Bespoke brand films from UK studios usually land somewhere between £15,000 and £80,000, with most homepage-quality work sitting around £25,000 to £45,000. Below that range you are usually buying template-led or AI-assisted work. Above it you are usually paying for live-action production with cast, crew, and locations.
This guide is for founders, heads of marketing, and anyone briefing a brand film for the first time who has been quoted a number that feels wrong in either direction.
What you are actually paying for
A brand film is rarely just "the shoot" or "the animation". It is the time it takes to work out what you do and why anyone should care, write a script that holds someone's attention for sixty to a hundred and twenty seconds, decide on a visual language, design and produce every frame, then edit, sound design, score, colour grade, and deliver in every format you will actually use across the web, social, paid ads, and events.
A budget covers studio time, freelance time where relevant, music licences, stock footage if any, and the small set of tools and processes that take a script and turn it in to something that runs cleanly on a phone, a billboard, and a 4K monitor.
Typical UK price ranges
| Budget | What it gets you | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| £8k–£15k | Short motion piece, template-led, light bespoke work. Suitable for ad creative, internal comms, simple social cuts. Usually one revision round. | 2–4 weeks |
| £15k–£30k | Bespoke 60–90 second explainer or brand film. Custom illustration or motion, original script, proper sound design. The most common spend for early-stage SaaS and fintech. | 4–8 weeks |
| £30k–£60k | Brand-defining film with original design language. Multiple deliverables (long cut, cutdowns, social formats), considered direction, full edit and grade. | 8–12 weeks |
| £60k–£150k+ | Full production work. Live-action shoots with crew and cast, multi-day schedules, location work, original score, or high-end 3D animation. Series budgets sit in here. | 12–20 weeks |
Add VAT to all of these. London studios charge broadly in line with these ranges; regional UK studios may sit ten to twenty percent lower. Day-rate freelance composites can hit lower numbers, but you carry the production risk yourself.
What moves the price up
- Live action shoots. The day a camera goes out is the most expensive day of the project.
- Original 3D. Each second of finished 3D animation typically takes a small team a day to a week, depending on complexity.
- A character. The moment a character has to walk, talk, and emote consistently across the film, you are paying for rigging, animation rounds, and design iteration.
- Voiceover with a known artist. A recognisable voice can add £2k to £15k or more, depending on the talent.
- Bespoke music. Original score adds £2k to £8k depending on the composer and the brief.
- Multiple language versions. Each language adds VO costs and another edit pass.
- Unexpected revisions. Most studios include two rounds. Extras are paid time.
What moves the price down
- A clear brief, signed off internally, with one decision-maker. Studios price in some ambiguity. Less ambiguity, lower price.
- Stock footage where it makes sense. A thirty percent stock and seventy percent original mix can shave 25 to 40 percent off a quote.
- Reusing existing brand assets. If you have an illustration system or motion language already, the studio is not inventing one from scratch.
- Single-format delivery. Choosing a 16:9 master and one square cut is cheaper than twelve formats for every channel.
- Booking with lead time. Studios run at 70 to 90 percent capacity. A six-week lead time gets a better price than a two-week panic.
When fixed fee makes sense, and when day-rate does
For a defined deliverable like one brand film, one explainer, or a launch campaign, fixed fee is almost always better. You know what you are spending and the studio carries the risk of the work running long.
For ongoing work where the scope changes weekly, a content engine for instance, or motion support for a marketing team, a retainer or day-rate model usually serves you better. You are paying for capacity rather than for a deliverable.
If a studio quotes day rates for a defined brand film ask why. Either the brief is not tight enough yet, or they are hedging against scope creep, or both. Tighten the brief and ask for a fixed quote.
Eight questions to ask any studio before signing off
- What is included in the quote, and what is a separate line item?
- How many revision rounds are built in, and what happens after that?
- Who do I actually talk to during the project? (If the answer is "your account manager", be careful.)
- What is your typical timeline from brief to first cut?
- What do you need from us, and when, to hit that timeline?
- Can we see rough cuts at each stage, or only the polished versions?
- What happens if we change direction halfway through?
- What does delivery actually include: file formats, source files, project archive?
A studio that can answer these crisply has done it before. A studio that gets vague usually has not.
Why "as little as possible" is the wrong question
We get asked "what is the cheapest way to make this film?" more than any other question, and it is almost always the wrong frame. The right question is: what is the smallest amount of work that lands the result we actually need?
Sometimes that is a £10k motion piece because all you need is a 30-second social cut and your brand language already exists. Sometimes it is a £45k brand film because you are rebuilding how your category sees you, and you need something to anchor it. Spending half what you actually need usually means spending it twice.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a typical brand film take?
Six to twelve weeks for most bespoke work, from approved brief to final delivery. Faster is possible but tends to show in the result.
Do I pay 50% upfront?
The standard UK arrangement is 50% on commencement, 50% on delivery. Longer projects often split into thirds across kick-off, mid-cut, and final delivery.
Does the price include the rights to use the film?
Most studios grant a full worldwide perpetual licence as standard. Music and voice talent licences may have separate terms, so read those carefully.
Can I save money by writing the script myself?
Sometimes. If you have a strong writer in-house and a clear point of view, yes. If not, you will burn the saving on revisions. The script is where most films are won or lost.
What is the difference between an explainer and a brand film?
An explainer answers "what does this product do" in under ninety seconds. A brand film answers "why should I care about this company" without necessarily showing the product at all. Different jobs, different budgets, different scripts.
Is AI animation cheaper?
Yes, with caveats. AI-led work can produce something at 30 to 50 percent of the cost of bespoke animation, but the look is recognisable and the consistency from shot to shot is still uneven. It works for fast-turnaround social content. It tends to fail for anything that needs to anchor a brand for years.
What should our budget be if we are a pre-Series A SaaS company?
£15k to £30k for a 60 to 90 second film that does real work. Below that and you are stretching what is possible. Above it and you are probably over-investing for the stage.
Will a studio give me a ballpark before we have a brief?
Most will, if you give them enough to work with. A two paragraph email saying "we need a launch film, here is the company, here is what it does, here are the formats we need, here is the timeline" is usually enough for a price range and a yes/no on capacity.