The first question in almost every call is “what does a shoot day cost with you?”. Our answer is public, it sits on the pricing page, and it still does not answer the question underneath it: what does the finished film cost? The shoot day is the easiest item in a budget to quote. It is rarely the biggest one.
This guide walks through the blocks a virtual production budget is actually made of, which of them only appear on a location shoot, and how to make two quotes comparable at all.
The shoot day: the predictable part
Ours is published: dry hire from €1,450 per half day, the stage with an operator from €2,500 per day, the mobile setup from €4,500 per day plus travel, all net of VAT. What every rate includes, from the calibrated 35 m² wall and camera tracking to the set library, is set out on our virtual production studio page.
The real lever here is not the technology but how much you bring yourself. Supply camera, lighting and crew and you book dry hire. Bring only the idea and you book full service.
The blocks before and after
Concept and script. What appears on the wall has to be settled before the shoot day, because the environment needs lead time. That is the genuine difference to a location shoot, where you can still improvise once you are there. The effort depends on whether you deliver a finished script or we develop one.
The virtual environment. Start from our set library and there is no preparation cost. If your production hall, your product or your brand world should become its own set, that is a one-off item that pays back from the second production onwards. Where CAD or BIM data already exists, the route is much shorter, as described in from CAD model to film set.
Crew and cast. Included in the day rate or priced separately depending on the model: camera, lighting, sound, direction, hair and make-up, plus presenters or actors.
Post-production. Editing, grading, sound, music, graphics and subtitles. In many projects this is the largest block after the shoot. Virtual production shrinks it noticeably, because keying, roto and background integration fall away: the look is already finished in camera.
Versions and delivery formats. This is where budgets grow most quietly. A film is rarely one film, it is a long cut, a social edit, a trade fair loop, often in two languages. Costing that in from the start is cheaper than ordering it afterwards.
What never reaches the budget at all
The honest comparison happens where items disappear: travel and hotels for the crew, location fees, filming permits, downtime in a working plant, and the quiet contingency for a rainy day. Changing the backdrop takes minutes on the stage instead of a moving day. Which levers matter in practice is worked through in cutting shoot day costs, and you can run your own numbers in the shoot day calculator.
Four questions that make quotes comparable
- How is a shoot day defined? Hours, overtime rules, set-up and wrap time.
- Who supplies camera, lighting and crew? The same day rate can include all of it or almost none of it.
- Is the environment included or built? A library set and a custom build are two entirely different items.
- How many cuts and formats are priced in? One number in the quote saves one argument later.
Different answers to those four questions explain almost every price gap between two offers.
And when it does not pay off
If you need exactly one real location that is already on your doorstep, shoot there, and we will say so. As soon as several locations, travel days, permits or weather risk enter the plan, the maths turns towards the stage. For international clients there is a second effect: we run productions in English throughout, from briefing to delivery, so the people signing off the film do not have to be in the room. More on that in video production in Germany.
In short: the shoot day is the only item you can look up in advance. Everything else is decided by four questions worth asking before the first quote arrives.
All day rates are on the pricing page, and the stage, workflow and booking models are covered on our virtual production studio page. A quote follows within 24 hours of a free 15-minute tech briefing, so get in touch to check availability.