THE GRAND RAPIDS BUYER GUIDE
The right video plan starts with the business job, then works backward into story, format, production, and distribution. This guide brings SALT's pricing, planning, format, and project proof into one place so Grand Rapids teams can scope the right work before the first production day gets expensive.
ONE PRODUCTION. THE WHOLE MACHINE.
4
Core service lanes
6
Useful format shapes
$2.5K
Published starting scope
30
Public proof pages
A commercial, a recruitment film, an app launch, and a documentary can all look cinematic. They are still different machines. Pick the business job first.
01
Do you need attention, feeling, or a clear campaign action?
Use this lane when the work has to carry a campaign idea across broadcast, web, paid social, launch, and internal rollout. The strongest scope usually plans the hero film and the supporting cuts together.
02
Does the story only happen once, in a room you cannot control?
Use this lane when trust, live pressure, real people, and post-event value matter. Plan the recap, interviews, sponsor proof, social cuts, and evergreen story before the doors open.
03
Does the buyer need to understand the value before they understand the interface?
Use this lane when a product, platform, or workflow needs to feel clear and human. Start with the user problem. Then decide where UI, customer proof, live action, animation, and sales cuts belong.
04
Can the right candidate see the work, the people, and the pressure clearly?
Use this lane when a job post cannot show what the work feels like. Real employee voices, visible work, and audience-specific edits help the right candidates lean in and the wrong candidates self-select.
A late crop is not a vertical strategy. A sixty-second edit is not automatically a broadcast spot. Format changes the frame, the pace, the coverage, and the way the message lands.
16:9
Websites, YouTube, presentations, CTV, and long-form proof
Interview eyelines, wider environments, room for graphics, and a story that can breathe beyond thirty seconds.
Wayfair Professional long-form case study9:16
Instagram, Reels, Shorts, Stories, and mobile-first paid media
Close framing, safe text zones, faster openings, and coverage designed for a phone instead of cropped after the shoot.
GRAM vertical museum content0:30
Regional television, streaming placements, pre-roll, and campaign reach
A hard runtime, a clear message turn, delivery specifications, audio standards, and a final action that lands before the clock wins.
Grand Rapids Ballet broadcast spot0:06–0:30
Campaign testing, retargeting, launches, and channel-specific hooks
Multiple openings, clean product or proof moments, platform-safe versions, and enough coverage to avoid repeating one weak crop.
ScarAway's platform-specific asset systemSILENT
Homepage banners, trade shows, booths, and screens without dependable sound
Visual clarity without dialogue, restrained file weight, a strong poster, and motion that still works when autoplay is blocked.
VDM and GVA website and expo loopsSERIES
Education, recruitment, museums, advocacy, and campaigns that need depth
A repeatable visual system, shared interview logic, a footage library, and a release plan that lets every new asset strengthen the last one.
GRAM's seven-video ecosystem9:16 COMMUNITY STORY
Step 1: Community Response Film
Designed vertically from the start, this film lets audience reactions and gallery details fill the phone instead of surviving a late crop.
OPEN THE FULL CASE STUDY →0:30 BROADCAST
Step 4: Broadcast Fashion Spot
A hard thirty-second window changes the job. Fashion, exhibition scale, message, and invitation all have to land before the clock runs out.
OPEN THE FULL CASE STUDY →9:16 B2B PRODUCT PROOF
30-Second Instagram Cut
The same customer story became a portrait social cut built around one sharp proof point, while the wider campaign still carried long-form and TV versions.
OPEN THE FULL CASE STUDY →These are SALT's published planning ranges. They frame the conversation. They are not public price tags for the case studies on this page.
WHAT MOVES THE NUMBER
STARTER
$2.5K–$7.5K
One short asset, one location, a lean crew, and a focused post-production path.
GROWTH
$8K–$18K
More story development, stronger pre-production, multiple deliverables, or more production weight.
CAMPAIGN
$20K–$35K+
Multi-location work, wider asset systems, larger crews, heavier edits, or more stakeholder pressure.
01
Who has to move? What should change after they watch? Where will the film live? If those answers are fuzzy, the scope will drift.
02
Lock the audience, message, action, budget reality, approval path, timeline, and distribution plan before visual ideas outrun the problem.
03
Decide the hero film, cutdowns, 9:16 edits, broadcast versions, stills, b-roll, captions, and transcripts before production starts.
04
Production is not a pile of nice shots. Interviews, action, sound, environments, and alternate framing need to support the final asset map.
05
Track plays, completion, clicks, leads, and channel use. Keep the footage library organized so the next campaign starts with memory instead of zero.
These projects carry different kinds of weight: national campaigns, public institutions, multi-state advocacy, recruitment systems, product proof, and repeatable content libraries.
It does not need to sound impressive. It needs to give the creative team enough truth to solve the right job and enough boundaries to keep the scope honest.
Where the work lives changes what should be captured. Decide the channels before the shoot, not after the first cut is already boxed in.
Use a strong poster, protect page speed, give the film written context, and connect the next action to the page goal.
Confirm runtime, audio, captions, legal copy, end cards, trafficking requirements, and channel-safe delivery before the edit locks.
Plan vertical framing, multiple hooks, silent-safe text, cut lengths, thumbnails, captions, and enough versions to learn what holds attention.
Build proof clips, customer stories, launch edits, demo support, and b-roll that a sales team can use without asking the editor every week.
Map careers-page film, job-post clips, LinkedIn edits, employee stories, expo loops, follow-up messages, and onboarding use together.
Plan the recap, next-year promotion, sponsor proof, donor communication, speaker clips, interviews, and evergreen story before event day.
See 2026 budget ranges for Grand Rapids video projects, what changes scope, and what small, mid-market, and regional teams should expect.
A strong video production brief gives the creative team the audience, goal, message, guardrails, and delivery plan they need to do useful work.
Use our pre-production checklist to plan interviews, locations, approvals, timelines, and deliverables before your corporate video shoot.
The right video production company should understand your goal, show proof, communicate clearly, and explain what the budget is buying.
Brand films build emotional context over time, while commercial videos usually carry a tighter sales message and clearer conversion ask.
Event video keeps working after the room clears by extending story, proof, recap, and campaign momentum into future marketing.
SALT's published planning ranges are $2,500 to $7,500 for focused starter work, $8,000 to $18,000 for growth-level projects, and $20,000 to $35,000 or more for campaign-sized work. The actual range depends on story development, locations, crew, post-production, approvals, and the number of useful assets the project needs to create.
If the distribution plan includes both widescreen and mobile-first channels, yes. The framing should be planned before production. A vertical edit designed on set is stronger than a widescreen film cropped after every important detail has already landed near the edges.
Yes, when the asset map is built before the shoot. Wayfair Professional is one SALT example: one 1.5-day production window supported a long-form customer story, television cuts, vertical Instagram edits, and a reusable b-roll package.
A focused project can move in weeks. A campaign, multi-location story, or stakeholder-heavy project needs more room. The honest timeline comes from the interview plan, locations, production days, edit weight, approval path, and delivery count—not a fixed promise detached from the scope.
A useful brief names the audience, business goal, message, desired action, budget range, timeline, approval owner, distribution channels, and required deliverables. It does not need to sound impressive. It needs to make the real job clear.
Look for strategic questions before gear talk, proof that matches your kind of pressure, a clear approval and revision process, honest scope boundaries, and a plan for how the footage will keep working after launch.
Yes. Grand Rapids is home base, but SALT builds lean crews for work across the United States and abroad. Public case studies include multi-state advocacy work, New York and Grand Rapids production, and international documentary travel.
Tell us what has to move, where the work needs to live, and what pressure is already in the room. We will help turn that into a clear scope.
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