Studio 47 filming a subject speaking to camera on an outdoor set

Answers

Production questions, answered where they belong

Answers about hiring a video production company in Los Angeles and Ventura County: what drives cost, how long a project takes, and what to ask before you book.

What to ask before hiring anyone

Four questions separate a production company from a person with a camera, and none of them are about gear.

Ask who is actually on the crew for your shoot day, because the person who pitches is not always the person who shows up. Ask what the quote includes and what it excludes, since location fees, music, extra cutdowns and a second shoot day are the line items that surprise people later.

Ask to see a finished piece that resembles your job rather than a showreel. A reel is a highlight of everyone's best three seconds. One complete film tells you whether they can hold an idea for ninety seconds and whether the sound is any good.

Then ask what happens if the weather turns or a location falls through. Every experienced crew has a plan for it. The answer tells you how many shoot days they have really run.

Everything else, cameras, lenses, resolution, is a means to an end. Nobody watching the finished video will know or care which sensor it came off.

What actually drives the cost of a video

Five things move the number more than anything else.

Shoot days, because a second day roughly doubles crew and gear. Crew size, since a one-person shoot and a five-person shoot are different products with different results. Number of locations, because every move eats an hour of daylight before anything is filmed.

Edit intensity is the one clients underestimate. A straight cut of an interview and a motion graphics build with a custom score are not comparable jobs, and the difference is measured in days rather than hours.

The fifth is how many versions you need. A single film is one job. The same film plus a sixty second cut, a vertical version and three social pieces is closer to two, unless it is planned that way from the start, in which case the extra coverage is captured on the day and costs very little.

What barely moves the number: the specific camera, the resolution, and whether the edit is delivered in a week or two.

How long a video takes, start to finish

Three clocks run at once and the slowest one sets your date.

The first is booking. Two to three weeks is comfortable for a straightforward shoot day, more if the project needs casting, a location search or access to a venue.

The second is the shoot itself, which is usually the shortest part. Most of what we deliver comes from one or two days.

The third is the edit, and it is where schedules actually slip. A single interview cut moves in a few days. A branded film with music, graphics and colour takes two to three weeks. What lengthens it is rarely the editing: it is feedback. One decision maker returning consolidated notes keeps a project on schedule. Four people sending contradictory notes separately can double it.

If you have a hard date, tell us at the brief and we will build backwards from it, including the last realistic day for changes.

Who owns the footage, and what you get back

Everything we make for you is yours to use. That is the short version, and it is worth being clear about it up front because not every company works that way.

The obvious deliverable is the finished film, in a high quality master plus a compressed version for the web. Beyond that, what you receive is a matter of what was agreed: raw camera files, the editable project, caption files, additional aspect ratios and any cutdowns.

Ask for what you want at the brief rather than after delivery. Not because it is difficult afterwards, but because some of it changes how we shoot. Vertical versions in particular have to be composed for on the day, since cropping a horizontal frame throws away the framing you paid for.

We keep an archive of your project for a reasonable period, so a cutdown a year later starts from the original material rather than from nothing.

Where the detailed answers live

This page covers the questions that apply no matter what you are shooting. Everything more specific sits on the page closest to your job, and the three lists below link each question straight to its answer.

What a shoot in Malibu involves is not what a shoot in Oxnard involves: different light, different terrain, different drive and a completely different location inventory. Turnaround on social content is not turnaround on a branded film.

Every city page carries what has filmed there, what the terrain does to a schedule and who commissions work locally. Every service page carries how that kind of job is actually built.

Services

Every question below links straight to its answer.

Ventura County cities

Every question below links straight to its answer.

Los Angeles County cities

Every question below links straight to its answer.

Frequently asked questions

How do I choose a video production company?

Ask four things and you will separate a company from a person with a camera. Who is physically on your crew on the day, since the person who pitches is not always the person who shows up. What the quote includes and excludes. What you receive at the end, and in what formats. And what happens if weather or a location falls through. Then ask to see one finished piece that resembles your job, rather than a reel, because a reel is everyone's best three seconds and a finished film shows whether they can hold an idea for ninety seconds.

How much does a video cost?

Cost is driven by shoot days, crew size, number of locations, edit intensity and usage rights. A single-location interview with a small crew and a straight cut sits at one end. A multi-day shoot across several locations with a motion-graphics build sits at the other. Studio 47 scopes those five variables before quoting.

What is the difference between a videographer and a production company?

A videographer is usually one person shooting and editing. A production company assembles a crew for the job: director, camera, sound, and separate post. For a straightforward interview the difference may not matter. For a multi-location shoot with a schedule to hold, crew depth is what keeps the day on track.

How far in advance should I book a video shoot?

Two to three weeks is comfortable for a straightforward day with a small crew. Four to six weeks if the project needs casting, a location search, a street closure or access to a venue, because those are scheduled rather than simply booked. If you have a hard delivery date, tell us at the brief and we build backwards from it, including the last realistic day for changes. For an interior shoot on your own property we can often move much faster than that.

Do I need a permit to film?

For commercial work in a public place, almost always, and the office depends on which city you are standing in. We handle the filing and the insurance as part of the job. Private property and interiors are usually simpler. The practical point for you is lead time: some cities turn it around in days and others want weeks, so tell us the date early.

What areas does Studio 47 cover?

Los Angeles County and Ventura County, from a base in Westlake Village that sits on the county line. That is 26 cities with a page each, from Long Beach and El Segundo up through Santa Monica, Malibu and Hollywood, across the Valley to Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena, and out through Calabasas and Agoura Hills into Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Camarillo, Oxnard, Ventura and Ojai. Most of it is inside an hour of the office, and travel within that area is built into the day rate.

What is included when a video is delivered?

The finished film as a high quality master plus a compressed version for the web, along with any cutdowns and vertical versions agreed at the brief. Captions ship as a separate file rather than burned into the picture, so the text can be edited without a re-render. Raw footage, project files and additional aspect ratios are yours on request. Ask for what you want before the shoot rather than after, because some of it changes how we film: a vertical version has to be composed for on the day, since cropping a wide frame throws away the framing you paid for.

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