FAQs: Questions About Video Production Phoenix

how much does video production in Phoenix cost

How Much Does a Video Cost?

We have done videos for as little as $350 but most videos cost more because people want more. Anyone with a smartphone can make a video for free. Honestly, if you do not have money to do a great video, do a free video with your phone. People hire us because they want an awesome video that will elevate brand rather than reduce it. There is a rule of thumb in advertising that says you have to spend $3,000/month for three months to get any kind of return on investment. If you do not have this much to spend on advertising, you are throwing your money away. $2,000 for one month is not going to produce results and you just lost $2,000. Video is the same way. If you don't spend enough to make a professional video that makes people who see it think your company is awesome, then film a free video with your phone.

There is another fundamental rule of business that illustrates costs with video. The fundamental rule is, you only succeed when you hire people who know more than you and get out of their way. Unless you do video and marketing for a living, we know more about making awesome, affordable videos than you do. Part of why you would hire us it because we know video and we know marketing and we can help you maximize your results.

In order to name a price, we have to know what we are expected to do. We do it all. We do pre-production (writing scripts and planning), production (filming and recording audio) and post-production (editing and motion graphics). The script writing and planning is included in the production and editing costs. Production costs $450 for a half day (four hours) and $120 after the four hours. Editing costs $40 per hour with a one-minute social media video requiring five to eight hours.

There are additional fees that apply in some cases and not in others. For example, if you want a cool music track, we have to pay for licensing fees that can run from $40 to $180. If we use copyrighted images, licensing for these can be $40 to $175. We strongly suggest hiring a makeup artist to do hair and makeup so you look your best. These fees are $350 to $650 a day. See our blog about why you should let us hire a makeup artist. If we are filming on location in your business, there is no studio fee. Shooting in a studio adds a studio fee. If we are filming in a public place like a park in Scottsdale, the City of Scottsdale requires us to pull a $175 permit to film.

You can see that there are many variables that go into productions. We know how to save you money. We know where you should cut costs and where you should not cut costs. Most of the people we have worked with cut costs in the wrong places and end up with poor videos. We understand that budgets are tight and we can show you ways to save money.

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Is video production in Phoenix worth it

Is Video Worth It?

We look at the Return On Investment (ROI) for videos. If putting a professional video or series of videos on your website, Instagram, Facebook page and YouTube channel increases your sales by $5,000, would you spend $2,500 to make the video? All day long.

ROI is often difficult to calculate. For example, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is just one factor that increases ROI but is hard to calculate. What is it worth in sales to be on the first page of Google as compared to the second page? Statistics show that websites on the fist page of Google get 92 percent of the clicks. Websites on the second page of Google get six percent of the traffic. That created the saying, 'The best place to hide a dead body is on the second page of Google because no one looks there.'

One of the biggest factors in page rank is the number of sites linking to your site and the authority of those sites. Videos posted on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc. can link back to your website. If the video goes viral, there can be tens of thousand of people commenting on it and propogating backlinks. Stickyness

If you are trying to get your website to rank well in Google organic search, one of the factors Google tracks is how long a visitor stays on your site. Let's imagine Google gives 10,000 results for "dentist in Phoenix." Let's imagine a Google searcher clicks a link, sees that the site is not what they want and clicks back to the results in three seconds. Now imagine the Google searchers stays on the site 30 seconds. Google believes the longer a person stays on a site, the more relevant the results. Google rewards sites that keep visitors longer by ranking them hiring. Videos on a site keep visitors engaged longer. Therefore, a good video increases page rank. What is that worth?

Conversion Rates

Videos are multidimensional. Videos combine music, text, people, images, motion graphics, and more. These elements are much more effective at moving people emotionally than text or printed ads. Moving people emotionally increases the conversion rate which means your website gets better at generating buy decisions from visitors. If your site converts 0.1 percent of the visitors and adding a video doubles that number, you can calculate an ROI for the video.

We could list an addition 20 ways video increases your marketing success. To answer the main question above, yes, video is very, very worth it for so many different reasons.

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TV Commercials video production in Phoenix

Do You Do TV Commercials?

Arizona Filmworks has done over 100 TV commercials for local and national broadcast. In addition to producing TV commercials, we have exceptional partners in the media world that can get us phenomenal rates on ad buys. For example, some businesses do not need to advertise all over the Phoenix metro area. A dentist in Mesa is probably not going to draw many patients from Surprise. Why pay to advertise all over Phoenix when we can save a ton of money by only advertising near Mesa?

We have all kinds of ways to save money on TV advertising from very affordable video production Phoenix to very inexpensive ad buys. We also understand digital advertising and how to target your best customer demographic with digital ads. The marketing videos we produce for you can be used in Social Media, your YouTube channel, your website and a thousand other digital places.

Ask us about OTT and Pre-roll advertising as an alternative to TV commercials. With all the cord-cutters effectively watching TV on streaming services, a new way to advertise is taking over. Think of it this way. In the past, businesses attempted to target their buyer demographic by buying airtime on shows their customers were likely to watch. Now, with OTT, we can show your commercials only to people who are displaying buy indicators. See the free

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why hire video production in Phoenix

Why Hire a Video Production Company in Phoenix?

Some people take great videos and photos with their smartphones. They wonder why anyone would spend money to hire a film crew when they do such a great job with their cell phone. The answer is expertise.

We are experts in pre-production, production and post-production. In pre-production, we focus on messaging. We speak visual. We can help you refine your message for your target demographic. We plan the shoot. We write scripts. We create storyboards and shotlists. We scout locations. We know the goals of a project and how to achieve those goals.

In production, we are experts in lighting, sound, camera movements, and a thousand other factors that contribute to a movie. We know a secret about video production. The camera only records what you put in front of it. We are experts in creating the environment in front of the camera. We use location, sets, lighting, makeup and more to create that professional, cinematic look.

Then, our expertise continues into post-production. We know how to edit effectively. We know how to combine visuals with music and motion graphics to create a phenomenal video. No matter how good you photo or video from your smartphone is, we can make it better.

Think of this as an exercise in specialization. I can build a house. I have done it. I can do plumbing and roofing and drywall and run wires. I am pretty good at drywall. The problem is, people who do those things all the time can do the save job 100 times better than me. A drywall company can finish drywall 100 times better and faster than me because they have professional equipment and years of experience.

Can you light as set, direct, film, record audio, and edit it all together to make something you are proud to show? Sure. But I can do it better. When you want a job done right, you hire people who do it right for a living. There is an economic term for it, specialization.

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How long does it take to do video production in Phoenix

How Long Does it Take to Make a Video Production in Phoenix?

Generally, it takes about two weeks to make a video. The first week is pre-production. We discuss your vision for the video. We help write a script and/or create a storyboard so everyone is in agreement on what the final video will look like and what the message is. We feel so strongly about this step, we make it free. Scriptwriting and pre-production are included in our Production and Editing fees. Once we know what we are doing and where, we schedule the shoot. Shoots are typically a half day or full day.

Once we have all the beautiful video and audio recorded, we move into the edit bay and put the show together. This can take eight hours. Usually, it takes three to five days depending on graphics that have to be created or the motion graphics that have to be generated. We typically give clients two rounds of edits once we have the first draft. We send the first draft. The client reviews it and sends back a list of edits or changes they would like to see. We do the first round of edits on the draft and send a second version back to the client. The client reviews the second draft and sends back a list of final changes and edits. We make those changes and the client gets their final version that they can post in dozens of places.

This two week example assumes the client is responsive to reviews and sending back a list of edits. If the client takes a week to review the video, that is time added to the two weeks we work on the video.

So, the first week is spent in scripting and planning. The shoot is on the first day of the second week. This could be a Saturday or Sunday or the middle of the night. The rest of the second week is spent editing, reviewing, editing, etc. After this process, joy and happiness fill the client.

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Write Scripts for video production in Phoenix

Do You Help Write Scripts?

Yes, we definitely write scripts. Unless you are an agency or very experienced, we know more about the video production in Phoenix process than you. We acknowledge that you are an expert in what you do. We need your expertise to go into the script. This is how we learn your messaging and perspective. You have thought a lot about how to present your company to the world. You have spent a lot of time thinking about branding and messaging and offers. You have monitored your competition and identified ways to differentiate your company. We take nothing away from that. Partnering with you on the script allows us to learn about these points.

The script is more than the message. The script is the foundation for a thousand decisions. Where will this be filmed (location)? Many clients would choose a location based on what will cause the least disruption to business. As an example, a client wanted to film a video about how a product was developed in a lab. Instead of filming in their lab, they wanted to film in a conference room because no one used it. There are many other factors that go into choosing a location. Lighting, noise, and many other factors come into play. If a location has windows, the sun might be streaming in the window in the morning but not in the afternoon. Clouds blocking the sun present problems. One minute there is full sun coming through the window and two minutes later, gray, shaded light is coming through the window. Often, we have to cover the windows to control lighting.

Another factor in script writing is sequence. We often shoot scenes out of sequence. Clients new to video production in Phoenix, often think we will start shooting in one location, move to another and then back to the first location. We save a ton of money for the client by shooting everthing in one location before moving the equipment to another location.

Concept is a huge factor in writing scripts. The client might want to present the message using 123 space monkeys. We can often suggest alternatives that more effectively convey the message at a much cheaper rate.

By partnering on a script, your expertise and our expertise come together to produce the best possible video presentation.

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Event video production in Phoenix

Does Arizona Filmworks do Weddings and Event Videos?

Have you been face-to-face with Bridezilla? No, Arizona Filmworks does not do event videography which includes filming weddings, recitals, graduations, business conferences and other events. We specialize in script-based video production.

There are three categories of film production.

First, there are script-based productions which include narrative feature-film productions and most corporate, commercial work. This includes the corporate interview that might not have a script but it is still in the style of script-based productions. Arizona Filmworks creates presentations for the business conferences or sales meetings.

Second, there is the ENG, news gathering style of production where the crazy cameraperson runs into the middle of a protest to "get the shot." We may be part of the protest but we do not film the protest.

Third, there is event production where you set up cameras, hit record and film an entire event.

Arizona Filmworks focuses on script-based productions because our expertise is in presenting the best possible message using video. Filming a wedding requires a different set of equipment with a different expertise than we use in script-based productions.

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Own rights to video production in Phoenix

Do I Own the Rights to My Video?

Yes, once you pay us, you own the rights to all the media we create. The law generally recognizes that the creator of audio and visual media owns the copyrights for what they create until they are paid for their work. At that point, the creation of the media is work-for-hire and the person or company paying for the work generally owns the media created.

We want this to be crystal clear so we use a contract to assign ownership directly to the client - once the client pays. The contract specifies that Arizona Filmworks owns the copyright to all media created under the contract until the client pays. When the client pays, the contract then specifically transfers ownership of all the media to the client. This makes getting paid easier. No one can legally use the media until it is paid for. Once payment is received, the client owns all the footage and final product.

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