09 Dec 22
Are you looking to start a video project and want to understand all the costs involved? What’s going to cause your project to go up and what’s going to cause your project to go down? Stay tuned to find out more.
Hey there, Claudia here. So there’s many things that can impact the cost of your medical video. Many factors that can make it go up and make it go down. So in this video, we’re going to look at all these factors so you understand exactly what’s contributing to that cost. This is going to include the number of cameras you need on set.
Do you need b roll, maybe showing what people are saying? How many setups do you need? What’s the duration of your video? Do you need any location or venue hire? Do you need voiceovers or subtitles? Or maybe you need an actor or hand model? Do you need music created for your video? Which platforms are you going to put this on afterwards?
How many versions do you need? Do you need it on social media or other platforms? And finally, do you need a project manager? And what do they even do?
So, number of cameras. How many cameras do you need when you’re filming? Most people will probably say, I just need one if I’m interviewing somebody. But do you? Do you always want to see exactly the same view? Often, two can be a lot better. And also, if you’re doing interview style, do you also want to film the interviewer?
That may even need three cameras. But what if you’re filming in the operating theatre? Now, you may then need four angles, so you could need four cameras. Overall, we tend to see between one and four cameras in a film shoot, but you need to make sure this is mapped out up front, because this will impact the cost of your overall shoot.
Do you need to capture b roll to add context to your final video? If so, this has to be planned out. So you may be talking about maybe your company culture, or your manufacturing process, or the precision of your device in an operation. Either way, if you can capture visuals to accompany this, it will not only allow your viewer to hear what you’re saying, but also see it at the same time.
The important thing is, you can’t just capture b roll. It must be planned into the day, and can actually take Two to four hours to even half a day to capture everything you need. So the takeaway is just make sure you plan this upfront. So you know exactly what you want out of your day.
So let’s talk about camera setups. So normally with any filming day on average, we do two to three setups in a day. The first setup will take around 90 minutes and this is because the team will be unpacking the camera equipment. and the lighting and setting it up. The subsequent setup, setups two and three, will take about 20 minutes each.
So these are much faster because we’re just moving the equipment. But why do we need these setups? Because often people don’t realize this. Well, if we’re doing an interview and we’re filming maybe five, six, seven, or eight of your team, if we film all on the same day, So if we’re doing the same background, it will look very distracting to the audience as we jump from one to another, something known as a jump cut.
Also, if we’re doing product photography, you’ll not only show your product in one scene, you’ll have it in different settings. So each one needs different lighting and different camera setup. So that’s where these differences come from. So although it takes time to do these multiple setups, it will make your video so much more watchable and better for the viewer.
So really, really worth the time and must be planned in.
So next duration of your shoot. So this can have quite a big impact on the overall cost of your video project. So in general, one day of video shooting will equal three days of editing and the same two equals six, three equals nine. And that’s for a basic or for full editing production at the end, but it doesn’t include things like social media.
Now, of course, this is an average because your shoot may be split over two days. for completely other reasons like you’re doing a patient testimonial and actually it’s easier for the patient to do it over two days versus one or maybe your locations are far apart so you’re not actually filming for the full one day but if you are filming for a full one day it’s normally three days editing
so you know how many cameras you need you know if you need b roll and you know the number of steps but what about venue hire and location have you thought about where you’ll be Now, often you can do this in your head office, or maybe you can do it in one of your best customers surgical theatres. But what happens if those aren’t viable options?
Do you need to hire an operating theatre, or maybe you need to hire a set and dress it? Whichever one that is, these can really impact the cost of your video, so you need to make sure they’re planned out up front so you don’t get any surprises later on.
So let’s talk about voiceovers and subtitles. Do you need them on your video? They will add an awful lot of communication value to your end user. So if you want to use a voiceover, there’s several things you need to think about. Firstly, you need to have a script written for the beginning of your video shoot so we know exactly what we’re capturing to complement the voiceover.
Next, you need to pick your voiceover artist. You then need to pay for their studio fees as well as their buyout, which will be anywhere from 100 to 400 percent of their studio fees. So what about a subtitle? Well, subtitles are a lot easier, but will take time for your video team to lay them over your final edited copy and make sure they look beautiful so every word can be read clearly.
Another thing to think about when doing subtitles, especially if you’re a multinational company, is translations. You’ll also need to factor these into the overall cost of your video project because these will take additional time for your video team to lay out.
Do you need an actor or a model in your video? So we tend to see actors and models used in product demonstrations or operating room simulations. So there’s three things you need to think about when hiring a model. First of all, which type of model do you want? What do they need to look like? Who are they?
Are they male or female? Secondly, how many models do you need? As this will impact the cost significantly. And finally, what part of the actor are you going to show? If you show the actor’s face. That will be a higher buyout fees. Whereas if you show their hands, that will be a lower fee. So it’s important to know this upfront so you can plan your project costs accordingly.
Music. Music can be great to add to your video to really add emotion and draw your audience in. And you have a lot of different options when you’re looking at what music you want to use. You can use royalty free music, which is totally free to use, but your options are going to be really limited here. Or you can buy some reasonably priced music that will probably cost you around 200, 250 pounds, something like that, per track.
Alternatively, you could ask for a composer to make you a unique piece of music that totally matches your video. And this can be really powerful, but will cost you significantly more.
So how are you going to use your video once it’s totally finalized? Are you going to just have it on your website or maybe on an exhibition stand, or maybe across all your social media platforms? Repurposing of content is a fantastic way to use it, so pushing it out on social media can be really fantastic, but this can add additional editing costs.
For example, you’ll likely want to shorten your video down if it’s going out on social media, which will cut it into a lot smaller sections. So this will require time from your video team to do this. Additionally, if you’re going on certain platforms like YouTube Shorts or potentially Instagram, You might need your video in a different size ratio.
Just make sure this is planned out up front. So you don’t get any surprises at the end of increased costs because of the time needed to spend to break out your footage.
So you may be feeling a little overwhelmed by this stage. We have gone through an awful lot of different things that can affect the cost of your video project. But there’s one more thing to think about. Do you want to work with an agency on your video? As this will allow you to work with a project manager.
By doing this, they will manage every aspect that we’ve spoken about, allowing you to do other business critical activity. This will increase the cost, but it can significantly increase your efficiency. Here at PolyMass, we’re medical device marketing specialists. So if you have any other questions, just click on the articles below to read more information.
Or if you want help with a project, click the book, my call button to wrap up. There’s loads of different things that can impact the cost of your overall video project. But as I’ve said before, the most important thing is to really plan this out upfront and know exactly what you want out of your video.
This is the way to really drive efficiency and get the best video for your product or technology.
Are you looking to produce high-level medical device video productions this year to help add value to your marketing? Struggling to find an accurate breakdown of how much it will cost to run a medical device video production?
We have all the answers here.
This article, will help guide you through how the video production process of a medical device filming day will cost and why in order to expand your understanding of the industry.
The average price of medical device video production from Podymos is between £10,000 to £40,000+, depending on scope. In this article, we talk about what ‘scope’ means and what factors influence the cost. Note: All costs in this article are in British Pounds (GBP) £1 = USD1.18652. You can use a currency converter for reference while reading.
When we talk about ‘scope’ in videography, we’re referring to several factors, such as:
Whether you’re filming a patient testimonial, equipment demonstration or surgical procedure can be done in many ways, so it’s important to think about the shots you would like to capture so you can make the most out of the video production process.
This can affect the number of cameras you might need for this video project which can normally fall between 1-4.
Here’s a list of camera configurations that may be used.
There are usually two grades of lighting that you can use in your video production, normal and enhanced. When shooting smaller spaces (e.g. interviews in offices), normal lighting is often appropriate, but when filming in larger spaces, or close to windows, it’s necessary to use enhanced lighting to balance the lighting in the scene.
This is typically in the range between £200 and £450 per day depending on your supplier, and type of shoot.
B-Roll is any additional footage that you want to add to your video and make it more dynamic.
For example, if you’re filming a testimonial and the patient expresses how they can now ride their horse again following treatment, adding a video clip of them with their horse would add significant emotional weight and contextual value to the video.
All B-roll needs to be planned before filming starts as it can take up to 1.5 hours to set the cameras and lighting up in a new location. This might add at least half a day to your shoot and will be something that you’ll need to account for when planning out your day and budget.
In medical video production, a scene refers to the different set-ups in the location where you plan to film. For example, you might film your introduction near a neutral background but then film the rest of the video in the operating theatre.
The number of sets required can affect both the price and the length of the shoot which is why it’s critical that the time spent assembling your sets is planned upfront. It can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 1hr 30 mins+ to set up the cameras and lights for a new scene.
Normally you can do a maximum of 3 set-ups in a day, however, it’s dependent on the amount of footage to be captured.
If there is too much footage to capture it’s often better to move the filming across another day, as rushing can lead to scenes being missed out, causing significant issues in the editing suite and potentially re-filmed.
When predicting how long it can take to film and edit a medical device video there are a few things that you need to take into consideration. Often filming takes longer than you might anticipate due to retakes, nervous speakers or products misbehaving.
Accurately predicting how long video editing can take does vary but in our experience, we like to estimate a minimum of three days of video editing for one day of filming. This allows the video editors to really focus on the video production process and produce the highest quality of content.
To help you accurately guess how long your filming day might take here is a rough guide that we use to predict our shoots.
Procedure filming – 1 day filming, 3 days editing
Patient testimonial in one location – 1 day, 3 days editing
Patient testimonials in two locations – 2 days, 4 days editing
Product demonstration – 2 days, 4-6 days editing
As a medical video production company ourselves, we price a day of filming with full post-production ranging from £8,000 – £16,300. This includes cameras, lenses, lighting and the full project team.
Some medical video productions need that extra element that only a voiceover or subtitles can add. If your video requires a voiceover and subtitles, there are several steps you need to take.
Firstly, you’ll need to create a script before filming to ensure you know how much footage you need to capture for each scene. Spending a full day filming only to find out you haven’t got enough footage to cover the script is incredibly frustrating.
Secondly, who would you like to speak in your voiceover? Each voiceover artist will have different rates and buy-out fees (allowing you to use their voiceover in the future on either specified platforms or freely across all platforms).
The rough cost of a voiceover artist with their buyout fee (normally 100% of studio fee) and production is from £2,250 upwards.
A major influence that will affect the price of a medical filming day is the location. Most filming crews will have a base, but if your location is more than 2 hours away it would be more efficient for them to stay in the area.
Not only will this extend the filming time, as they won’t have to factor in travel time into their day, but it will help keep your crew well rested and ready for the next day.
This is something that needs to be considered in the budget as it will cause the overall cost to rise.
If you’re doing an equipment demonstration, you’ll need either a member of your team to be a model, so they can point to everything as needed, or you can hire a model who will do this for you. This is often a good option as they’re trained to make products look good and are used to the pressure of being filmed so won’t need as many takes. In this respect, they’re worth the cost.
Music has many functions in video and can add a huge amount of emotional depth to your video content. The right music will also help keep your video content engaging and entertaining. You can have music created for your video but often you can use pre-recorded tracks from an audio platform and mix it to match the length of your video.
Purchasing a music track or producing one will add between £500 and £750 to the cost of your project.
One of the final things you need to think about is the final version of your video and where you want to share it. Adding video marketing to your overall content strategy is a great move to improve your engagement and reach.
But how will this affect the video production on the day?
How your video will fit into your marketing strategy will change how it’s filmed.
Things like:
For instance, if you are thinking of filming a 2-hour interview and also cutting it down into small clips for social media then you’ll need to make sure these factors into your shots.
Additionally, when it comes to social media, different platforms have different size requirements, so when exporting the video, you need to export the correct size for each platform. This will be additional time and an additional cost.
Your marketing agency or freelancer should be able to tell you the number of outputs needed based on your intentions for the video, but you can easily look up specs on sites such as SproutSocial.
At Podymos, we can support every aspect of your video production process to save you time for other areas of your business.
We’re a full-service marketing agency and video production services that are dedicated to the medical device industry. We ensure your video content is on brand and in compliance with local country regulations, as well as entirely not to mention relevant to your audience.
Do you want to add videos into your medical device marketing but don’t know where to start? Well we do!
Podymos is a dedicated healthcare marketing agency, specialising in downstream medical device marketing. Our services might be a bit pricier than non-specialised agencies and freelance teams, and that’s because our exclusive focus on the medical device space equips us with specialised knowledge and expertise that others might not offer.
For compliant campaigns that align with your business objectives, we’re here to assist. Simply provide your contact details, and we’ll reach out promptly for a no-obligation discussion.
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