FAQ's

HERE ARE SOME
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

^{How do I choose a video production
company?}
^{Why should I choose Pirate
Excursions?}
^{How much does a video
cost?}^{What questions will Pirate
Excursions ask us?}^{How long does it take to make a
video?}^{What
are the steps to making a custom
video?}

How do I choose a video production company?

Ask these questions when selecting a video production company:

. Do you like their demo reel?
. Did they answer all your video questions?
. Can they do it for a reasonable price?
. Do they have the experience to tackle your project?
. Do you trust the contact person?
. Can they meet your deadline?
. Do they understand your business?

Why should I choose Pirate Excursions?
Pirate Excursions offers more than 25 years of award-winning production expertise along with the dedication to learn your business, create the best message, always on budget and always on deadline ---every time. You will be working with video professionals who take extreme pride in their work. We put the "pro" in production.

How much does a video cost?
What if someone asked "How much does a house cost?" You might say "it depends on a lot of factors. I need a little more information. Do you have any blue prints for your dream home? Did the bank tell you how much house can you afford?" These questions are analogous to the process in budgeting for a custom video production.

A lot of variables must be identified and analyzed before a fair and proper video production budget can be created. See below for a typical list of variables. Although we budget a video by line items, we can say estimate that a typical video can cost between $1500 to $5000 per finished minute, depending on those same line item costs.

^{What questions will
Pirate Excursions ask
us?}.   Who is your target audience?
.   What is your message?
.   What is the purpose of your video?
.   What visual and graphical elements do you want to show?
.   Where do we have to travel to get these elements?
.   How many minutes do you think the program should last?
.   What is the estimated shelf life of your video?
.   Who will be the subject matter expert on this video?
.   Who will be approving the scripts and offline edits?
.   What is your deadline? What is driving your deadline?
.   How much do you have budgeted to spend on your video?
.   Can we re-purpose video elements for other uses- like a company web-site?
.   When can we get started?

Here are just some of the line items in a typical video budget:

Pre-production

Scripting

Shooting Days

Travel

Tape Stock

Animation

Graphics

Narration

Actors

Set Design

Editing

Props

How long does it take to make a video?
You can count on several months timeline from first meeting to completed master. Just like building a custom home, some projects can take shorter or longer. The client can minimize the process time by limiting the number of company people involved in the approval process, making sure there is a professional subject matter expert (SME) at each shooting location and budgeting enough pre-production planning time to adequately prepare for the project.

What are the steps to making a custom video?
Planning meetings determine the budget, scope, audience and objective of the video. Next we synthesize your company's materials and ideas and come up with several draft scripts. After a final shooting script is approved, shooting and graphics design begins. After all the principal shooting and interviews are complete, a final editing script is written and approved. Next a rough draft of the edited video, called an off-line is completed. After the off-line version has been approved, a completed master, called an on-line edit is completed. Finally the dubs are made and the client sits back with a sigh and a smile.

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