How Much Does Video Editing Cost?

Video editing is one of the finishing factors that determine the effectiveness and success of your video project. Great editing can equate to a well-produced finished project, but poor editing can leave your project feeling lackluster and less than professional. If you’re thinking of having some video footage edited, but wondering, “How much does video editing cost?” You’ve come to the right place. 

Determining professional editing costs will depend on several factors including the number of cuts per finished minute, finished video length, and time estimates to provide all editing services including things like types of transitions, motion graphics, color correction, and final finishing touches. With that, you can expect video editing to general cost between $60 and $175 per hour, but how do you estimate the number of hours for your video project? As a general rule of thumb, editing timeframes are estimated by the number of cuts per finished minute and the estimated implementation time that the editor can achieve on average, this is how they budget out an hourly estimate of time for your project.

Length of Video Footage to be Reviewed

The amount of footage that is to first be sorted through and reviewed for editing can play a significant role in the total cost of video editing for your project. A professional editor will spend a lot of time going through extensively long or otherwise choppy footage in order to find the gems. Thus, if you’re looking to have your existing event footage edited into a finished event teaser or commercial, expect the editing to take some time.

Additionally, if the previous editing has already taken place, you might expect the actual editing of footage to go more quickly, but this isn’t always the case if you move from one editor to the next — the new editor will most likely need time to review and familiarize themselves with the project.

Type of Footage to be Edited

The style or type of footage will also play a role in answering your question, “how much does video editing cost?” If you’re looking to have personal footage edited, this is almost guaranteed to take the editor more time than it would for professionally captured footage to be edited. This is due to the fact that, again, poor quality footage will require extensively longer review time in order to find the diamonds in the rough. Cinema-quality footage will bring about significantly faster editing as the editor will find more useful tracks and footage in a shorter time period.

Number of Cuts Per Finished Minute

A finished video that includes 30 cuts per finished minute is naturally going to take longer to edit and produce than a video that includes 15 cuts per finished minute. The editor estimates their time based on the number of cuts (aka transition) per finished minute and knows to include additional time for the transitions, color correction, and other tasks associated with each additional cut added to the finished minute of video. Expect to pay a higher rate for a more complex video that includes added cuts per finished minute.

Motion Graphics

Finally, editors know that the addition of special effects and graphics will greatly add to the amount of time it takes and the level of technical experience it takes for them to edit your video. If you’re having a video created that includes motion graphics, expect the editing to take significantly longer to finalize. Raw footage that is technically adapted to include motion graphics can be complex and difficult to understand by the layman — but your editor will spend added time making it all come together for you.

Average Editing Rates

Now that you know what to expect, here’s a look at some average editing rates based on video length:

● A short, 30-second commercial, with limited 2D graphics – $1,000 to edit.

● A 90-minute, pre-shot video that includes very basic graphics and limited use of audio enhancements – $1,500 to edit.

● A 3-minute video, pre-shot, with only 2D basic graphics – $300 to edit.

● Video voiceover services – $250 per half day.

● 3 Minute video editing with graphics and image enhancements – $1,250 to edit.

● Editing 2 hours of sourced video to a 3 minute finalized marketing video with 10 cuts per finished minute – $3,400 to edit.

● Editing 2 hours of sourced video to a 2.5-minute marketing video with up to 10 cuts per finished minute – $4,000 to edit.

As you can see, rates vary significantly based on project and individual needs. For more information or to learn exactly “how much does video editing cost?” for your project, give Beverly Boy Productions a call today.