Every agency shows a nice showreel. The difference plays out in what happens between your brief and the delivered video: who writes, how long it takes, what is included and what happens if the result does not work.
Watch real videos, not the showreel
A showreel stitches the three best seconds of twenty projects. Ask for three complete videos delivered to clients your size, and watch them on your phone with the sound off: do you understand the offer without the voice? Do the first 3 seconds make you want to stay? That is what your customer will see.
The process says more than the portfolio
A serious studio explains its steps without being asked: brief, script, storyboard or style frame, voice, animation, revisions, delivery of formats. Two reassuring signs: the script is approved in writing before animation, and the provider asks about your customer, not only about your colours.
Fixed-price offers like the DYOU motion design video at $299 replace meetings with a questionnaire. That is less of your time, provided the questionnaire is well built: it must ask for the customer’s problem, the promise, the proof and the expected action.
Real turnaround times
Three to six weeks at an agency, one to three weeks with a freelancer, 48 hours on an industrialised offer. Be wary of a turnaround announced without conditions: the real clock starts at script approval, not at signature.
What the quote must contain
- The final length and the number of delivered formats (vertical, square, horizontal).
- What is included: script, voice-over, licensed music, subtitles, sound effects.
- The number of revision rounds, and the price of an extra round.
- Rights: who owns the video, the voice, the music, and for which uses.
- Delivery of source files, or not.
- What happens if the video does not work for you: new version, refund, or nothing.
For the amounts, the motion design pricing guide gives ranges per type of provider.
Warning signs
- A “from” price with no scope: you will discover the real price at the storyboard.
- No written script: animation starts on a vague idea, and every revision costs.
- Demo videos all in the same style: the studio has a template, not a method.
- Voice-over as a paid option while the video is meant for social feeds, where sound is off: subtitles matter more.
- No mention of vertical formats: the video will end up cropped and unreadable on a phone.
The eight-question checklist
- Can you show me three complete videos delivered to comparable clients?
- Who writes the script, and is it approved before animation?
- How long between the approved script and the first version?
- What exactly does the price include: voice, music, subtitles, formats?
- How many revision rounds, and at what price beyond?
- Who owns the video and its elements, and for which uses?
- What happens if the result does not work for me?
- Do you deliver hook variants to test in ads?
The essentials
- Judge on delivered videos, watched without sound
- Script approved in writing before animation
- The quote writes scope, rights and revisions
- The clock runs from the script, not the signature