You need a videographer for two hours. Perhaps it’s a corporate interview, a small event, some content for your website or a handful of videos for social media. The filming itself is relatively straightforward, so it’s understandable to assume that the quote should broadly reflect those two hours of work. Right?
But those two hours are only a small part of the job.
Professional videography involves a considerable amount of work before the camera starts rolling and long after the videographer leaves. A seemingly simple two-hour shoot can represent a full day of work at minimum and, depending on the project, several days.
Understanding that workflow can make it much easier to understand what you’re actually paying for when you hire a professional videographer.
Before the shoot
Long before arriving on location, the videographer needs to understand what you are trying to achieve.
That might involve emails, calls, reviewing a brief, discussing references, creating a shot list, researching the location and working out what equipment is required.
A corporate interview, for example, might require multiple cameras, lenses, tripods, microphones, lighting, batteries, memory cards and backup equipment.
All of that needs to be checked, charged, formatted, packed and transported.
For a relatively simple shoot, the preparation might look something like:
- Reviewing the brief and communicating with the client
- Planning the filming approach and shot list
- Checking the location and logistics
- Selecting cameras, lenses, lighting and audio equipment
- Charging batteries and preparing memory cards
- Testing equipment
- Packing and loading kit
- Arranging transport or parking
None of this happens while the client is watching, but all of it is necessary for the shoot to run professionally.
Travel is part of the working day
Then there is getting to the job.
A two-hour shoot in central London might involve an hour travelling there and another hour travelling back, potentially while carrying thousands of pounds’ worth of equipment.
There may also be train fares, mileage, taxis, parking or congestion charges.
If a videographer leaves home at 10am for a midday shoot and returns at 4pm, those two hours of filming have already occupied six hours of their day.
A short booking can block an entire day
Timing matters too.
Imagine you need a videographer from 1pm until 3pm.
On paper, that sounds like a two-hour job.
In practice, the videographer may need to leave at 11am and won’t get back until 5pm. They also need time beforehand to prepare their equipment and afterwards to unload it and back up the footage.
That makes it extremely difficult to accept another meaningful booking that day.
Freelancers sell capacity as well as time. A booking in the middle of the day can effectively remove an entire working day from their diary, even if the client only sees them for a couple of hours.
This is one reason professional freelancers often work with half-day and day rates rather than simply multiplying an hourly rate by the number of hours spent on site.
Then the real work begins
Once filming finishes, the footage isn’t ready to use.
Before editing can even begin, files need to be transferred, organised and backed up. Depending on the amount and resolution of the footage, this can itself take considerable time.
The videographer then needs to turn the raw material into something worth watching.
That can include:
- Reviewing and selecting footage
- Synchronising multiple cameras and audio
- Building the initial edit
- Cleaning and mixing sound
- Colour correcting and grading footage
- Adding titles, graphics, captions or branding
- Sourcing and licensing music
- Creating different versions or formats
- Exporting files
- Uploading and delivering the finished work
- Managing client feedback and revisions
- Archiving the project
For many projects, post-production takes considerably longer than filming.
A two-hour interview shoot, for example, could easily generate several hours of footage across multiple cameras. Turning that material into a polished three-minute film is not a three-minute job.
So what does a two-hour shoot actually look like?
Take a relatively straightforward corporate video as an example.
Client briefing and planning: 1–2 hours
Equipment preparation: 1 hour
Travel: 2 hours
Set-up: 1 hour
Filming: 2 hours
Pack-down and return travel: 1–2 hours
Backing up and organising footage: 1 hour
Editing and post-production: 6–10 hours
Feedback, revisions and delivery: 2–3 hours
That “two-hour shoot” can quickly become 17–22 hours of professional work.
And that is before accounting for the cost of cameras, lenses, computers, storage, editing software, insurance, transport and the years spent developing the skills required to deliver the work.
What are you actually paying for?
When you hire an experienced videographer, you aren’t simply renting somebody and their camera for a couple of hours.
You’re paying for them to take responsibility for an outcome.
You’re paying for someone who knows which equipment to bring, how to respond when the lighting is difficult, how to capture clean audio, what to do when something goes wrong and how to transform hours of raw material into a finished piece of content.
You’re also paying for the infrastructure that allows them to do that professionally.
A freelancer’s rate has to cover equipment, software, insurance, administration, accounting, marketing, training, pension, tax, periods without client work and all the other costs that would normally sit behind an employee.
This is why comparing a freelancer’s quote with an employee’s hourly wage rarely makes sense.
Transparency makes fair pricing easier
Most clients aren’t deliberately trying to undervalue creative work.
Often, they simply don’t see it.
They see the photographer taking photographs, the videographer filming, the make-up artist applying make-up or the designer presenting finished concepts. The hours of preparation, administration, travel, experimentation and post-production are largely invisible.
Making that work visible changes the conversation.
Instead of asking:
“Why does two hours cost that much?”
the better question becomes:
“What does it actually take to deliver this project?”
A good freelancer should be able to explain that clearly. Equally, a good client should be willing to recognise the work that happens outside the hours they can see.
Because when you hire a freelancer, you’re not just paying for their time on site.
You’re paying for everything required to get the job done properly.
Get your next video project done properly.
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This article is part of Freelancer Club’s What You’re Really Paying For series, exploring the work behind different freelance creative disciplines and helping clients commission creative talent more fairly.
Photo: Kyle Loftus
