In the process of having a content production agency bid on your video? You'll likely receive an estimate with a budget breakdown, which explains exactly how they arrived at that final dollar amount. Here is what some of those categories are so that you know what you'll be paying for if you move forward.

Media Preparation And Processing

The first stage of post-production involves preparing all of the media to get going. This task is typically done by an assistant video editor, which is why it is at a lower rate. There should only be a few hours allocated for the assistant editor to transfer media to their server, perform file conversions of shoot footage, and get the project ready for the editor.

Motion Graphics And Animation

Expect to see a separate budget just for graphics work. High-end content production agencies will have in-house designers that specialize in creating graphics in 2D and 3D design software. There will be a limit to how many hours are allocated to this person creating and revising graphics for the video.

Editorial

Editorial hours are likely to be the most expensive cost of your project in the post-production stage. This is the time allocated for the video editor to perform the initial rough cut, revisions, and any finishing work for making final files. 

Creative Director

A great content production agency will have a creative director that oversees the project. They provide their insight as to how things should look, and give specific direction to the designers and video editor. Expect to see a few hours allocated to the project for them to simply step in, review it, and provide their feedback.

Color Correction and Mix

Once a project is approved with the audio and video tracks locked, it will move into the color correction and mix phase. There are not many hours in this category, but it should not take that long as revisions are not made after audio and video has been locked. Saving this step for the end is to ensure that it is only done once. 

Project Archiving

Expect to see a cost for your project to be archived when it is finished. This is to ensure that your project will not be completely deleted from the servers when it is finished, and they'll still have the files on hand to make revisions several years later if you need to revise the project.