January 6, 2011 \ Geoff Birmingham
Can I Hire a Video Production Crew for an Hour?

setting up shot for marketing video at Mass Bay community collegeHere’s a practical note that might be of value to some folks out there.  It’s not unusual that a client or prospective client will have a short event that they want captured, and they ask us about the feasibility of filming for a couple of hours.  Our answer is always that it’s feasible, but if they want our help for that short time, they aren’t taking full advantage of our services.

Not all production companies operate in the same way, but most charge a production day rate.   In other words, a company will only hire itself out for a full day.  This means if you have a two-hour event that you want recorded, you will pay for a full day’s worth of work, even though the company is only on location for a portion of the day.  Some solo cameramen will hire themselves out for a half-day, but you’ll often only save yourself about 25% off their normal full-day rate.

So you have a few options: find a company that will work on an hourly rate, shoot the footage yourself if professional-grade quality isn’t so important, or hire a company for the day and take full advantage of their services.  Beyond your two-hour event, you should have plenty of time to capture additional footage such as interviews with leaders or other staff in your organization, b-roll, and maybe even a customer testimonial or two.

With some planning, short clips from this extra video footage could be useful for e-newsletters, YouTube channels, boosting SEO on your website, or enhancing your social media efforts.