How much a corporate video costs and what it depends on

Why no serious producer quotes without asking first

Search for how much a corporate video costs and you'll find comparison sites with an average figure. The problem is that the average lumps together things that have nothing in common: a video shot on a phone in one morning and a piece with a script, three locations, actors and animation. It's like asking how much a house costs without saying where it is or how big it is.

That's why production companies ask questions before giving you a number. They're not dodging the question: the price is the sum of several line items, and each one depends on what you want to say. Some companies charge per finished piece, others by shoot days and editing days. Either way, underneath, they're calculating the same thing: how many people work on it and for how many days.

So the useful question isn't how much a corporate video costs, but what yours needs. That gets settled in a short conversation. To come to it prepared, it helps to know how to write a video brief: the goal, the audience, where it will be watched and what should happen once someone finishes watching it.

The shoot: days, locations, people and crew

The shoot is what moves a budget the most. Every shoot day adds a full crew: direction, camera, sound, lighting and, depending on the job, production or make-up. A video you can wrap in one morning at your office is nothing like one that needs two days in three different places, because every change of location means taking the lights down, setting them up again, checking the sound and losing hours in transit.

Who appears on screen matters too. Interviewing three people from your team isn't the same as hiring actors or a professional voice. Filming in a factory or a lab with safety rules takes more preparation than filming in a meeting room. And if you shoot on the street, in Barcelona it has to go through the Barcelona Film Commission, and in the Baix Llobregat through each town hall. We explain it in what permit you need to film in Barcelona and the Baix Llobregat.

The kit should be in proportion. Not everything calls for three digital cinema cameras: a well-lit interview with two cameras and good location sound covers a lot of company videos. What matters is that the kit fits where the video will be watched, not that it looks impressive on paper.

Does a one-minute video cost less than a three-minute one?

It's one of the most repeated searches, and the short answer is: not necessarily. Length matters less than it seems. A tightly crafted minute, with pace, animated titles and every shot planned, can take more editing hours than three minutes of interview with cutaways. On top of that, saying something well in sixty seconds forces you to sharpen the script a lot, and that's work too.

Where you do notice it is in post-production. Editing, colour and sound mixing are always there. From that point on, every layer adds up: animation to explain data or a product, voice-over, licensed music, subtitles, versions in other languages. Rounds of changes count as well, so it's worth agreeing from the start how many there will be and who signs off.

Then there are the versions. The website video is usually horizontal, but LinkedIn, Instagram or a trade-show screen need other formats and other lengths. If they're planned before the shoot, they cost little extra, because every shot is framed with all the formats in mind. If they're requested at the end, part of the edit has to be redone.

One standalone video, or everything a shoot can give you

The cost per piece drops when a shoot is used well. Bringing the crew, lighting the space and getting people ready is the expensive part; once that's done, filming a bit more costs relatively little. That's why many companies order one main video and, on the same day, get short pieces for social media, a testimonial and team photos. We cover it in how to get a month of content from one shoot.

Two of our own cases. For Audiovisuales Data, which sells technical equipment to other businesses, the same project produced product videos, photography of the equipment and a digital catalogue that turns spec sheets into something people can actually follow. With Qilimanjaro, a European quantum computing company, we have worked as audiovisual partner: more than fifteen corporate videos, event coverage and lab photography, planned as an ongoing relationship rather than one-off jobs.

What about artificial intelligence? It's useful for specific tasks: subtitles, cleaning up audio, some animation or a background. But a corporate video works because it shows your real people, your real space and your real product, and that has to be filmed.

How to ask for a corporate video quote in Barcelona

To get a quote that fits what you need, and to be able to compare production companies, send all of them the same thing: what the video is for and where it will be watched, a rough length, how many locations and people will appear, whether you need animation or voice-over, in which languages, how many versions you want and when you need it. If there's a video from another brand you like, include it: it saves a lot of explaining. Ask them to break down each line item so you know what you're comparing, and ask about the timeline. We go through it in how long a corporate video takes to make.

At Bostak Films we're based in Viladecans, 20 minutes from central Barcelona, and we film in the city and across the whole Baix Llobregat area. We make your corporate video from start to finish with the same team: idea, script, shoot, edit, colour and delivery in every format you need. Tell us what you want to say and who it's for, and we'll put together a proposal with the pieces, the shoot and the timeline, with no obligation.

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