How long will the process take?
The bespoke films that we produce for clients are all very individual and so there is no absolute answer to this question. We have been known to shoot and edit short social media videos on the same day (using an editing laptop on location). We’ve also been known to produce evaluation and fundraising films over the entire lifecycle of a specific project – which might be several years. The best answer I can give is to suggest that when you get in touch, let us know what your deadlines are and any other key milestones. In all likelihood, if they’re realistic, we’ll be able to meet these. But if we can’t due to existing deadlines, we’ll be entirely up front and honest about that.
How much does a film cost?
Every film is different to the next and in order to provide an estimate or quote for your project, we need as much information as you can possibly provide via our GET A QUOTE form or as a brief sent by email. If you’d prefer to have a conversation to get the ball rolling, set realistic targets and refine your ideas, please feel free to give us a call or arrange a free one hour consultation in Sheffield. If you’re just after a ball-park figure, all I can say is that almost all of the individual films that you will see on our Vimeo Page have cost clients between £1500 and £15,000 (plus VAT) with the large majority falling somewhere between £2k and £5k.
What are your payment terms and can you do half days?
With any project budgeted over £1500 (exc VAT), we request a 50/50 payment split. That is, 50% of the agreed budget is invoiced upon green light and payable in advance of production. The remaining 50% (+ or – any agreed changes to the project that occurred after green light) is invoiced upon delivery of approved master versions. All invoices are required to be paid within 30 days of issue. For new clients, cuts of films will be watermarked (‘property of Sort Of…Films Ltd’ or similar) until payment has been received.
Our policy around ‘half days’ is to bill 70% of the full day rate for personnel and 50% of the day rate for equipment. Our definition of a half day is ‘any visit of <5 hours including travel time which does not cross over 12:30pm’.
Where can I see examples of your work?
The best place to find our work is our Vimeo Page. If there is a particular kind of film that you’re interested in, please get in touch and we can send over some hand-selected examples.
You’re based in Sheffield, but where are you able to work?
Hypothetically, anywhere except outer space (perhaps)! We frequently work in locations across the length and breadth of the UK and occasionally also work internationally. Please don’t assume that because we’re based in Sheffield that we’re not available for work in other cities such as London or especially those that are within an easy drive such as Manchester, Nottingham, Derby, Leeds, Birmingham, York, Hull and Leicester.
How will communication be handled?
We are flexible and can fit around your existing project management strategies and policies but in general, email is our preferred method of communication and you will always receive responses within 24 hours. Cuts of films will be sent to you as Vimeo links and the master versions will be sent via DropBox.
Do you provide script writing, or do we have to write a script?
We do offer a complete, end-to-end service which includes, but is not limited to, research, concept development, design, scriptwriting, pre-production and planning (such as arranging locations, cast, crew, props etc), shooting, editing, sound design, colour grading, motion graphics and animations, voiceover production, subtitling, music commissioning and support with distribution. That said, we are also entirely flexible in which of the above we provide for you. If you are just after a selection of those elements, that’s fine. It’s quite often the case that the script is written somewhat collaboratively between ourselves and the client. This may mean, for instance, that the client first jots down all of the key things they want to come across and suggestions for scenes, locations and people. Then, we might convert that into a formatted script which fleshes out the ideas and provides a coherent document/guide to which everyone involved in the film can refer.
Who will be on the production team when they arrive at our facility/location?
This will depend on the scale and nature of the production but in general, the kind of work that we are asked to produce and can be seen on our Vimeo Page is shot using a small crew of two or three people. One of those people may well be Ed Cartledge, the managing director and senior filmmaker at Sort Of…Films, and a trained assistant. However, if Ed is unavailable, we can supply a suitable camera operator/director from our pool of experienced freelancers with whom we’ve worked for many years. In these circumstances, Ed would brief the individual thoroughly and quality control the project throughout.
How will you capture what my business/organisation is aiming to convey?
By truly listening, offering the best of our ideas and creativity when welcomed and not cutting corners in executing the agreed vision. We offer a free one hour consultation in Sheffield before a project has been greenlit. This plus your brief and our initial research into your organisation will go a long way towards getting us on the same page early in the project. Following green light, we often also have a ‘kick off meeting’ if the project’s complexity requires it. This allows us to refine the brief and make decisions which will feed into the script, should a script be required. If a script IS required, this would be signed off before we move into production. In some instances, concept development and visual design work is required on top of the script development and this works in a similar way except that there is a greater degree of flexibility in terms of how we communicate these ideas to you in order for them to be signed off.
Are you able to work with vulnerable individuals/a diverse range of individuals? Do you have experience in this?
Yes we do and our maxim here is that everyone is always treated as an individual. No assumptions are made about how any one person may wish us to approach their contribution to the film. That said, we are observant and sensitive to everyone’s needs and can respond and reconfigure shoots dynamically according to any specific requirements. We’ve worked closely with people with a wide range of disabilities and disadvantages and tackled many difficult subjects including accessibility, substance misuse, human trafficking, gender equality, forced migration and miscarriage.
What if I want my film subtitling?
Subtitles can be created according to your specifications and either rendered/burned into the film permanently or provided as a .srt file for you to upload alongside the video to services such as YouTube. If the subtitles are not in the English language, we are able to contract translation services as necessary. It’s always best to determine your subtitling requirements at briefing stage so that our quote can be as accurate as possible.
Are you able to do animations and motion graphics for my film?
In short, yes. However, whether we do all of this in-house or contract a specialist for the project will depend on the exact nature and level of complexity of your requirements. We have also produced films which are 100% animated, often contracting specialist illustrators and animators for this work while producing, writing, directing, editing and creating the soundtrack in-house. We are agile in our approach to all of this and can scale the team up quickly according to the needs of a project.
Can you also provide stills photography?
Yes, Ed is an experienced photographer, as are many of the freelance camera people we occasionally employ. It’s often possible (if requested) for Ed to bring a stills camera on a shoot and to get promotional or other stills alongside the video work. That said, if a lot of stills are required as well as a film, it might make sense to book a separate photographer in order to avoid compromising on the quality of one or the other due to time constraints. We work with a wide range of photographers and can book the right person for the job as necessary.
Can you provide aerial video?
Ed Cartledge is an experienced drone pilot/operator with an A2CofC license and all of the necessary insurance. We also know and work with a range of other experienced drone operators. Our clients frequently need aerial video for their projects. We can offer drone services as part of our day rate if the requirement falls under a particular threshold of complexity. Certain, more complex, shoots need to be handled by a specialist with an enhanced license. We are able to contract trusted, experienced and fully insured specialists for this work.
Are you fully insured for this kind of work?
Yes. We have public liability insurance of £5million which can be increased to £10million if needed and all of the other necessary insurances to offer video production as a commercial service.
What equipment and software do you use?
The equipment we use changes over time as we continually upgrade and there is far too much equipment involved to list it all here. Currently, our main camera is the Canon C500mkii and backup/other cameras include the C300mkiii, the Canon C50 and the Canon R5 for photography. We have an extensive range of lenses for these cameras. We also have a large amount of lighting and sound recording equipment as well as tripods, sliders, an 8ft jib, two autocue systems and several gimbals/stabilised rigs. We edit in Adobe Premiere primarily and use other Adobe software such as After Effects, Photoshop and Audition to support the process.
How many rounds of feedback do we get on edits?
We provide the following list of milestones and procedures to all new clients to ensure an efficient post-production process that is free from confusion, contradiction or additional expense.
- Delivery of ROUGH CUTS to the client via Vimeo, Youtube or Dropbox.
- Client gathers and agrees all feedback from all relevant parties and returns this to Sort Of…Films in a single email. Feedback about specific moments in the film should always be accompanied by a reference to the timecode so that we can find the moment easily.
- Delivery of FINE CUTS via Vimeo, Youtube or Dropbox.
- Client collates and agrees all feedback on fine cuts from all relevant parties and returns this to Sort Of…Films in a single email. The feedback should ideally not contradict earlier feedback or the initial brief. Feedback would also normally be in the form of minor tweaks at this stage. If feedback does contradict previous requests or the initial brief, additional charges may be incurred. All such charges will be discussed with the client in advance of any such work being completed. It may be the case that no tweaks are required at this stage and the films are signed off without further alterations.
- If required…delivery of FINAL CUTS for sign off via Vimeo or Dropbox.
- Sign off from all relevant parties. If any further tweaks are required, these would normally be very minor (such as a slight change to some text) and may not require the delivery of a further version for sign off. Such changes can be made as we create the master versions.
- Delivery of all master versions via Dropbox or hard drive or upload to specific online location. All raw footage and project files are archived at Sort Of…Films for at least 7 years for no additional charge. We also offer a footage retrieval/compilation service. If you require any footage in unedited or edited form at any point following project completion, please get in touch to discuss costs.
- It is important that you confirm with us the moment that the project is signed off. We have had instances in the past of sign off being reached without the client informing us of the fact, leading to a significant delay in payment and archiving of the project. Once a project has been signed off and master versions have been delivered, any additional changes requested will be chargeable (normally by the hour).
- Payment of final invoice.
Do you have access to a studio?
We do not own a fully blacked-out, soundproof and acoustically-treated studio, although there is space in our office for filming some studio-type work such as product shots. We have used a variety of studios in the past both in Sheffield and further afield. If your project requires a studio, please just get in touch to let us know what you have in mind and we can suggest some options.
What happens to all of the footage when the project is finished? Can I have it?
We archive all raw footage and project files for a minimum of 7 years following project completion. This means that it’s really easy for you to come back to us at any time to request new versions of your film with, for instance, updated graphics or new footage included. It’s important to avoid continuing to use films that are older than 3 or maybe 4 years to avoid appearing dated and so we often find ourselves being asked to refresh films in this way.
Clients often ask if they can have the raw footage from our shoots. It’s understandable that clients may feel that they either have in-house capability to make future use of the footage If you think that you may need to have access to any of the footage shot as part of your project, it’s best to discuss this with us at the briefing stage. It is usually possible for us to provide a high quality, rendered video file at a resolution of your choosing which contains all of (or a briefed selection of) the original footage. This will not be the original rushes as these extremely large files are not generally ready to use without some form of colour management/correction, stabilisation, sharpening, trimming or other processing. The file will be provided at a quality high enough that it could be edited and rendered again without a perceptible loss in quality.
One of the main reasons that we (along with many other production companies and videography providers of our calibre) have made this decision is that there have been instances in the past of clients acqiring the raw footage and then processing, editing and distributing it in ways that have risked a reputational or even legal impact for our business.
UK law dictates that we automatically retain intellectual property in the raw footage but once we have been paid for our work, the intellectual property in the deliverables is transferred to the paying client. That means the client can ultimately consider themselves the producers and publishers of the work and as such, bear all responsibility for the act of publishing the material.
What if I am not satisfied with the final result?
I’m happy to say that this isn’t a situation we’ve ever encountered but should you remain dissatisfied with the film despite utilising all the rounds of feedback, we can sit down and discuss next steps. If it is agreed that the film doesn’t match the initial brief or signed off script, then it would be our responsibility to do extra work on it to make sure that it does. If, however, it DOES match the script/brief but you now feel that something isn’t working, then additional work to bring it in line with your new vision would be billable. We are always very keen to receive feedback (whether positive or negative) on both the end product and the process of arriving at an end product and this can be emailed to ed @ sortoffilms.co.uk
I love the film. How should I let people know?
That’s great news. 🙂 We always appreciate any mentions/credits that you can offer when distributing or showing your film. The best credit to use is ‘sortoffilms.co.uk’ as that will help people to find us easily. If you’d like to review our services, you can do so on Google or Facebook. Don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn and connect with Ed Cartledge on the same.