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Professional Videographer Price and Cost - TV Commerical Production Rates

Pricing and Rates for Professional Video Production

30 SEC. TV AD ON-LOCATION PRODUCTION PACKAGE – Price upon request.
30 seconds (:30) is the international broadcast standard length for a television commercial. In Hartwell's On-location Production Package, the place of business or event and any on-camera talent are videotaped in true hi-definition in one location for up to 8 hours using a professional Canon 5D Mark IV SLR or Panasonic camcorder (depending on application), Sachtler tripod, slider, Orbit Dolly, Kessler Crane or Mavic Pro Drone. The cameraman is equipped with professional Sennheiser Evolution wireless microphones for clear, long-range audio capture of talent as well as a Sennheiser MKH-416 shotgun mic with boom pole for close range. A teleprompter is also available for on-camera talent. Clients who require shoots in multiple locations or across multiple days are subject to additional fees, as are weekend and after-hour shoots (7:00pm-2:00am), as well as shoots longer than eight hours. Call for more details. Once the ad is shot, the footage is edited within 5 days, and even as quick as 24 hours. Hartwell Digital Media uses Adobe Creative Suite hi-def editing software on a custom quad-core workstation. Product logos, titles, photos and simple animations are added to the footage, as needed. If your video requires complex animations like animated maps or multiple moving layers of on-screen text which require many additional hours of compositing in Adobe AfterEffects, Hartwell Digital Media can help, but the cost can elevate to anywhere from $100 to $2,000 over the standard production rate, depending on the complexity of the animation. Again, simple animations and text movement are free of charge and few clients request complex animations. To go along with the visuals, the appropriate background music is selected from Hartwell's extensive sound library and added free of charge, as well as any sound effects that might be needed. Professional DJ-quality voice talent is contracted at no additional cost to the client to deliver the client's message. Voice demos can be emailed for preview before production if desired. Hartwell also offers his own voice-overs, professionally recorded in his studio. Additional fees apply if you contract voice talent outside of Hartwell's talent bank which comes primarily from SpeedySpots.com.

30 SEC. TV AD IN-STUDIO PRODUCTION PACKAGE - Price upon request.
In-Studio 30 second TV ad productions, by definition, are created without ever leaving the studio, saving the client hundreds over an on-location production which requires traveling and filming. With an In-studio production, previously-recorded footage, photos, catalogues and other graphics supplied in print or on CD are blended together with Adobe CC editing software. When working with still images, the editor employs zoom and pan controls to simulate motion and make still images come alive. Professional voice-over narration and music bed are added to the soundtrack as in the on-location production. As mentioned, the client may also use moving footage previously shot by Hartwell or provide footage shot by another producer as long as the footage is in horizontal "landscape", not vertical "portrait" mode, provided as hi-def files on a thumb drive, external drive or sent via an online file transfer tool like FileMail.com. As in the on-location production, product logos, titles and simple animations are added to convey important info, but when the client requests highly complex animations like those mentioned above, additional fees apply.

15 & 60 SEC. TV AD PRODUCTION PACKAGES – Price upon request.
As a general rule, the production costs for 15 second ads are typically around two-thirds the cost of their On-location and In-Studio :30 counterparts. The cost for a :60 is roughly 25% more than that of an On-Location or In-Studio :30. Prices for :45, :10 and :05 TV ads are available upon request.

INSERT CHANGE / DONUT STYLE AD – Price upon request.
Insert Changes traditionally involve a "donut-style" :30 ad in which a 10 sec. generic opening and standard :05 sec. ending are left intact and the middle 10 to 20 seconds becomes the "donut hole" to be filled with different segments or info. Insert changes to a donut ad are often on a monthly basis (like a car dealership's 2 featured deals of the month), though sometimes just to create two essentially different ads with different products or services to rotate equally in a broadcast schedule... offering some savings over the cost of producing two totally different ads. If not a donut-style ad, it's simply $50 per video change, $50 per audio change whenever changes are required to update or modify an ad already produced by Hartwell Digital Media.

DIGITAL DELIVERY OF AD TO TV STATION, WEB PUBLICATION OR YOUTUBE - $20/station
Hartwell will coordinate a hi-def upload of your finished ad with station reps and broadcast engineers to get your ad on the servers of the TV station or cable outlet of your choice. The process is simple: 1) Hartwell puts the finishing touches on your ad. 2) You receive a preview video of your final ad. 3) You approve. 4) Hartwell creates a hi-def file of your ad and uploads it to the broadcast outlet, web publication or YouTube. 5) It's ready for airtime in 5 short minutes!

HOURLY SHOOTING RATE (When not ordering a production package above): $125/hr. (2 hour minimum)

richardhartwell@charter.net    231-838-7424     Located in Traverse City, Michigan.    Have camera, will travel.