Quotes
I’m always happy to provide a quote for your project. Basically, the more information you can provide me, then the more accurate a quote I can provide in turn. I can break my quotes down by line item (storyboard, asset creation, animation etc.) so you can understand how your money will be spent.
Sometimes, the quoting process might first entail providing a ballpark quote based on very basic details (e.g. 90-second animation with music and a voiceover, destined for the web). If that ballpark price seems reasonable then a more detailed brief can be provided or worked up in collaboration with myself. This could have an outline script and a basic breakdown of what’s needed (e.g. 10 unique scenes, 4 characters etc.) and this will enable me to provide a more accurate quote.
What things can make a project more expensive?
Complexity / Length
Time equals money! These are the two things that are most likely to increase the time of a project and hence the cost. For example, 3D animation can be more complex than 2D animation and require longer render times.
I am always happy to explain these factors and provide alternative solutions if they begin to impact the budget and timescale.
Not adhering to the Motion Design Process
This is one way where you could incur extra costs. Changing the messaging of your project once you’ve signed off the storyboard can have a dramatic impact. What you sign off is what you’re contractually going to get - anything outside of that is deemed ‘off brief’ and will be priced up accordingly. Read more about it here.
Underestimating the length of your video
Clients often come to me requesting a 90-second video, yet the content they wish to include can end up doubling the length. Also, it’s not the case that a voiceover timed to 90-seconds will correspond to a 90-second video. Animation / visuals need time to be ‘read’ by the viewer and understood. Pauses in the voiceover contribute to the pace of the video and help bookend sections. Without them, a voiceover can end up sounding rushed and your viewers may not take it in at all.
Also, you have to bear in mind that if you have text on screen, it can take longer than you think to read - your viewers might not read it as fast as you do.
This problem usually arises between a ballpark quote and an accurate quote, where the price suddenly jumps from creating 90-seconds of content to something longer. So be realistic - creating a 90-second video may mean that you need to pare you messaging down to the absolute essentials or splitting the content up into separate videos or just finding peace with the fact that your video is going to be 3 minutes long!
Triple Constraint
The 'triple constraint' really should be borne in mind when thinking about costs. Animation can be a time consuming process and there are constantly new hardware and software improvements coming onto the stage that help speed things up but there will never be a shortcut for genuine creativity.
Value
Finally, I think it’s best to think more about the value of your project rather than the cost. How much more value would a high-quality animation bring to your business than a rushed job that ticks the boxes and gets the job done in time and on budget?
A video’s job begins once it has been delivered to you and served up to the viewers. Its performance in this regard is where the value lies. A low-quality, cheap and fast video will not perform as good as a high-quality product.