The Ultimate Video Production Guide

Who is Lightswitch Video

Lightswitch video is a small but mighty team of ten based in Chicago. For over 10 years we've delighted in working alongside creatives and marketers to scale production around the world. We're proud to say we've filmed on every continent except Antarctica - (please call if you've got a need for penguin footage).

Even more-so than the great work we've produced we're proud of the team we've built and the great workplace where creatives are treated like adults, but still encouraged to play. Our average employee tenure is over 6 years, and we've worked with many of our clients for over a decade.

We like to think that means we're doing something right.

What video production services does Lightswitch Offer?

Lightswitch specializes in worldwide on-location production and scale. We help our clients devise a video campaign, and then enable them to execute that at any scale, and no matter the location. We produce everything from short 15 second photo montages to full length - award winning documentary series. We can animate, shoot aerial footage, photograph, craft testimonials and everything in between.

What we create is less about our capabilities, and more about our client’s needs. We’ll make it easy for you to get it done. We’re a full service video company, offering services for whatever you need, no matter how big or small. We help internal creatives, agencies, and marketers at every stage of the creative process. Many internal agencies have the scripting and creative portion covered - we’re happy to step in and help them execute on their vision. Marketing teams often want more support - we can jump in to develop concepts, script, plan, and produce from the ground up. Other teams just need post-production support - we’re there to jump in where you’ve left off.

Pre-Production
Scheduling
Talent Sourcing
Location Scouting
Scripting/Storyboarding

Production
Video Crews
Photography
Aerial Footage
Hair and Makeup
Lighting
Audio Capture

Post-Production

Video Editing
Animation/Motion Graphics
Repurposing Existing Content
Voiceover Recording
Audio Ads

What Industries do you work with?

We want to hear from everyone - but we know the most about mid-market to enterprise size marketing and in-house teams in finance, tech, cloud infrastructure, or insurance.

If you're having trouble keeping up with scale, need more crews around the world, or have consistent but fluctuating bandwidth we'd love to chat.

What's the difference between a national video production agency and hiring local crews in every city?

The main difference lies in management, brand consistency, and scalability. Hiring local freelancers requires you to manage separate contacts, camera setups, and post-production workflows in every market, whereas a national agency provides a single point of contact, standardized quality control, and turn-key execution across multiple locations.

• Hiring Local Crews: Best for occasional, single-city shoots. It offers flexibility for isolated projects, but creates significant administrative overhead and inconsistent output when managing multi-city campaigns.
• National Production Agencies: Designed for high-volume or multi-location campaigns. An agency centralizes project management, creative direction, and editing to maintain brand alignment across every shoot.

How Lightswitch Simplifies the Process Lightswitch eliminates the complexity of multi-market production by assigning one dedicated producer and post-production team to your account. Instead of retraining local videographers on your brand guidelines and camera specs for every shoot, your Lightswitch producer manages those details directly with our vetted global network of crews—backed by 14 years of production experience and our senior in-house editing team.

Learn more here

What's the difference between a national video production agency and an ad agency?

The main difference lies in scope and core focus: advertising agencies specialize in overarching brand strategy, campaign planning, and multi-channel media placement, whereas video production firms focus exclusively on the technical execution, filming, and post-production of video content.

• Advertising Agencies: Focus on holistic marketing strategy, brand positioning, audience targeting, and ad buying across multiple platforms (digital, print, TV, social). Video is typically just one piece of a broader campaign mix they oversee.
• Video Production Firms: Specialized execution partners that handle the end-to-end video lifecycle including script refinement, crew assembly, location scouting, shooting, editing, motion graphics, and audio mixing.

Why Agencies and Brands Partner with Lightswitch Because maintaining full production crews and camera packages across multiple markets is resource-intensive, ad agencies quite often outsource their video production directly to specialized companies like Lightswitch. Agencies rely on Lightswitch as an execution engine to handle complex multi-city shoots, global crew logistics, and post-production scaling—allowing the agency to keep its focus on strategy and creative direction while delivering high-impact video to their clients.

Learn more here

Can you shoot aerial footage?

Yes we can record aerial footage! All of our drone pilots are FAA licensed and shoots are insured in accordance with U.S. law. We love capturing aerial footage!

Can you just provide post-production?

Yes, we can work with customer provided assets, whether from a customer orchestrated shoot or other media. We frequently re-edit existing ads or create new ads from existing materials. We just ask that you provide us with all of your existing files in the highest resolution possible. We also hold onto all raw footage from previous video shoots.

How many rounds of revisions are included?

Lightswitch always includes two rounds of revisons as a standard practice. In our pre-production conversations we try to understand the stakeholders who will be involved in approving content and in some cases will include more with the understanding of a more complex approval process. Two rounds of revisions is not to discourage clients from getting the final product they want, but to encourage them to gather more feedback per round of revisions - we always strive to make the final product the best it can be

Can I get raw footage from a video shoot?

We hold on to all raw footage and audio we capture for a minimum of 2 years and can provide clients with everything captured for the duration of our time working with them.

How do I make sure my script is 30 seconds?

Websites like script-timer.com are a great estimate for script timing length by word count or by pasting in your draft script. They even have adjustments for how fast your speaker talks and how that will affect the duration.

How long does it take to create a video?

Video production timelines are hard to generalize. Complexity, the number of shoots, the length, and the amount of stakeholders are all factors. Broadly speaking a simple video can be created in as little as 1 week but the average Lightswitch production takes 4-6 weeks.

A common breakdown for a standard corporate video production would be
2 Weeks - Preproduction planning
1 Week - Scheduling the shoot
2 Weeks - First draft of videos delivered
2-4 Weeks rounds or revisons
Total Est Time 7-9 Weeks

For most projects we are able to schedule a shoot with as little as 1 week’s notice then deliver the first draft of the video( or videos) within 10 business days of the shoot date. We then make revisions to those videos at the client's request within 5 business days of receiving them.

We also offer rush pricing options for edits, when available.

How much does a corporate video cost?

This is the million dollar question, luckily without the million dollar answer. It all depends on what goes into a production. The elements that go into a total video estimate are

• Pre-production effort - things like scripting, storyboarding, location scouting, casting, etc
• Crew - Is this a solo operation or do we have 10 people and a grip truck on-site? This also take the length of the shoot into account
• Equipment - does this require specialized equipment, a teleprompter, higher-end cameras?
• Post-Production - how many videos, how long are the videos, and how complex are the edits (do they include animation, complex color grade, or audio mix)

All that being said - for a standard shoot where we re going on-site for a full day with a three member crew to produce something like a corporate testimonial an estimated cost would be $8-$12,000.00

For larger scale engagements where we may be on site for multiple days, are delivering 5+ videos and are working with more complex crew and equipment costs can be $20-$35,000.00

What is includes in a video production quote

Your video agency or freelancer should include:

• Project Management & Admin Fees - the work we put in to get a project together
• Crewmembers included w/ rate
• Time on-site to be expected (4 hour, 8 hour, or extended day)
• Equipment Fees - Lightswitch includes these in crew rates, but may break out unique equipment
• Post-production - we break out a cost per deliverable, inclusive of a set number of revision based on an established hourly estimate.
  • We may also include color grading, motion graphics support, or animation if necessary
• Voiceover & Other Contracted Costs - anything where you agency incurs a hard costs like paying voiceover artists, licensing imagery, and/or licensing audio.

Other items that may be included:

• Casting fees
• Actors Fees
• Wardrobe Fees
• Props and/or Set Dressing
• Incidentals - usually set around 5-10% of the production total

What does a production crew consist of?

Our crews scale to the needs of the project and the client. Our goal is to provide the exact crew necessary to meet the clients requirements without too much excess. We want to be as lean as we can without compromising quality, and as fully staffed as we can without being wasteful of budget.

What should I wear on camera?

Check out our full guide!

How Should I Record Audio?

Sometimes you have to make-do and record audio on-site. We've put together a quick guide on how to make sure your audio is the best it can be

Learn more here