Quick answer: Vourly's social media video production cost in Seattle starts at about $425 for a typical small project: a 2-hour shoot ($200) plus three edited reels (around $225). That is iPhone 4K filming at $100 per hour, with editing billed separately at $75 per hour and most reels taking one to one and a half hours each. One 2-hour shoot produces three to four reels, so the per-reel cost lands near $150. Professional cinema cameras are $200 per hour for jobs that need them. Rates elsewhere in Seattle vary widely, and many studios will not put a number on their website at all, so the most useful figure is the one a videographer gives you up front.
Short-form video is the cheapest professional video you can buy, and it is also the kind most often priced behind a sales call. A business that just wants a steady drip of reels for Instagram and TikTok does not need a custom proposal. Whether you are in Capitol Hill, Bellevue, or Everett, the math is the same. It needs a number. This guide gives you the number, the math behind it, and the few choices that actually move the cost: how many reels you want, whether an iPhone is enough, and how much editing each clip takes. Every rate below is the same one published on our pricing page, so you can estimate your own project before you talk to anyone.
How much does social media video cost in Seattle?
Vourly's social video pricing is built from three published rates, not one bundled "per video" fee. What you pay depends on the camera, the number of reels, and the editing each one takes. Here is the full breakdown:
- iPhone 4K filming: $100 per hour. A skilled operator on a stabilized iPhone 4K rig. For social reels that live on a phone screen, this is usually all you need.
- Professional cinema cameras: $200 per hour. Full professional kit with lenses, lighting, and audio. The right call when the same clips will also run as paid ads or sit on your website.
- Editing: $75 per hour. Billed separately from filming. Most short reels take one to one and a half hours of editing each, and one round of revisions is included with every edited reel.
- Minimum booking: 2 hours on any video shoot, which happens to be the length that fills out a batch of reels.
Rates across the city vary widely, and plenty of studios will not share a number until after a discovery call. If a videographer cannot tell you their filming rate, their editing rate, and their minimum in the first email, you are not getting a quote yet. You are entering a negotiation.
How many reels do you get from one shoot?
This is the number that controls your cost per piece. A 2-hour shoot is not two hours of one continuous clip. It is enough setups, angles, and B-roll to cut several short videos from a single visit.
- A standard 2-hour shoot yields enough footage for three to four social media reels, plus extra B-roll you can reuse later.
- You decide how many of those reels to have edited. Cutting three is the common starting point.
- All of your raw footage is delivered to a client dashboard regardless of how many reels you finish, so nothing you paid to capture goes to waste.
That batch-capture model is why social video is the cheapest thing on the menu. You pay for one block of filming time and walk away with a month of posts. For the creative side of turning that footage into scroll-stopping clips, see our guide on how to create engaging social media reels.
Do I need an iPhone shoot or professional cameras?
For most social media reels, an iPhone 4K shoot at $100 per hour is genuinely enough. Vertical video gets watched on a phone, compressed by the platform, and scrolled past in seconds. A stabilized modern iPhone in skilled hands holds up beautifully in that context, and it cuts your filming cost in half versus the professional tier.
Step up to professional cinema cameras at $200 per hour when the footage has a second life. If the same clips will run as paid ads, anchor a landing page, or appear next to higher-production brand work, the cinema kit, lighting, and audio earn their cost. A simple rule: iPhone for the feed, professional cameras for anything you are putting money behind.
What does a typical social video project cost?
Here is the most common small project we book, with the math fully shown:
- 2-hour iPhone 4K shoot: 2 hours x $100 = $200
- Three edited reels: roughly 3 hours of editing x $75 = $225
- Project total: about $425, for three finished, captioned, vertical reels plus all of your raw footage.
That works out to roughly $150 per finished reel, and you keep the leftover footage on top. Scale it freely: one reel from the same shoot costs less, and a fuller batch of four costs a little more in editing. Because every line is hourly and published, you can price any version in your head before you ever reach out.
Why is editing billed separately?
Filming and editing are different work, so they are priced separately. A single bundled "per reel" number hides how much editing you are actually paying for, and it forces simple cuts to subsidize complex ones. At $75 per hour, with most reels taking one to one and a half hours, you can see the cost of each deliverable before you approve it. For a full breakdown of how Seattle videographer hourly rates are structured across service tiers, see our guide to videographer hourly rates in Seattle. You request edits through your dashboard, review them in a frame-accurate system, and get one revision round included per reel. Additional rounds are billed at the same $75 per hour, so there are no surprises.
What makes social video different from other formats?
Short-form social video is its own craft, and the format drives both the production approach and the price. A few things stay constant across almost every reel we shoot:
- Vertical, 9:16. Shot for the way phones are held, not cropped down from a landscape clip.
- Hook first. The opening second has to stop the scroll, so the strongest moment goes at the front, not saved for a reveal.
- Short. Most reels land in the 15 to 45 second range, which is part of why editing each one stays inside that one to one and a half hour window.
Because the clips are short and the capture is batched, social work is the natural fit for hourly booking. You buy a block of time, leave with several pieces, and only pay editing on the ones you actually publish.
Is social video hourly or a package?
Most social media work is booked hourly, because the whole point is flexible, batched capture that fills a content calendar. But Vourly is packages-first, and a defined, ongoing program can absolutely be scoped as a fixed package. The honest way to choose:
- Book hourly when you want a batch of reels on your own cadence, or you are not sure yet how much content you need. A 2-hour shoot plus a few edits, repeated when it suits you, keeps you in control of spend.
- Choose a package when the deliverable is well defined and repeatable. Vourly's done-for-you options include ad campaigns from $1,300 when those reels are headed straight into paid placement, and a brand or profile video at $775 when you want one polished centerpiece. See how that compares on our video ad production guide for Seattle. For an ongoing monthly reel program, ask and we will scope it as a package.
Either way the rates are public, so you can compare the hourly math against the package price yourself. For the full social reels service, including what a typical shoot day looks like, see our social media reels page.
The short version: Vourly's social media video production cost in Seattle is about $425 for a 2-hour shoot plus three reels, with iPhone 4K filming at $100 per hour, professional cameras at $200 per hour, and editing at $75 per hour. One shoot yields three to four vertical, hook-first reels of 15 to 45 seconds. Rates elsewhere vary, so compare on transparency, not just the number. Most social is hourly batch capture; an ongoing program can be scoped as a package.
Frequently asked questions
How much does social media video production cost in Seattle?
It varies by studio, and many do not publish a rate. Vourly's are public: a typical small project is a 2-hour shoot plus three edited reels for about $425 total. That is iPhone 4K filming at $100 per hour and roughly three hours of editing at $75 per hour. Professional cinema cameras are $200 per hour when a job calls for them.
How many reels do you get from one shoot?
A standard 2-hour shoot yields enough footage for three to four social media reels, plus extra B-roll you keep. You decide how many of those reels to have edited afterward.
Do I need an iPhone shoot or professional cameras for reels?
For most reels, iPhone 4K at $100 per hour is enough, since the footage is built for a phone screen. Professional cinema cameras at $200 per hour make sense when the same clips will also run as paid ads or live on your website.
What is included in the rate?
The filming rate covers the shoot, a professional operator, and all of your raw footage delivered to a client dashboard. Editing is billed separately at $75 per hour, with one revision round included per reel.
Is there a minimum booking?
Yes. Video shoots have a 2-hour minimum, which is also the length that produces three to four reels. Photography is sold per session with no hourly minimum.
Ready to price your own batch of reels? Review the full menu on transparent pricing, dig into the creative side in our guide to engaging social media reels, or book a shoot directly. You can also explore the social media reels service in detail.