To determine the costs for a multimedia production an outline of every element that is to be included must be created first. We call this a Shooting Script, in honor of the movie industry from which we have modeled the process. This would include those elements appropriate to a given production from this list:

• What is to appear on screen at a given moment
• Audio (voice and or music) that is to be heard
• Zoom and pan movements
• Presenter embedding (picture-in-picture) or next to other video content (side-by-side)
• Callouts (pop-ups containing annotations)
• Flash hot spots (things people click on within the video)
• Quiz or Survey methodologies as well as SCORM-compliant learning management integration
• Transitions between segments
• Table of contents for organizing multiple chapters
• Production output (web, CD, DVD, etc.)

Another important aspect of this process is to define any assumptions or limitations about the viewer of a production. This is particularly true for training materials, as a means to limit the scope of the project to the appropriate level. For example, if we are creating a tutorial on using a web site, should we provide tips on how to protect personalized information from theft during the registration process or within the user profile?

All discussion relating to ongoing project development is stored within a dedicated private forum on our site. Only those involved in a project are given access. Those representing a given company are expected to participate in the creation of the Shooting Script, to ensure it is accurate and appropriate. Once that has been approved, we can analyze it to determine costs for a given project.

Due to the amount of work and time it takes to prepare Shooting Scripts, we no longer do this for free. We require a non-refundable $200 deposit in advance, with an additional fee of $20/hour for research time prior to the release of the full proposal. Our proposal, in this case, would include our entire plan for creating the specified multimedia production, projected costs, and estimated timeline for creation. Depending on the scope and timeframe of the project, one or more billing points could be included to help defray costs matched to project milestones and approval stages. On acceptance of the proposal, the full amount paid to-date rolls over as an immediate credit toward the project costs.

As a rule, no, because the nature of the work we do is so variable. Take this simple example: Two people come to us asking us to create a brochure. The first person has all of the photo work on a CD along with the written body text. Person #2, however, needs to hire someone to take his or her photos and write the body copy. Quite clearly, the amount of time we are going to spend doing person #2's project is going to be longer. Furthermore, as we do not take photos ourselves, we are going to have to outsource that aspect of the project to someone else.
Our prices for everything we do is connected as closely as we can to how long it takes us to plan and complete a project, as well as any other additional services that may be needed or outsourced work.