If you’re in need to hire a production company for their video services, be it a commercial, an event video, a documentary, a corporate video or any other forms of media, you would want to know of their affordability. While the rates vary from one production to another, one person would be charged roughly RM300/day but a crew may range from RM1000-RM1500/day.
Other than the fact that each crew member would have their own fixed rates, there are other factors that comes into play when determining how much would you need pay for a production company. And it all depends on what your project needs.
Full Or Half-Day?
Most companies would determine the cost based on how much time is needed to film your project while some productions calculate the cost based on the final runtime. A half-day shoot would be less than 4-5 hours, while a full-day shoot would go up to 8-9 hours, and
additional overtime would be paid by the hour.
This is important for companies to evaluate how much time is truly needed to finish a shoot. A 1-minute commercial may only need 2-4 hours of work but a 10-minute short film would require a day, if not, more than one to finish.
One-Person Job Or Full Crew?
Depending on the scope of your project, you may only need one person to work on it. If it’s a small event or a simple interview, with a basic filming and sound gear, they can perform in under a day and you may only need to pay them by the hour.
But if it’s a larger scale production like a branded commercial, a full film crew would be needed, with a variety of talent, like the producer, director of photography, sound recordist, and key grip. The daily or hourly rate would be higher to accommodate the entire crew but necessary for the project to be done.
Indoors Or Outdoors?
Location is very critical on how the preparations would be made. In a film set, variables like lighting and sound can be controlled more easily, but for other indoor areas like a café or an airport, necessary setting up of the camera, lighting gear and sound checks are required to ensure the quality of the work and to prevent any interruptions.
Outdoor shooting can be difficult as the film crew need to be wary of the weather. Hot days can bring intense sunlight, ruining the lighting of a scene while rainy days would not be suitable for their electronic equipment. Worst case scenario is that the shoot had to be postponed to wait for better weather.
Equipment Used?
Hiring a production company doesn’t mean you’re just hiring the people, but also paying for the equipment. Smaller productions may only require a DSLR camera, a few lighting gear, a mic and other additional tools that can spice up your video, like a gimbal for a smoother
camera movement or a drone for an aerial view of the location.
For larger scale productions, many different tools would be upgraded like lighting, rigs and cranes. Projects that needed to be shot in a higher resolution would need high-end cameras that can shoot from a range of 4K to 8K resolution. Using these tools would not be cheap, so it's best to know if your project needs it and can accommodate for it.
Do It In Post?
Aside from the actual shooting rates, there’s also additional payment for the post-production side of the video production. Some companies would offer packages that combines both services, but often times they are paid by the hour with a different fixed rate.
Other than providing editing work, other services they offer that require additional payment is the addition of motion graphics, visual effects, new composed music and voice dubbing. A lot of these elements depends on what you want or what is needed in the video.
Medium Of Choice?
The cost of hiring a production company is solely based on the time taken to produce it as well as the type of equipment used for the job. But not every video production is the same. How one makes a commercial is different compared to a short film.
Commercials are shorter but require shooting a lot of angles and set design as well as a heavy reliance on motion graphics. Short films are based on a script and needs actors to rehearse their lines. Different productions require a different set of steps to prepare and produce, and very likely the pay rates would not be the same.