2. How much does a corporate film cost?
4. What do you expect from me, the client?
5. What can we expect from you, the Production Company?
6. What puts the cost of my film up?
7. How can I keep the cost of my film down?
8. Can Flickering Wall do everything from idea to delivery and duplication?
10. How long should my film be?
12. How does music work in film?
13. Should we be shooting on SD or HD?
14. Do you have special rates for Charities?
Film does something that no other communication medium can do. Its paints pictures in the minds of the viewers; it communicates to thousands of people in seconds; it draws you in and makes you feel part of something bigger; its art; it’s communication; it’s a message; it’s a story. Film can do something that a PDF can never do; it does something Radio can never do; It does something a Magazine can never do: it makes people feel something, it makes them connect emotionally with a product, message or story.
How much does a corporate film cost?
Whatever you want to spend is the easy answer. There are so many variables (Studio or Location? Graphics or Live Action? HD or SD?) that its impossible to come up with specific figures. As a guide, we advise clients should be thinking somewhere in the region of three thousand to four thousand Euros per minute. We’ve done films for less, we’ve done films for a lot more but it’s a start. Films that cost the earth can look terrible, films that cost nothing, can look beautiful. Whatever your budget, we’ll guide you through the process, advise you on where you can make savings and deliver a film that will look fantastic and communicates your message to the hearts and minds of your viewers.
How long does it take to make a film?
It took Rodin more than fifteen years to cast The Gates Of Hell (Les Portes de l'Enfer); it took Rembrandt about eighteen months to paint the Night Watchmen and it takes one week to put together Time magazine. Film shouldn’t take long, we’ve turned films round in one week, other films have taken several months of meeting, prepping and shooting. One thing is for sure, we’re light, fast, professional and good at what we do, you want it next week, we’ll do our very best to deliver it next week.
What do you expect from me, the client?
Message Its your film and your message, we’ll say whatever you want us to say but we rely on your giving us clear and precise guidelines. The more information you can give us the more we can interrupt your message in to film. You give us a Message we’ll give you a film.
Mood What’s the vibe of your film? What’s the style? What colour is it? What music does it have? What film is it like? The mood of the film is down to you – you know the company, the message the audience better than we do. You advise us on the mood and we’ll give you a film.
Money In an ideal world maybe money wouldn’t exist and we’d make films simply because we love it. But some of us have wives and children’s who don’t share our love for film and want to see food on the table. Those of us that don’t have Bank Managers, which is even worst. We work in Sterling and Euros and occasionally bottles of Whiskey. We ask our clients for 50% within 14 days of agreeing to the film and the final 50% within 14 days of completion. You pay us some money, we’ll deliver you a film.
Meddling This is where you come in to your own. We’ll Deliver, Direct, Drive and take care of Detail but it your fervent right to Meddle: to ask questions, to turn up at shoots, to input ideas, to be involved, to shape, mould and help design the film. We want you to be as involved as you would like to be. You be involved, you meddle and we’ll deliver you a film.
What can we expect from you, the Production Company?
Detail We will look after and manage the shoot for you. This is our job, it what you pay us to do, it what we’re experts in. Locations, timings, scheduling, music, crew, dates, catering, travel is all looked after by our experienced production team. We may well ask for some help, you can expect us to ask for your advice, you know your business better than we do – but, its not your concern, its ours. We look after the details for you.
Directing In every sense, we will direct your film with skill, panache and professionalism. This means the delivery of creative treatments in to how we interpret your Message and Mood, the execution of those treatments and the final delivery of a film that we hope will go above and beyond your expectations. We will handle the “film” part of your film, that unique quality of this medium of communication that paints pictures in the hearts and minds of the viewer. We look after the directing and the direction of the film.
Delivery We make film. We deliver film. Whether it’s a single Master Tape for your archives or a Vodcast to be delivered around the world through the internet – we will make sure your film is where it needs to be, when you need it. Not only that, where possible, we will provide hardware support and technical backup to make sure there are no hiccups along the way. We deliver, on time and on budget.
Drive We will become and extension of your Communications and Marketing Department, we will drive the film forward and take the lead for you. We will let you know exactly what you need to do and when you need to do it but it is our responsibility, we want to make this easy for you, not harder. That doesn’t mean you’re excluded from the process, on the contrary, it simply means that we will lead you through this process and we will drive it forward.
What puts the cost of my film up?
Deciding to shoot your film in Cancun can make it a little more expensive than shooting in Camden. Asking Richard Attenborough to do the Voice Over will up your Post Production Budget and seeing if Steven Soderbergh was available to direct the interview may cause some fiscal problems. There are a number of things that will up the cost of the film intentionally and sometimes unintentionally. We will always present you with transparent budgets and a range of options. We write up our budgets like Chinese Menus, each section is itemised so you can see what happens to your budget if you remove, for example, a Studio Day or a Location Shoot in Scotland.
How can I keep the costs of my film down?
We will advise you on the most efficient way to shoot your film and allow you to make changes so it meets your requirements. If your film involves interviews, see if the interviewee will come to the crew rather than visa versa. Keep the number of locations down to a minimum. Shoot on SD instead of HD, especially if it’s for Internal Comms or predominantly Web use. The other element that always keeps costs down is to have clear sign off procedures in place before Production starts, we will make you aware of key dates and times for sign off in advance.
Can Flickering Wall do everything from idea to delivery and duplication?
Of course we can; in fact for most of our clients we do everything from initial concepts to delivering fully designed and authored DVD's. We aim to make your life easier not more complex and will handle every element of the product for you.
Because we’re lovely, brilliant, creative and good at what we do. But also we make Corporate Films, its what we do, we take people who make Commercials, Music Videos, Feature films and put them on your film. We know how to communicate, we know how to make film, we know how to tell stories, we know how to take your message and make it come alive. And if that doesn’t convince you, use us because you’d be giving us the opportunity to do what we love doing.
The tendency is to go long but we will always advocate short and sharp. Its one of the golden rules of film making, don’t say in six shots what you can say in three. We will write up treatments for you which clearly set out our thoughts, ideas and the length of the film.
Of course you can. What would you like to do?
Music makes a film… picture a scene from Psycho with the music from Juno running underneath it. If we were being really flowery, we’d say music carries the story to the hearts of the viewers and makes words, story and sentiment, come alive. That sound a bit fluffy, suffice it to say, it’s crucial. Think about what tracks you like, what style you like; what sort of mood do you want. We work with a number of composers who can write you a bespoke piece; we also have music specialists who source music for us.
Should we be shooting on SD or HD?
SD is great, especially as you can now shoot progressive (makes it look more like film), it will make a beautiful film and with some good Post Production will look like you’ve shot a Feature. HD is all that and more, better resolution, sharper images, better depth of field, better colour. It’s a thing of beauty and what the world wants to shoot on. It very much depends on what you want your finished film to be used for. We shoot regularly on both and will advise you on what is best for your product. If you want to raise your film (and budget) through the roof – you’ll shoot on the Red.
Do you have special rates for Charities?
Yeah of course we do – we even do films at cost sometimes, give us a call and we’ll chat, +44 (0) 20 7149 3717.
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