These are the costs and prices for your image film

When you first ask for a quote for an advertising film/corporate filmproduction, there are often very different ideas about what services are necessary for a professional image film and what they cost. We want to explain to you now exactly what these costs actually depend on.

Prices in conception | film shooting | music | animation | contact film team

If you have no experience in making image films so far, then you have come to the right place: we, THE FILM AGENCY, are specialized in this and thus in you and therefore provide very comprehensive advice from the very first moment. We have been shooting commercial image films (examples) and recruiting films (special costs) throughout Germany for fifteen years (fixed locations in Berlin, Dresden, Cologne, Stuttgart and Munich) and, thanks to 800 successful and punctually completed film productions, we have a huge amount of know-how for all major industries and different clients, from local authorities and associations to international corporations. In preparation for your production, we also offer you our step-by-step concept template for your new image film production and price template for free download.

Summary: Image film prices

The price for an image film depends on how extensive the film production is in terms of the number of shooting days and the experience and size of the film team. However, this scope also depends on how closely and genuinely the film depicts reality (for example, as a reportage or documentary) or how artificially staged the film shows a fictional reality(scenic fictional film with actors, studio, glossy advertising production). Furthermore, additional services such as actors, travel costs, location rentals, special filming technology (camera, light, drone) and an elaborate post-production with many long interviews that have to be edited, animations (schematic 2D or photorealistic 3D), emotional, specially composed GEMA-free music and voice actors can influence the price.

Image films are a service and not a finished product. This means that there are few fixed costs, but the share of variable costs is very high, since the amount of individual labor and the use of technology of a video production company depends on your goals.

For example, how much does a three-minute image film cost?

It's not that easy to say: It is possible to produce both a 10min film (like a reportage or a documentary video production) and a 30sec film (like an elaborate commercial) with a budget of 10.000-15.000€. So the cost per film minute depends more on how much and how elaborate the film time is. When calculating image films, three important cost centers arise.

Price overview (plus VAT) for an exemplary image film production:

Please note that the price depends on the number of shooting days on the one hand and on the equipment/scope of services on the other. For example, it is also possible that an image film costs 11,000€ net, which is only shot on one day, but is upgraded with animations.

Our contact details

Are you looking for a professional service provider for your future advertising film, image film or recruiting film? We look forward to receiving your tender documents or price request. We will be happy to advise you free of charge in the first steps and provide you with a modular calculation.

In the following, we explain which services have which effects on the film price in the individual production phases.

In pre-production, the content of the film must be determined. To do this, the first step is to prepare the film shoot as precisely as necessary and possible in the preliminary conceptual work, concept meetings, brainstorming sessions, treatments, competitor analyses, drafts of voiceover texts and any drawn storyboards. Depending on the scope of the conception, editorial research and preparatory work, we charge daily rates that are also common in other advertising and communications agencies. Based on the experience of more than 1000 completed film productions, we design this process in a particularly structured and planned manner. Together with the internal coordination (also up to the awarding of the contract), this phase often also takes up the most extensive part in terms of time (not price).

This then results in the staging and technical requirements for the film. After all, even before production begins, consideration must be given to where and for whom it will ultimately be released. Because on the one hand, the use of a film has an effect on the conception, dramaturgy and visual language. And on the other hand, it also has an impact on the actors' fees, the licensing costs for the composer and the buy-outs for off-speakers, because it makes a difference whether a spot is advertised on TV or with a large budget on a social network (YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook).

If the film is not shot directly in a company, but at external locations, additional location scouting and location rentals are required. Interesting locations that remain in the memory and are not classically shot in an interchangeable office or the like have an enormous effect on a successful film.

These testimonial films, on the other hand, could be shot relatively inexpensively due to little preparatory work in the conception (because the content is given primarily by the interview), since work is done in the form of a reportage (interviews + "proving" cutaways). The film style allows for a small film team and only a few animations are used. In addition, film productions in the company eliminate the costs of searching and renting geegineten locations. By the way, we usually offer the recording of interviews from two camera perspectives at the same time. This increases the visual variety.

In comparison, this campaign film for an association from Berlin is more cost-intensive: Here, a script first had to be written and agreed upon, actors and location had to be found. In addition, the film was shot with a larger team.

For large locations, you can always create a lasting impression with exciting indoor and outdoor drone flights:

The conception phase is also more complex if the film is thematically/intrinsically diverse and complex because real processes (future or current) have to be depicted. As in these two films for EVONIK about digitalization and Industry 4.0.

Actually, only after this conception phase is known what costs will be incurred in the entire project. Therefore, we also offer the conception separate from the film shooting and film editing. This means: if it is not yet clear to you what form the film production should take in terms of content and scope, it is also possible to first implement only this concept with us. At the end there will be a concrete film project description, which can then be handed over (tendered) to other film production companies for realization.

We can then define exactly on a technical, visual and organizational level which services must be provided by the production companies. After all, if this information is not specified precisely enough in an invitation to tender or request for quotation, you may not receive comparable offers. If you still want to know an approximate total price in the early production phase, we will be happy to offer you a basic calculation first, with which it is certainly possible to produce a good film.

Read here how you can arrive at an image film concept in three steps and create a meaningful agency brief.

Prices and Costs during filming: team, technology, logistics

Of course, costs are also incurred during the actual film production , especially for the rental and logistics of film equipment, as well as working time and logistics costs for the filming staff, extras and actors, props and equipment. Here you should not save too much, because from the visual impression of a film the viewer naturally always derives conclusions about the quality and the price-performance ratio of your offers. However, we always try to align the personnel and technical effort with the fact that most image films are not shown on a big cinema screen, but on the web, at trade fairs and events.

To explain it with an example: you could put the budget into brilliant filming/scenes on 2 motifs/locations per day, shot by a large team (10 people or more). But the downside of working with a lot of staff and tech is that there are fewer film shots per day because the work is slower. For example, more and larger lights need to be set up, a larger camera takes longer to set up and set up, and a camera rail system takes longer to set up and take down, etc.... In comparison, with a team of "only" 2-3 people who are very well trained, experienced and attuned, you could create 5 motifs/locations - with less budget investment. The film would gain enormously from the visual diversity and the added value in terms of content that the viewer gets - even if the shots would not look quite as high-quality as those with a larger team.

In every case, our goal is to achieve maximum visual impact and use your budget as effectively as possible. We are experienced in using top-notch technology cost-effectively and quickly to make your films look swift, high-quality and on-target to the viewer, as in this film of ours, with strong lighting, dynamic film editing and a composed score:

This film, for example, is clearly expensive to produce due to its high-quality visual staging. Because: a big difference in visual image/film quality is the artificial lighting of filming locations. In order to give the film a certain mood and drama, it is possible, for example, to work with "own" film lighting, i.e. without the normal lighting of the room in which the film is shot. However, in-house film lighting means a larger film team, costs in film equipment rental and logistics, and slower progress overall when changing locations, because each set and motif has to be illuminated anew (at great expense and with several people).

• Can the agency provide reference films for the budget requested/offered? References can quickly deceive quality if they were made under completely different conditions or for much higher budgets.
• What kind of interpersonal impression does your direct contact person make? Can you assume that their relationship will remain constructive and service-oriented even in stressful phases of the project? And do you have contact with an intern or an experienced manager with decision-making authority?
• Does the presentation of the submitted documents make a good impression according to your request?
• In terms of project management, do you have the feeling that work is done professionally, effectively and on schedule? A hint: if an uncertain impression is already given by the requested agency in the offer phase, because many inquiries and details are requested that are not even necessary yet, this may mean many small-scale duplicate arrangements and mails for you during production as well.
• Is the agency technically proficient in its craft? Does it work with its own technology, which it knows well, or is it hired externally?
• One final note: do not necessarily make your decision for a service provider dependent on local proximity. The success of a production depends on many factors, which often only a national professional film production company can handle perfectly. If you wish, we can be on location with you at any time, whether for meetings, various shooting days or feedback sessions. Everything can be arranged and organized. We are used to driving long distances all the time, there is no major city in Germany where we haven't shot yet. We know our way around large industrial plants and the clean rooms of semiconductor factories just as well as we know our way around hectic demonstrations or prominent interview partners. A local camera team on location can almost never do that. Now you may ask: what if something has to be re-shot at short notice? We can assure you: after more than 500 film projects in over ten years, this has hardly ever happened. Why is that? It's our experience in knowing which shots are needed before the actual shoot. And if a reshoot is necessary for other reasons, we don't shy away from another long journey, or we look for a suitable film production partner on location and brief them on the required shots in terms of technology and content.