A note before anything else. This guide is written by a video production company, which means it cannot be neutral, and any guide that claims to be is worth reading twice. What follows is the advice we would give a friend commissioning their first film, including the parts that do not favour us.

Start Before You Start Looking

Most briefs arrive with the format already decided. We need a brand film. We need a case study. Sometimes that is right, and sometimes it is a decision made before anyone worked out what the video is for.

Three things worth settling before you approach anyone: Who is watching, and what should they take away. Where the film will live, because a website hero, a conference screen and a LinkedIn feed want different things. And what would make this feel worthwhile a year from now, answered honestly rather than as a target.

If you cannot answer those, a good production company will help you. But arriving with them answered will save you money, because vagueness in a brief becomes cost in production. Our case study video brief template covers the same ground in more detail, and it is free.

Reading a Portfolio Properly

Everyone says look at the portfolio. Almost nobody says what to look for.

Watching a showreel tells you very little. A showreel is thirty seconds of the best three frames from forty projects, cut to music. It proves someone can edit a showreel.

Watch a full film instead, ideally one similar to what you need. Ours are on the featured project section, full length rather than cut into a reel. Then ask yourself specific questions. Does the interviewee sound like a person or like someone reciting? Can you hear every word clearly, including in the wide shots? Does the b-roll show what is being talked about, or is it generic office footage cut in to fill time? Does the film get to the point, or does it take ninety seconds to say hello?

Sound is the most revealing thing on that list. Good picture is common now, because the cameras are good. Consistently clean audio in real rooms is harder, and it is where corners get cut.

If the portfolio is all one type of work and you need something different, that matters. If it is all beautifully shot but nobody in it says anything interesting, that matters more.

What Pricing Tells You

Ask what a project like yours typically costs. You should get a range in the first conversation, before detailed scoping. A company that cannot give you one either does not do enough of this work to know, or is waiting to hear your budget first.

“It depends” is a true answer and an incomplete one. It depends on what, and by how much, is the useful version.

Some things worth knowing about how quotes work. A quote with one line and one number gives you nothing to negotiate with, and no way to tell what gets cut if the budget moves. A quote broken into shoot days, crew, post-production and deliverables lets you have a real conversation about trade-offs.

On revisions, the number of rounds matters less than what they are measured against. Unlimited revisions with a vague brief is not generous, it is an admission that nobody agreed what the film was meant to be. Unlimited revisions against a brief both sides signed off is a real commitment, because the brief tells you when the film is finished.

On payment, a deposit of somewhere between a third and a half with the balance on delivery is normal. Full payment before anyone films anything is not.

We publish our prices, which is unusual in this industry and which we think says something. You can see the case study packages and event packages without asking anyone.

Who Actually Turns Up

This is the question fewest clients ask and the one that changes the day most.

Ask who will be on set and who will edit. On some projects the person who pitched you will be there. On others the work is passed to whoever is free. Neither is wrong, but you should know which you are buying.

Ask how many people are coming, and expect the answer to depend partly on you. A one person crew is right for plenty of jobs, particularly interviews where a smaller room helps the subject relax. A larger crew is right for others, particularly multi-camera shoots.

What often decides it is whether someone from your side is on set. If a marketing manager is there to find the next interviewee, ask interview questions and make decisions in the moment, a small crew moves quickly. If nobody from your team can be there, the crew has to absorb that work as well as filming, and the day either needs another pair of hands or more time.

And ask who is monitoring sound. On smaller shoots that is often the same person operating the camera, which is normal, but it is worth knowing rather than assuming.

We have written separately about how a filming day is planned, which covers what a well run day looks like from the inside.

What You Actually Get

Agree the deliverables in writing before filming. Not “a video”, but the lengths, the aspect ratios, the number of cut-downs, whether captions are included, and in what format. And ask about motion graphics.

The one that gets missed most often is aspect ratio. A film framed for a 16:9 website player and a clip framed for a 9:16 phone screen are different decisions made on the day. You cannot reliably crop your way from one to the other afterwards.

Ask who owns the footage. The answer should be a clear yes, you do, or at least a clear licence covering everything you intend to do with it. Some companies retain rights to the rushes, especially in the US. That is not necessarily unreasonable, but you should know before you sign rather than when you ask for the raw files two years later.

Ask about the transcript. It costs almost nothing, it makes the film accessible, and it gives you something search engines can read.

The Unglamorous Checks

Public liability insurance. Most venues require it, many require five million pounds of cover, and any video production company working professionally will have it and will send you the certificate without fuss.

Employers liability insurance, if they have staff. This is a legal requirement, not a nicety.

Permissions and permits, where filming is outdoors, in a public space or in a building with its own rules. Ask who is responsible for arranging them. The answer should not be you. This comes up most on events, and our guide to filming corporate events goes through it properly.

Data and confidentiality, particularly in regulated industries. If your building has screens with customer information on them, or your legal team has a view about what can appear on camera, raise it early. A company used to working with financial or healthcare clients will not be surprised by the question.

Reviews and References

Reviews are worth reading, with the usual caveat that most of them exist because someone asked for them at a good moment.

More useful is asking for a reference from a client with a similar project, and actually calling them. Two questions do most of the work. What surprised you, and would you use them again.

The Questions Worth Asking

If you take one thing from this, take this list.

What does a project like ours typically cost?
Who will be on set, and who will edit?
How many revision rounds are included, and when is it signed off?
What exactly is delivered, in what formats and aspect ratios?
Do we own the footage, and can we have the rushes?
What insurance do you carry?
Who arranges permissions and permits?
What do you need from us, and by when?
What happens if we overrun on the day?

The answers matter less than how they are answered. A company that has done this often will answer quickly and specifically. Hesitation on the practical questions usually means the process is not well defined.

When You Do Not Need a Video Production Company

Worth saying, since it is the part most guides leave out.

If you need a short, personal message to one client, record it yourself. It does not need production values, it needs to be genuinely from you, and a polished version would be worse.

If you need internal footage that nobody outside the company will see, and you have someone in-house who is competent with a camera, that is often enough.

If you need one straightforward interview in a controlled room and your budget is genuinely tight, a good freelance videographer will do it well for less than a video production company will.

Vide production companies earn their money on complexity: multiple contributors, tight schedules, difficult locations, several deliverables from one day, work that has to be right first time because you cannot reassemble the people. If you need that regularly rather than once, a video production retainer usually works out better than commissioning each film separately. If your project has none of that, say so, and see whether the company agrees.

The ones worth working with will tell you.

Talk to Us

If you are weighing this up and want a second opinion, we are happy to have that conversation before you commit to anything, including if the conclusion is that we are not the right fit.

See our work or get in touch.