How much is this going to cost? A cautionary tale.

By John Dowsett

How much is this going to cost? Every production we discuss includes this question, and we only get two responses, “How come so much” and “That is great”.

Recently a client asked us to produce a short video for their web site to market a new product. They had an idea of what they wanted, and as such did not ask us for input. This is rare. Our clients typically engage us at every stage, probably partially due to the fact that we do not charge for brainstorming sessions.

In this case we quoted our daily rates for shooting and editing processes. A few days later we were informed that the executive had asked for three quotes, eventually deciding to engage another supplier “due to budgetary constraints”. We found this surprising as they know we work within budgets, finding solutions to match budgets, but alas the production had gone away.

Scroll forward two weeks. On the phone a distressed voice asked if we could have a look at the video. The video contained little of what the client wanted. “How much would it cost to make this right – can you do it in post?”. Sadly the production was severely flawed. The lighting was great. The camerawork was acceptable (even if all hand held). There was no direction. The editing was non-existent. The voice over was recorded with the camera microphone and the heavily accented commentary was stilted.

After much discussion we determined that if spruced up, the video could serve a purpose. Not the intended purpose, but it could be used to illustrate a technical feature of the product. Even if we do fix this video it will not serve the purpose it was meant to. It is always much more difficult (and hence costly) to repair a video or web site than it is to do it properly in the first place.

Adrenaline is engaged regularly to be the “Doctor”. We are summoned at various stages of development in web sites, video and print to make things right. There is not a member of the team that does not revel in the challenge. We have all worked to be at the top of our game, and this is where we are get to stretch our legs. Seeing the relief on the client’s face as the work is completed puts smiles on our faces.

We are waiting to hear if they want us to fix this flawed production. It will never serve the purpose that they originally wanted, but it may have some use.

The result is not pretty.

1. We will do what we can, the client will have paid far too much, left with a product without the content they originally wanted.
2. The client will cut their losses and abandon the production.
3. The client will engage us or another established production house to start from scratch.

Sadly it doesn’t matter which path is taken, the end result will cost a great deal more than if they had not tried to cut corners.

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