mo video. Use cartooning to look different. The point is to be creative even if your content is short.

How Does Storyboard Media Group Help Brand Create Short-Form Video Content?

Need a steady stream of videos without the in-between hassle? Is your team is small, or already busy with other projects, and you need a little help getting content out the door? Or maybe you want your short-form content to look a little more professional. Our flexible month-by-month plan puts you in control. You tell us how many videos you need each month, and we handle the rest. It's like having an on-demand content creation team at your fingertips, ready to bring your ideas to life. Whether videography or photography we’ll work with you to develop the plan and messaging, and then we deliver the content for you to use. We’ll even create a calendar that shows what content will be created at which point in each month so your team can build around that.

Is Your Company Missing Out? The Importance of Recruitment Videos

What Exactly Is a Recruitment Video?

A good recruitment video is a multi-purpose video content tool your organization can use to attract potential candidates for current and future job openings. This type of video showcases the company culture, values, and benefits of working on your team. Recruitment videos often highlight sincere employee testimonials, office environments, and key responsibilities associated with the roles being advertised.

When you create a recruitment video you’ve already set yourself apart from your competitors who may be going for the same potential candidates. Your video can help make your brand shine as candidates weigh their options.

In addition, you can use this same video content to showcase your brand to potential clients. It can be used on your website, on social channels, and anywhere else your customers may find you.

What Do You Need For a Good Recruitment Video?

First, you need to have employees on camera talking about their work, the company and the culture. Like any good testimonial video (a recruitment video is essentially an internal testimonial video) the interviews should be lite, sincere and done by team members who genuinely want to be on camera and are happy to talk about their jobs. Let them be honest and real, but give them guidelines about the goal of the video and the boundaries of what they should be talking about.

And don’t forget to have a range of employees from different backgrounds and different departments. You should showcase employees from the management team and your general workforce. This shows potential candidates that you are all on the same team, and that the messaging is consistent from top to bottom in your organization.

Ensure brand recognition and a sense of location with products or branding in the background of your recruitment video.

Second, you need to showcase the facility or location where the job is taking place. Set up your interviews to take place in an interesting (but quiet) location in your building. Show employees at work. If they interact with clients on a daily basis, make sure to include this in the video. If one of your interviewees works in the warehouse, film them in that environment.

Third, include footage of employees interacting with each other whether that’s during work or during lunch. Capture honest interactions and conversations. Recruitment videos need a high level of genuine footage to attract the right candidate. People are smart and will see through anything that is highly constructed to look a certain way.

What Is the Best Kind of Recruitment Video?

If your team is customer-facing, make sure to include some footage of them working with clients. One of our clients runs the largest personal fitness company in New York City and a huge portion of their work deals directly with the public.

The answer to this really depends on the type of business and team you have. Some of our clients pride themselves on being a fun team. So for those clients we highlight people having fun at work (not a bad idea for any recruitment video actually). Other clients see themselves as more technical or technology-forward. So we make sure to capture those scenes for them, and the interviews focus on that important fact. And still others are just straight out over-the-top different. In that instance we used puppets that acted as employees and shot them in the location doing routing jobs and giving puppet testimonials.

It’s extremely important for you to decide, in advance, what you want your message to be and how you want that message to come across. Don’t be afraid to be honest, serious, silly or technical based on your company’s culture and identity.

The overall aim is to provide a vision that resonates with prospective employees and enhances your brand image. By effectively communicating what sets your organization apart, your recruitment video can significantly improve the quality and the quantity of applications your business receives.

6 Easy Steps to Develop Your Video Marketing Strategy

Creating a successful video marketing strategy is the most critical step in developing videos that make an impact. Your strategy will be the blueprint that ensures you’re creating the best, most relevant videos to meet your business goals every time. It will save you time, money and headaches and help you end up with digital content that works for you and provides ROI.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

1. Video goals

2. Target audience

3. Topics

4. Timeline

5. Creative

6. Budget

Video goals

Why do you want to create video content? This may be the most important question to ask right from the start. Do you want to attract new clients, give potential customers important information for decision making, and convince them to make a purchase or inspire advocacy for your brand. You might want a video you can use to raise investment capital.

Before you begin your video marketing strategy, it’s important to know how each video will help you achieve these goals.

You’ll likely have more than one goal spread across multiple videos. That’s where a content calendar can help you determine how many and how often you need each type of video. It can also help you figure out where the videos will be used and when.

Target Audience

Once you’re clear on the goal, you’ll need to define the audience you’re targeting. What do you need your audience to do (what is the call-to-action), think, or feel after watching your video? If you can answer that, you have a solid foundation.

If you know your audience well – their business challenges, pain point, needs, or desires – you’ll be able to create a video that speaks directly to them. Creating a video specifically for your target audience will make it much more relevant and actionable to them, and therefore increase its effectiveness.

Who is it for? Consider age, industry, location, language, income, title, etc.

What is the purpose? Think about where this video will live in your buyer funnel stages: Will it be used for awareness to draw viewers in for more information, education to help them understand what you’re offering on a deeper level, at the point of purchase, or after purchase to increase loyalty and advocacy (think: a customer who has purchased from you and you’d like to include a video in a follow up email campaign)?

Where will they see the content? Will this video live on your company website and/or social media, be streamed at a live event, shared privately on a Zoom call, etc. Each platform where your content will be seen might have its own requirements for video content.

The audience should inform every decision you make, from the colors, location and fonts you might use to the channel that you share your video on and more. 

Creativity and Types of Videos

With your goals determined and your audience persona created, you’re well on your way to a sound video marketing strategy. When deciding the creative direction for your video, you’ll need to give your audience what they need so they can do, think, feel, or act in a way that will advance your goal.

Awareness: What kind of content do you need? You may need a video to demonstrate a problem your audience has and provide a solution they may not know about. This could be a demonstration video. Perhaps you have a live webinar coming up and want to include a video explaining what the webinar is and who it’s for. A short, fun animated video could work for this.

Consideration: Your audience may already know about you but they’re deciding between brands or providers. In this research phase, you’ll want to show them why your product or service is the best. A product video or explainer video might be a good choice. If you create a product video, don’t forget to make it look amazing in each and every shot.

Conversion: They’re ready to make a purchase and just need a final push or reminder to do so. Prove why they should choose your product or service over the competition by giving them testimonial videos or animated product reviews to convince them.

Timeline

The best-laid plans in the world can fall apart if you can’t achieve them within your timeline. A strategy planned well in advance can help ensure that you’ll have enough time before product launches or significant seasons to prepare your video.

When developing your timeline, consider the approvals your video will have to go through and how much time each will need. You should also try to identify 1-3 people on your team who are key stakeholders and can make final decisions all throughout the project lifecycle.

When planning, consider a separate timeline for each phase of the process: Strategy, production, distribution and others you might have.

Budget

Having everything above outlined in your strategy will be a good starting point for understanding your budget needs. This will give you a good indication of how much time it will take, the location, props, etc. You’ll know what you will do in-house and what you’ll need to outsource to your production company.

As every good girl and boy scout knows, failure to plan is a plan to fail. So make sure you have a solid video marketing strategy in place before you begin production. It will save you time, money and help ensure you’re creating videos that perform well for your goals.