Low Budget vs. Big Budget

The size of your budget, when considering your next video project, is one of the major factors that have influence over what is produced. You already know the limitations you have with what you can invest, yet do you have a complete understanding of the choices being made to meet your budget, and how each decision plays a role in the quality of your final product in relation to your expectations?

In this article, I hope to unpack the various elements, and bring you up to speed, to help you become more informed when working with a video/film production company. This will then, hopefully, lead you to ask the right questions before you engage, supporting your vision to be met more realistically. The following will look at the more extreme ends of the spectrum to outline each point. I am sure you can then fill the space in between (let’s call it the intermediary budgets). ?

1. STAGES OF THE PROJECT

Often overlooked, are the respective stages a creative company works through to produce your video. With Methodworks, these stages include Discovery, Engagement, Development, Pre-production, Production, Post-Production, Distribution, and Check-In. ?Each stage builds clarity and adds value before moving on to the next. Remember, no matter how clear your brief may be, a video/film production company will have more experience to see where value can be added, and how to achieve your vision. Your budget will affect how many stages you go through.

(Discovery is our secret stage)

Low Budget

All projects will begin with some form of Discovery, as the creative company finds out about your project and what is to be produced. Similar to engagement, all projects will be engaged with before moving forward. It is typically the stages between engaging and production that are overlooked. This means jumping straight into production, without being overly prepared and ready with a clear vision of the execution. Remember, video and film production is a creative process. The more prepared the creative team is, before arriving on location, the better they are likely to perform. A strategy for distribution may also be overlooked (read our blog Why you need a video marketing strategy to discover why marketing is more important than your video alone).

You will still produce a video with a low budget, however, it may not reach its full potential, to achieve the goals you had in mind for its purpose.

Big Budget?

When we talk about big budgets, we are not talking about unnecessary expenditures. Rather, we’re talking about what should be considered, to make an exceptional end product. As discussed above with a low budget, Discovery, Engagement, Production, and Post-Production are the bare minimum to produce something.

The Development stage is a translation process, whereby your vision and brief are fleshed out to ensure both parties are aligned. Research may take place during this stage, but ultimately a proposal and/or treatment is produced and delivered for approval, before moving into Pre-Production.

Pre-Production is the planning stage, and depending on the scope of the project, may include the following contributions from the creative company (outlined in no specific order):

·???????Producing clear and detailed budgets and schedules

·???????Communicating requirements to various departments (e.g. sound, make-up, props, and wardrobe) and assisting with the sourcing of materials/assets

·???????Producing clear shot lists

·???????Producing storyboards (where very technical aspects need visualization cues)

·???????Sourcing and reconnaissance of locations

·???????Legal stuff (such as permissions and insurance)

·???????Producing scripts/screenplays

·???????Sourcing and casting actors/social contributors

·???????Producing previsualization (where very technical) and practicing of set ups

·???????Production of Call Sheets (to ensure information is communicated clearly with all parties)

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Distribution is the stage where your marketing strategy is referred to, and support is offered, to ensure your video/film gets the exposure it deserves.

Check-In is the final stage, whereby we check in to evaluate the results of the project and return with you, not only to ensure we’ve hit the mark but to also seek opportunities for further improvement.

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Summary

As you can tell, not all projects will require the big budget treatment, however, where a project requires certain aspects outlined above, there is a vast amount of value to be added to the result, and so should not be skipped. Your expectations should be realistic, based on the size of your budget and the stages you’ve invested in to produce your final film/video.

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2. SIZE AND EXPERIENCE OF THE CREW/TEAM

Similar to our blog post, Why having a Director and Producer is essential, the budget you invest may dictate the size of the team during the early stages, and the size of the crew during the production process. As the saying goes, two heads are better than one, and where a single person may be able to cover many of the tasks required, the process will take a lot longer. Also, experience comes into question when cutting corners to meet your budget.

Low Budget

A low-budget project will typically have a very small team and crew. This means that fewer people are responsible for more things. If several stages are skipped before production (so you are effectively hiring the crew only) there is minimal setup of the project which goes straight into production. During production, more time may be required to move and set up equipment, and decisions that were not made earlier will now have to be made.

Fewer people are checking more things (for example sound quality, light quality, continuity of script, movements/position, etc) as their focus will be spread more thinly. It doesn’t matter how experienced and knowledgeable the small crew may be, if rushed, it is more likely that something may be missed or overlooked as one thing takes priority over another.

As you are investing less in the crew, you will typically be hiring less experienced individuals (even if they are just as qualified). They will be spending more time getting the job done than seeking ways to increase the value to your overall project.

Big Budget

With a big-budget project, dedicated, experienced, and skilled individuals will be tasked with the various stages and elements of your project. Depending on the size of your project, departments may also be created and managed, with the goal to reach perfection.

The main benefits of a larger team are that specific experts are brought in to handle important aspects of your project, and these tasks can be completed sooner, as multiple things are being worked on simultaneously. Their experience means they can handle more complicated situations faster and will most likely be more creative. You may require a Focus Puller, a Drone Operator, or a Steadicam Operator. These are all specific skill sets that will need to be brought into your project. Experience costs money.

In relation to the crew on set, more hands make lighter work. Arriving and setting up the production equipment is faster, and more attention is placed on the various important details when filming, and as a result, a higher quality is produced. Where more than one location or more complicated setups are required, again a larger team can move faster. This ensures that the production stays on schedule and on budget. Management is also increased, rather than just having a Camera Operator and maybe an additional crew member on set, you may have a Producer, a Production Manager, and a Director, who lead and manage the team around them. This allows for better communication and greater focus.

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Summary

If you have a tight location or are working with a small budget, then maybe you only require fewer people, and only have basic expectations of your final product. If your budget permits, always seek to have the necessary people working on your project to meet your expectations, and aim to obtain the most experienced people whom you have confidence in, and can trust with your vision. Transparency should be provided during the Quoting/Engagement stage of your project for you to discover who is being brought onto your project, and if not, ask!

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3. PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT

When it comes to the equipment used, your budget broadly means two things, more equipment or higher-end, more professional equipment. When you commission a video/film company, you are also hiring each piece of equipment. The equipment is mainly considered within the production phase, and the post-production phase, where a real difference is notable. Equipment plays a big role in what the final product looks like, along with its quality. It can also affect the speed at which an Editor works. When given a budget, the Producer of your project will know what level you’re committed to working at, in relation to your expectation, and will produce a costing and equipment list accordingly (unless your vision does not feasibly meet your budget). Let’s consider the comparison.

Low Budget

On a low-budget project, the production crew will often have to move fast and will need to use equipment that is ready to go and doesn’t require a lot of setup. Such equipment is often of lower quality and ability. They will also have less equipment, as transport and movement of equipment on location needs to be considered. Less equipment means fewer cases to transport. Lower-budget equipment is often brought on the day of the shoot and taken away immediately after. It is relatively quick and easy to use. This limits creativity and a more generic video may be produced.

With Post-production, the editing may be carried out on a more basic computer. This may mean edits cannot be too complex, yet nonetheless, on a basic computer the render and export times (the time taken for the computer to analyze the video clips, effects, sounds, titles, etc) will take longer and this can often mean downtime on the machine as it works to do this, which increases the budget spent within this area.

Big Budget

For big-budget projects, the crew generally have much more time on their hands to prepare (and they need it since there are more parts to piece together!). Equipment will arrive in a van or even using small heavy goods vehicles. Often, this is done a day or several days before the actual shoot is to go ahead.

Set-up time is much longer, even with more hands-on set. Setting up rigs for lighting and ensuring health and safety guidelines are in place (with regards to all the electrical wires and power outlets being used). Building the camera (which can comprise many elements, even if the camera body can be pulled out of a case) takes time, along with testing that it is ready to go. Matching with sound equipment and finding placement out of frame is key. Each key department within the shoot can have several people within them, each focusing on a specific task. This all takes place after a set is built (or a location is prepared and dressed regarding what will be seen within the shot).

If camera rigs (such as cranes, overhead, Steadicams, or dollys) are being used, this can take even more time. Camera movement plays a much greater role in big-budget productions. The equipment is generally of a much higher standard and quality in both build and what can be achieved through using them. Lenses alone can cost thousands of pounds each, and on a big-budget project, the Director of Photography will have an arsenal of prime lenses that allow a lot of light through them. Filters are also used on these kinds of cameras (by using a matte box) to have more control over how light enters the camera. This is how depth of field is achieved within shots (married with lighting setup/conditions). The camera itself will have a sensor that is much larger and more sensitive to light. This means better exposure and enhanced detail between the light and dark elements of a shot (also known as the dynamic range of the camera). The better the equipment, the more expensive they become, so the greater the hire charge. It may not be important for you to understand all of the technical details, what is imperative, is that you acknowledge how achieving creative shots may require specific equipment which comes with more cost.

The end result is what you see at the cinema, or on television and streaming broadcasts, whether they’re advertisements (commercials), shows, or music videos. Creativity is less hindered and more ambitious shots can be achieved when communicating the vision.

With Post-Production, several machines may be used by different members of the Post-Production team, to work on different elements of the final product at the same time. Computers will be a lot beefier, and as such will have more powerful processors, more random-access memory, and heavy-duty graphics cards. A more professional computer not only means more complex edits are more of a breeze (the computer is able to handle all the layers and assets), but it will also be able to render and export much faster than a basic computer. This means less time is spent in compiling a SCREENER or final product.

Summary

Understanding equipment will provide a great deal of knowledge in understanding what is possible to produce with the budget you are working with. The upgrades between low budget to big budget clearly make a difference. If you want your vision to be expressed in a specific way, ensure you have stated this clearly and asked if it is possible. This is the only way to be sure you are aligned with the creative company. Expectation, in relation to your budget, is essential. If you want a Hollywood production, be prepared to pay Hollywood prices.

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4. LOCATION

Where you film, will also have an impact on your final product. Location makes a big difference to the production quality, and how to bring out the best in a location is also pivotal. How locations are chosen, often comes down to budget and convenience. Each location will come with its own challenges, in relation to space, lighting, and sound (both what is already there and how the crew will produce your shots). Let’s dig a little deeper. ?

Low Budget

For low-budget shoots, locations are either what you have access to, or what you think you can get away with. In this respect, you may not even be paying to use a location, nor seeking any form of permission. Although consideration is placed into the location, you are working with the best you have access to, and as such, the production crew is doing the best they can to make it work. Little is done to dress the set/location and you may even be filming in public places (such as parks, roads, by the coast, etc).

The crew will often be seeing the location for the first time upon arrival for your film shoot. Control of light and sound will be minimal, and as such big windows letting in changing levels of sunlight and being positioned near roadworks or a flight path can cause havoc and delays to the production process. Low-budget locations are also often small, and more difficult for production equipment to be set up.

Big Budget

With big-budget productions, the location is as important as anything else. Locations are arranged (or booked) well in advance, often following research and reconnaissance into the feasibility of its use, access and availability, and cost. Licensing fees and permissions may well be required, along with the respective insurance policies.

If your location is based in a studio, great control of lighting and sound will be present. If not a studio, these elements have been considered to mitigate problems and delays during production. Often, a whole team (department) will be in place, just to get the location prepared ahead of the production. The production crew would have been on location to set up equipment ahead of the shoot (the action taking place in front of the camera), and so be very familiar with everything.

Big budget sets and locations look great because a lot of consideration has gone into what will take place there and how a scene will be constructed. This takes a lot of planning, control, and time and as such takes a healthy budget to achieve.

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Summary

Filming locations are important, this is why whole agencies have been set up to manage and arrange them. Setting a realistic budget to include the location and permissions etc. is pivotal in relation to your vision and expectation. If you are providing the location(s), the creative company should be asking plenty of questions ahead or seeking to visit them before the production stage begins. I didn’t even mention weather conditions if filming on an exterior location (or if you require the weather to look a certain way coming through windows) may also require you to film on specific days and ultimately may delay your film shoot.

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5. TIME ON LOCATION

As mentioned in the previous section, locations can come at a cost to film within. With cost generally comes a fixed timeframe. That timeframe usually means you must be in and out at a fixed time or face the consequences. Locations are also only accessible when the person responsible (whether security or a location manager/point of contact) is on-site to unlock and allow access. There is also the factor of the time in which access can be gained, for example, some places will not allow access until 9am, whereby others may have 24-hour access. There are also issues of security in some locations, ID checks and observing what you’re bringing into the location (just like an airport security check) are possible. What you are paying, along with the prestige and demand of the location plays a big role.

You also must remember, the crew will need time to arrive and set up the equipment, move the equipment between scenes, and, depending on what you’re shooting, may need several takes to get the perfect shot. The Producer or Production Manager will know best, with the experience they have, how to deal with the time required to draw up a realistic schedule to ensure budgets are met. Following the shoot, the crew will also need time to break down the equipment and pack it away. Factoring in all these various elements, not to mention lunch breaks, is paramount when scheduling the use (and cost) of a location.

Low Budget

For low-budget shoots, unless you’re filming in a public space or a location that you own, the crew will need to act fast and move fast. Your budget won’t permit a great deal of time on such a location, so creativity will be at a minimum, as the goal is to ensure all the content required is filmed at a basic standard within the limited time available. As such, smaller units (crew sizes) are used, with less professional equipment that is quick and easy to use (and a much lower volume of equipment). As such, a lower quality will be produced.

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Big Budget

With larger budgets, more time is set out to work comfortably in a location. As mentioned in the previous section, this could mean setting up and testing the equipment the day, or days before. This could also mean trying something creative during the production and taking multiple shots and angles of a scene. As the crew would be less rushed, the quality will be higher, and no one would be overworked. Crew sizes can be larger and more equipment may be brought in to achieve the specific look and feel of what you’re aiming to achieve.

Summary

A great question to ask a creative agency before you book a location is, how long do you think this might take? This way, you can see if it’s feasible within your budget to book the location for the amount of time required to reach your vision. The creative company will have a great deal of experience and will have a realistic idea of the time required to do the best job possible within your budget. Where required, they may request more time is required on location.

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6. TALENT

When we discuss talent, we are referring to actors who are hired for your shoot. There are many instances when these social contributors (or actors) are not required. Yet if they are, there is a varying scale of cost attached. Just like the crew, the more experienced an actor is, the more they are likely to charge.

Low Budget

On low-budget shoots, you may be able to hire actors for free (in exchange for materials for their own showreels) or at a minimum wage or working wage. These actors will be seeking exposure and gaining more experience. You may also be bringing in friends or family members to fill in as actors. Even if you are requesting the creative company source actors for you, if your budget is low, you will get what you pay for.

You may find a fantastic actor who will come to your shoot for nothing, however, in general, the less experienced talent, although enthusiastic, may take longer to work with to get the feeling you desire. They may not be able to provide you with exactly what you want, yet, you will produce something. It doesn’t matter how experienced your Director (if you have one on your shoot) may be, if an actor lacks experience or range, you may well have to compromise.

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Big Budget

There is a good reason why actors are tiered into lists. If you’re shooting a commercial to raise the awareness and authority of your product or service, a specific department will be in place to cast actors, led by a Casting Director.

This is the process whereby calls are put out and the roles are advertised (unless a specific actor/celebrity has been earmarked for the role). In this more professional setting, Agents of the actors will be on the lookout for opportunities for their clients. Successful actors will be called in for an audition. They may be well-known or not very recognizable at all, nonetheless, they will be much more experienced.

Good actors would have invested and spent years training ahead of their first professional audition. They would then be paying agents to find them work. This boosts their own value and worth. The greater their experience, ability, and past exposure, the more expensive they will be to hire. Experienced actors will also tend to be part of a representational body with minimal pay set much higher than a typical government minimum wage.

The reason advertising companies hire talent that is paid thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions for a short 30-second commercial, is not only because of their talent or how they look, it’s because of what they represent and how well-known they are. This in turn has a positive effect on what you are trying to promote to your audience.

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Summary

Actors are available at all prices. When it comes to casting for a specific look and ability, the available pool narrows. When it comes to experience and ability, the pool gets even shallower. The old saying goes, pay peanuts, get monkeys. When an actor tells you their price, don’t always think they are too expensive, begin to think “maybe I can’t afford their level of skill and experience and am being too ambitious”. In essence, understanding what you are paying for will make a big difference to your expectations and the results you can achieve.

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7. EDITING QUALITY

In the final stage of creating your video/film, before marketing and distribution begin, there are many factors within the Post-Production stage that may also affect your budget. As with almost every other area mentioned above, the more you are likely to pay, the higher quality you are likely to receive. We’ve already touched on the experience of the Editor and the size of the editing team, along with the type of equipment they may be using. Here we are covering the other aspects that go into the editing.

Low Budget

For a low-budget edit, there are no frills. Time is the main thing you will be paying for to get a final product. The Editors' main role, in the limited time they have set by your budget, will be to cut the video using the materials filmed with the software they have available. You won’t be able to have recognizable music, nor any special effects and graphics, and titles will be basic. The details of professionally finishing a video (such as colour correction, colour grading, and sound balancing and mastering) may be overlooked. You may also have less input into the final product. The Editor will also be less experienced and so will move slower and have fewer strings to their bow when trying to be creative. You will certainly have a video by the end of the process, and it will be produced quicker, yet it may lack the magic or professional touch you were requiring.

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Big Budget

For big-budget edits, everything has been planned out and organised in advance for the Editor to take over. The Director and/or Producer may also be on standby to contribute to the edit. You are likely to work at a higher quality (instead of working at Full HD 1920x1080 you maybe be working with a 4k resolution or greater).

The Editor will not only be working with powerful and professional editing software, but they are also likely to hold a plethora of additional plug-ins and effects to add value to your edit (and as such, quickly be able to create something other editors cannot). They will also have far more experience, and within the editing team, you may have access to other creative inputs such as animation or special effects departments to really ramp up what is possible in relation to your vision.

They will be able to move fast and efficiently due to their level of experience. Their keen attention to detail will also play a big part. Colour correction and colour grading, sound balancing, and mastering will all be executed to the highest professional standard. Their duty is to evoke emotions within the audience you will present your final product to, and immerse them in the communication piece you are producing. Granted the process may take longer, yet it will be something you are not only proud of, you will be confident it is suited for its purpose.

Music licensing may be through the commercial use of a recognisable artist or composer, which will also create added value and resonate more with your intended audience.

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Summary

There is quality and value to be added through every stage, depending on the budget you have, and what you are willing to invest into your vision. The post-production stage is the final step whereby the materials are brought together and a story is told, a feeling is created. If you’re expecting a strong return on your investment, expect to pay for more than a basic edit.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, your budget will ultimately affect the decisions made at each key stage of your project. Your budget, therefore, will always have an impact on the quality of results produced. When approaching a creative agency, a video production company, or even a freelancer, I hope I have provided you with more insight into the questions you may pose, to ensure you understand what you’re agreeing to, paying for, and are likely to receive in return.

It’s easy to have an amazing idea, yet, without the experience to understand what may be required to produce your vision, and the cost attached to that, you will most likely lowball your estimate and only find yourself disappointed that you can’t have what you want.

Always begin with a strong brief for your vision, so that you can communicate with your intended creatives [read our blog a Quick Guide to Preparing your Video Brief – insert link https://bit.ly/2HEqjeH] and then seek a Quote, and be prepared to ask questions when you receive the price. If your vision is important, it is worth doing.

Methodworks Production is an agile and responsive, innovative, and disruptive, film and video production company based in London. To begin your journey with us, send a message using our contact form on our homepage or complete our Quote request form.

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