Brand & creative
Video & motion
Video that survives the feed: designed to be understood with the sound off, cut to 9:16, 1:1 and 16:9 from a single edit, and subtitled on every version we deliver.
The short version
Video is commissioned for a screening room and then watched somewhere else entirely: in a feed, muted, on a phone held at an angle, with two seconds to earn attention. We plan for that condition first. Storyboards are written so the point lands before anyone taps the sound on, subtitles are part of the design rather than an accessibility afterthought, and the shoot is framed knowing a vertical crop is coming.
What is included
- A script and shot list agreed before the camera comes out, with the opening two seconds storyboarded separately because that is what decides whether the rest gets seen.
- Filming framed to protect the vertical crop, so the 9:16, 1:1 and 16:9 versions all come out of one shoot instead of three.
- Burned-in subtitles styled in your brand type on every social cut, plus a separate .srt file for the platforms and players that need one.
- Cutdowns at the lengths each placement wants, typically a 6-second bumper, a 15, a 30 and the full edit, rather than one long film nobody finishes.
- Motion identity elements you can reuse: an animated logo resolve, lower thirds and title cards built as templates rather than one-off renders.
- Delivery graded and mastered to around -14 LUFS for social players, exported as H.264 at a stated bitrate, with project files and the music licence terms in writing.
How we work
Our approach
The stages this work runs through, in order. Every one of them ends in something you can see or sign off.
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Step 01
Decide the one message
Video is expensive per second, so we spend the planning time on subtraction. One film with one point, and one thing you want the viewer to do. We write the script to be read aloud and timed with a stopwatch, because a 60-second idea does not become a 30-second film in the edit. You approve words and a storyboard before anything is shot, which is the cheapest place to change your mind.
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Step 02
Shoot for every crop
On the day we frame with the vertical safe area marked on the monitor, so faces and captions are not lost when the 16:9 master becomes a 9:16 reel. Audio is recorded separately rather than off the camera, and we shoot cutaways specifically to make the short cutdowns possible later. Everything is logged on set, so the edit starts from labelled footage rather than a hunt through unnamed files.
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Step 03
Edit for sound off
The first cut gets reviewed muted. If the point does not land that way, the edit changes, not the caption. Subtitles are set in your brand type at a size that reads on a phone, positioned above the interface overlays each platform draws across the bottom of the frame. Music and sound design go on last and are chosen to add rather than to carry, so the film still works for anyone who never turns the sound on.
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Step 04
Deliver in usable files
You get named exports per placement, not one master you have to re-encode yourself. Loudness is normalised so your video does not arrive noticeably quieter or louder than the post above it, and file sizes stay inside each platform's limits. Music and stock licences are documented with their term and territory, so nobody discovers in a year that the track only covered a six-month campaign.
Before you ask
Questions we get asked first
How long does a video take?
A single social film with one filming day runs 3 to 4 weeks end to end: a week to script and storyboard, the shoot itself, then two weeks of edit including two review rounds. Motion-only work with no filming, such as an animated logo or a subtitled explainer from existing footage, is quicker at around 10 to 14 days. Multi-location shoots, actors, permits or locations add time, and we will say how much before you commit.
How is it priced?
Fixed per production, quoted once we know the script length, how many filming days, how many finished cuts and how many revision rounds. Those four things move the number more than anything else. Third-party costs such as talent, location fees, music licences and voiceover are quoted at cost so you can see what is ours and what is passed through. Extra cutdowns commissioned later are priced individually rather than bundled into a standing monthly fee.
What do you need from us?
A decision on the one thing the video has to achieve, and someone on the shoot day who can approve on the spot. Practically: access to the location, anyone appearing on camera briefed and consenting in writing, and your brand files for titles and subtitles. If you have existing footage, send the original camera files rather than something already compressed for a website. Consolidate feedback into one document per round, because scattered notes turn two rounds into five.
How do we tell whether the video worked?
Retention, not views. Every platform reports how far people get, so we read the drop-off curve: what share are still watching at 3 seconds, and where the graph falls off a cliff. That tells us whether the hook or the middle needs fixing next time. If the film runs as an ad, the comparison is cost per result against your other creative. We agree which of those numbers matters before we shoot, so the review afterwards is not a question of taste.
Want this scoped for your situation?
Tell us the goal and the deadline. You get an honest read on whether this is the right service, a fixed price if it is, and a straight no if it isn't.
Or email [email protected] directly. We reply within one working day.