Brand and promo films
A short film that says who you are, not just what you sell. Filmed and edited by one person, so the idea that started the job is still there at the end of it.
Examples
A brand film cut from a working day rather than a staged shoot.
What a brand film actually is
Different from a corporate profile, and worth knowing the difference before you brief one.
A corporate video explains what you do. A brand film makes someone feel something about you before they have read a word. It usually has less talking, more of the actual work being done, and a soundtrack doing real work rather than sitting quietly underneath.
Neither is better. They answer different questions. If the job is “explain our services to a new customer”, that is corporate video. If it is “make someone want to work with us before they know exactly why”, that is this.
Where the idea comes from
Two ways this usually starts, and both are fine.
A concept, a mood, maybe a script or a reference video. I will shoot and cut to that, and tell you early if something in it will not work on the day rather than finding out on set.
“We want something that shows what it is like working with us” is a real brief. From there it is a short conversation about what actually happens on a normal day, because the best brand films are usually built from something true rather than something invented.
Either way, the brief gets written down before the shoot. Not because anyone doubts what was said, but because a day later everyone remembers it slightly differently, and a page of agreed shots is cheaper than a reshoot.
A corporate video explains. A brand film makes someone feel.
Neither is better. They answer different questions, and briefing the wrong one is the most expensive mistake available here.
What usually gets missed
A workshop or a warehouse can be a great place to work and a flat, ugly place to film, mostly because of the lighting already in it. Worth a quick look beforehand rather than discovering it on the day.
Brand films lean on people doing real things. If the day is mostly a static interview with no b-roll around it, the finished film has nowhere to breathe. A short list of “moments that happen anyway” is worth more than a shot list of posed setups.
The track shapes the pace of the cut, not the other way round. Picking it early, even roughly, saves a re-edit later.
What you get
A main film, usually one to two minutes, 16:9, graded and delivered as MP4. A vertical cut from the same shoot for social. Music licensed for these deliverables.
Extra versions, a longer cut, captioned versions, and a stills selection are all available off the same shoot day, and cheaper if they are on the quote from the start.
What it costs
From $2,500. One shoot day, a finished main film and a vertical cut.
For context, corporate video in New Zealand generally runs $3,000 to $30,000 for a finished project. Brand films with a heavier concept, more locations, or a scripted piece with talent sit higher, and it is worth saying so at the quote stage rather than the shoot.
What moves the number: how many locations, whether there is a script or talent involved, how many days, and how many deliverables come off it.
Kit
A Sony FX3, full frame and clean at high ISO, so a dim workshop or an evening shoot does not need a lighting rig brought in. 4K up to 120fps for slow motion where the shoot calls for it.
A DJI RS 4 gimbal for movement, a 24–70mm f2.8 and a 100–400mm for reach, an Aputure 300d for anything that needs proper light. Edited in Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve.
Questions
No, but it helps to know roughly what is being said and by whom before the shoot. Loose is fine, silence is not.
Yes, if it is a similar look and usable resolution. Worth sending a sample before the quote so it can be checked.
A straightforward one-day shoot is usually one to two weeks from filming to delivery. Anything with talent, locations or a script tends to need more lead time before the shoot, not after it.
I hold the copyright, and you have a licence to use the delivered videos from delivery, which becomes permanent once the invoice is paid. Full detail here.
Yes. It usually starts with what actually happens on a normal working day, rather than something invented from nothing.
A rough idea, a reference, or just what you want someone to feel after watching it. That is enough to start from.
Also available for corporate video, event videography and social content.