How to choose a video production company in Barcelona: what to check and ask

Before you search: be clear about what you need

Barcelona has plenty of video production companies, and almost all of them have a nice website and a stirring showreel. So the choice starts before you look at any of them: with being clear about what you need.

Four questions are worth answering before writing to anyone. What piece is it? A corporate video, a commercial, social content, an event, a podcast, a music video. What is it for? Selling, presenting the company to investors, attracting talent, launching a product. Where will it be seen? On the website, on LinkedIn, on a trade show screen, on Instagram. When do you need it?

A fifth question changes everything: do you already have the idea or do you need someone to propose it? If you have a script and just need someone to shoot it, you want a production company with a strong crew. If you have a goal but do not know how to tell it, you need a production company with a creative side, or a creative agency that also produces. We explain it in what a video production company does.

With those answers written down on one page, you have a brief. It does not need to be perfect; any production company just needs to understand what you are after. If you want to do it properly, here is how to write a video brief. You will find the responses become far more useful, because you can compare proposals for the same thing.

Look at work like yours, not just the showreel

A showreel is a production company's best shots cut to epic music. It shows whether they have a good eye, but says little about whether they can make your piece. What you really want is to see complete pieces similar to the one you need.

If you need a corporate video, ask for full corporate videos, start to finish, and check whether you understand what the company does. For example, for Qilimanjaro, a European quantum computing company, we made more than fifteen videos: company presentations, product pieces with motion graphics, event coverage and a short documentary with their CEO. The hard part was not filming a lab, but making people understand what happens inside it.

If you need fashion, look at complete fashion films and lookbooks. For LARHHA, at 080 Barcelona Fashion, we made the fashion film, lookbook, product photography and social content for its collection, with restrained art direction that let the design take centre stage.

If you need social content, ask to see accounts the company runs on an ongoing basis, not a one-off reel. Consistency is exactly the hard part.

And notice one more thing: whether clients come back. A production company whose clients return year after year is one that is good to work with, which matters as much as shooting well.

The questions to ask before hiring

Once you have two or three production companies that fit, a call with each will tell you more than any website. These are the questions we recommend.

Who will be on set and who will edit? In some companies, the person selling the project is not the one making it. It is good to know and to meet whoever will direct your piece.

What exactly does the proposal include? Pre-production, shoot days, crew, locations, actors, music, voice-over, motion graphics, subtitles, social versions. What is not written down tends to become an extra.

How many rounds of changes are there and how are they requested? It is normal to have a clear number of revisions in the edit. Also ask how they work: by email, on a platform with comments on the video, or in a meeting.

What timelines do you work to? From script approval to final delivery. If you have a fixed date, such as a trade show or a launch, say so from the start.

What do I get at the end? Formats, versions, lengths, subtitles and whether you can have the raw footage. Also who holds the usage rights for music and images, and for how long.

Which languages can you work in? If the piece is for outside Spain, you need versions in other languages or a native voice-over.

A good production company answers all this plainly, and asks you questions too.

Production company, freelancer or agency: when each makes sense

You do not always need a production company. It depends on the size and type of project.

A freelance videographer is a good option for simple pieces: filming a talk, a small event, a few interviews with one camera. They are agile and usually adapt well. The limit comes when the project needs more than one person at once: several cameras, professional sound, lighting, art direction, actors. Then the freelancer has to assemble a team, and coordination falls on them or on you.

A production company already has that team, used to working together. It handles everything: planning, permits and locations, shooting and post-production. It makes sense when the piece matters for your brand, when there are several pieces or when the shoot is somewhat complex.

A creative agency thinks up the idea, strategy and concept, and usually commissions production from a production company. It makes sense when what you are missing is knowing what to say.

And there is a fourth option, increasingly common: studios that are a creative agency and a production company at once, with one team that thinks up the idea and produces it. That is Bostak. The advantage is that nothing gets lost between whoever imagines and whoever shoots, and you have one point of contact from start to finish.

On price, each type works differently and it depends heavily on the project. We can detail it in a proposal with no commitment.

Why a production company from Barcelona or the Baix Llobregat

If you are shooting in or around Barcelona, working with a local production company has very practical advantages.

It knows the locations. Which streets, terraces, beaches, warehouses or buildings work for each kind of piece, when they have the best light and which are too busy to shoot in peace. For the La Bunker spots, for example, we shot in recognisable places around the city, and choosing them well was part of the job.

It knows the permits. Filming on public streets in Barcelona goes through the Barcelona Film Commission, and in the Baix Llobregat each town hall has its own process. A local company knows how far ahead to apply and which paperwork is needed. We cover it in film permits in Barcelona and the Baix Llobregat.

It has a crew nearby. Technicians, actors, make-up, equipment hire and studios. All of that gets sorted quickly and without travel.

It can meet you. For many projects, a visit to your offices or factory before the shoot saves a lot of trouble on the day.

And if you are a brand from outside Spain, a local production company is your team on the ground: it prepares everything remotely and you can follow the shoot from your own country if you cannot travel.

Signals that help you decide

After talking to several production companies, they can all seem the same. These signals help you tell them apart.

Good sign: they ask what the video is for before talking about cameras. A company that understands your goal will propose the piece that achieves it, which is not always the one you had in mind.

Good sign: they send a written proposal with what is included, the schedule and what they need from you. You know what to expect and can compare.

Good sign: they show you complete pieces from similar projects and tell you what went well and what they learned.

Good sign: they talk about what happens after delivery. Social versions, LinkedIn cuts, subtitles, photos from the shoot. One well-planned shoot day can give you material for months.

Sign to ask more: if they give you a fixed price before knowing what you need, or the proposal does not say how many revisions there are. It does not mean it will go wrong, but it is worth clarifying before signing.

And the last one, which seems obvious but weighs a lot: that they understand you. You will work with these people for weeks. If you feel listened to on the first call and the answers are clear, the rest of the project will probably go the same way.

How we work at Bostak

At Bostak Films we are a video production company and a creative agency at the same time, based in Viladecans, about twenty minutes from Barcelona, and we shoot across the Barcelona area and wherever needed. We make corporate videos, commercials and campaigns, social content, fashion films, music videos, photography and video podcasts.

Every project starts with a conversation about what you want to achieve. Then we send a written proposal with the idea, what is included, the schedule and what we need from you. One team handles the idea, the shoot and post-production, so you have a single point of contact from start to finish and the style does not change from one piece to the next. And we have our own studio in Viladecans for whatever is best shot indoors.

We have worked for technology companies such as Qilimanjaro and Audiovisuales Data, fashion brands such as Stradivarius with Ainhoa Uruñuela, LARHHA and NouVelleMaison, product and food brands such as Bunker and Dr. Pizza with Glovo, and artists such as Paula Valls and Azul Infarto.

If you are looking for a production company in Barcelona, tell us about your project. You can see how we work as a video production company in Barcelona, and in a first call we will tell you how we would do it, with no commitment.

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