A well-produced, high impact product launch film can really help get sales off to a flying start. There can be different types of product launch films, from live action to animation or 3D motion graphics.
But how much do these cost?
In all honesty, every project has a different fee attached as no two briefs are the same. These are the types of films that probably get closest to being like TV commercials, so understandably, the production values – and consequently costs – are a little higher.
For the sake of this exercise, we are going to refer to product launch films which are mainly live action. See ‘How Much Do Animation Films Cost’ for more information on those.
Please get in touch with us to discuss your requirements and get a tailored quote.
Here are some indicative price ranges for three different options.
Basic (£4k – £7k)
Would include some of the following:
- 20 – 60 seconds
- Driven by music with on-screen copy or voiceover.
- 1-2 cameras + operators
- High quality ‘cinematic’ cameras and lenses.
- 1 day filming.
- Music license.
- Up to 2 rounds of amendments
- Subtitles in original language
- 1-2 cut-down versions
- Budget options for stock footage if needed.
- Simple animation or graphics for now more than 20% of the film.
Standard (£7k – £15k)
Would include some of the following:
As per Basic plus
- 20 – 60 seconds
- Still driven by music with on-screen copy or voiceover.
- 1-3 interviewees
- 2-3 cameras + operators/assistants.
- Additional lighting options.
- Small studio/location hire.
- Hair and make-up if needed
- Autocue if needed
- Gimbals, jibs, motorised camera sliders, simple camera rigs etc. to give more variety to material.
- Director of Photography/Director with experience with similar products/industry (in addition to camera operators).
- Sound recordist.
- Editors with experience in commercials.
- 1-2 days filming
- 1-2 locations
- 2-3 cut-down versions
- Music licensing for all versions.
- Higher quality/choice stock footage if required.
- Translations into other languages and subtitles in those languages.
- Scope for slightly more use of simple 2D graphics and animation.
- Basic colour grading
- Basic audio mixing
Premium (£15k – £50k+)
Would include some of the following:
As per Standard plus:
- 60+ seconds
- Larger crew – camera operators, camera assistants, sound recordists, lighting technician, runner etc.
- Drone filming/aerials
- Higher standard and more variety of cameras and lenses – more cinematic feel to the footage filmed.
- More complex camera rigs, tracks etc.
- Multiple filming days
- Multiple locations
- Potentially international travel
- Larger studio/location hire if needed.
- Set design/build/props
- Additional animation if needed
- More complex colour grading
- More complex audio mixing
What increases the cost of Product Launch films?
- Multiple cameras and operators.
- Studio/location hire
- Additional kit hire – lighting, tracks, jib etc.
- Specific camera rigs – e.g. filming of vehicles.
- Specific niche experience needed for crew – experienced TV commercial directors etc.
- Multiple filming days
- Multiple filming locations.
- Additional travel time.
- Using commercial music tracks.
- Setting up of multiple different scenes in different locations
- Drone filming – we only use experienced drone cameramen, not simply drone operators.
- Additional crew – the more people there are, the quicker it can be to set up. This is useful if – for example – you are filming at an expensive location with limited time there. These extra people obviously cost more.
- Set design and props
- Having to work around restricted access at a location.
- More complex animation, graphics or 3D motion graphics.
- Uncertain brief
- More amendments.
- Voiceover recording – studio hire and talent.
- More actors or models.
- Different clothing options for actors/models.
- Use of commercial music tracks.
What decreases the cost of Product Launch films?
- Single filming location
- Single interview
- No fee locations
- Unrestricted location access.
- No animation
- Very specific brief
- Less amendments.
- Props/set/talent provided by client.
- The more product launch videos you commit to, the lower the cost per film is likely to be.
Here are examples of product Launch Films recently created by us: