5 Main Things to Keep in Mind When Choosing a Commercial Production Company

There are many different commercial production companies out there, and if you don’t know what to look for you could end up hiring the wrong one. Video equipment and video production have never been as affordable as they are now, which means that anyone with a little bit of cash can invest in a decent camera and call themselves a “production company.”

So how exactly can you find the right commercial production company? You should do your research and compare various commercial production companies in order to not only determine their quality and respectability, but also whether they can provide the type of video marketing your company needs. Keeping this in mind, the following are five things that you’ll want to consider when choosing a commercial production company:

1. The Quality of Their Work

A good way to get a general sense of the quality of a particular commercial production company’s work is by viewing their reel. Any company worth their salt has a reel online that you can watch – although keep in mind that the reel may not always be up to date.

While a reel is a good way to get a feel for a company’s quality, you should also watch samples of video content that they’ve produced. Watch some of their most recent work to get a better idea of their quality.

Pay attention to not just how it looks, but also to how it’s cut together, the rhythm, the sound quality and how effective the message of the video is. A good video production company will post recent work either on their website or on their social media pages.

2. The Cost

Never choose a company based solely on how affordable they are. With video production, there are a lot of details to consider and a lot of moving parts to discuss.  Landing on a budget range or rate you can afford can be a process of exchanging ideas and figuring out what will work best for both you and the production company.

Working with someone you trust, and getting great quality for a fair price is more important than getting the cheapest service you can find.

3. Their Capabilities

It’s important for all commercial production companies to keep their technology, equipment and creative style up-to-date!  Technology changes so quickly, as do creative trends, so it’s beneficial to explore the range of capabilities your commercial production company has to offer.

You’ll want to work with a company that has full control over all aspects of your video content, and offers most of their capabilities in-house or through vetted and trusted partners. A great way to evaluate a company is to take a tour of their studio and facility to get a first-hand look at their capabilities.

4. Their Experience

Experience matters in the video production industry. The more experience they have, the more adept they will be to meeting strict deadlines as well as coming up with solutions on the fly to any production problems that arise. It also means that they will make fewer mistakes. Beginners in the video production world often learn their video skills through trial and error – and you don’t want that trial and error to occur on your videos.

Look for a company that has experienced camera operators, sound engineers and editors. The longer they’ve worked in the field the better. You may want to ask about their education as well. Commercial production companies whose staff have film school education in addition to real world experience are always a plus.

5. Their Fit

There’s a good chance that out of all the commercial production companies you look at, there will be two or three that can demonstrate high-quality work, charge reasonable and clear rates, have extensive in-house capabilities and boast years of experience. So now what do you do? How do you choose between these commercial production companies? Once you’ve gotten to this point, it’s time to determine how they will fit with your company’s specific needs and personality.

Finding a good fit is more important than you might think. Remember, you’re not just hiring them to do a single video; rather, you need a video production company that you can turn to for all of your video marketing needs. This means that you need a team that you can build an ongoing relationship with.

Get to know your prospective production company by viewing team bio videos on their website, or going to meet them in person.  They should just as invested in to getting to know you, and in answering any and all questions you may have.

Now that you know what to look for, it will be a lot easier for you to narrow down the commercial production companies available to you to a single video production company – one that will meet your unique needs and provide high-quality video work that will help to effectively market your brand.
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