An industrial film is a video produced specifically for a B2B expert audience that visualises complex technical processes, products or plants in a striking and understandable way.

In our professional opinion, the key difference from other film types such as the corporate film or a commercial lies in the focus and the audience:

• Focus: While a corporate film primarily foregrounds company culture and values, the industrial film concentrates fully on technical excellence, production capacity and innovative strength. In our view, this is about facts, precision and a convincing demonstration of your expertise.
• Audience: The audience is usually a very specific expert B2B audience. We’re talking about engineers, technical buyers, potential business partners or qualified specialists who have a deep understanding of the subject and pay attention to detail.
• Content: In an industrial film we deliberately show details that might be uninteresting to laypeople but that – and this is our firm conviction – are decisive for experts. That could be the precision of a robot, the efficiency of a new production line or the seamless portrayal of your quality assurance processes.

The cost of an industrial film ranges, depending on complexity and effort, from around €4,000 to over €50,000.

A blanket answer is difficult, though, because the final price depends on several key factors. From our experience, the main cost drivers break down as follows:

• Concept and planning: How deep do we need to go into the technical processes and prepare them to be understandable on film? The more complex the product or plant, the more detailed and involved the concept phase.
• On-site shooting effort: The number of shooting days is a major factor. We know industrial conditions are often challenging – noise, dirt or strict safety regulations have to be factored into planning and execution and can increase the effort.
• Specialist equipment: To make technical excellence visible, specialist cameras are often indispensable in our view. Whether high-speed footage for extreme slow motion, macro lenses for fascinating detail or drones for impressive perspectives – the technology used has a direct impact on budget and result.
• 3D animation: To visualise processes inside a machine or digital twins of entire plants, CGI and 3D animation are the tool of choice. Depending on the level of detail and complexity, these animations can be a significant cost factor – but one that delivers invaluable added value for understanding.
• Post-production: This final step is where the true quality of the production shows. Professional editing, high-quality colour grading, sound design (intrusive machine noise often has to be replaced with fitting audio) and the use of professional voice talent, often in several languages, largely determine the final price and the film’s impact.

In our experience, the biggest challenges when filming in an industrial environment are ensuring safety for everyone involved, the difficult lighting and sound conditions, and precise planning so as not to disrupt ongoing operations.

For a smooth process and a first-class result, these points have to be handled professionally:

• Safety: Complying with strict safety regulations is the top priority for us and our clients. Our film crew is trained for work in industrial plants and equipped with the necessary protective gear to meet all requirements (e.g. observing restricted areas).
• Noise and acoustics: We know from countless shoots in production halls that the ever-present machine noise makes on-site live sound recording almost impossible. Our professional view is therefore to record dialogue and voiceover consistently in post-production to guarantee the highest audio quality.
• Lighting conditions: A typical challenge we keep encountering is the lighting. Industrial halls are often unevenly or inadequately lit for cameras. To portray machines and processes to a high standard, a well-thought-out lighting concept and often considerable effort for professional lighting are needed.
• Disruption to operations: One of our most important planning tasks is to organise the shoot so that your production is disrupted as little as possible. In our experience this requires very close and precise coordination with production and shift management.
• Cleanliness and appearance: An often underestimated point that is decisive for the final look is preparation. To leave a flawless, high-quality impression on film, machines and plant components often have to be carefully cleaned and prepared before the shoot.

An industrial film is typically used at trade fairs, in sales, on the company website and specifically in recruiting and on B2B platforms.

Our professional view is that an industrial film reaches its full impact when it’s used strategically across several channels. From our experience, the following applications have proven particularly effective:

• At trade fairs and events: Here the film serves as an impressive eye-catcher on the stand. It makes it possible to show complex products or entire plants live and understandably, in action, without transport effort.
• In sales and presentations: We see again and again how effective it is when sales staff use the video on a tablet. It lets them demonstrate the products’ capabilities to clients quickly, visually and convincingly.
• On the company website: Placed in the “Production” or “Technology” section, the film gives visitors a transparent insight. In our conviction, that immediately builds trust and underpins technical expertise.
• In recruiting (as part of employer branding): An often underestimated but very strong lever is use in HR marketing. It gives qualified specialists an authentic insight into the technologically advanced working environment, which can be a decisive advantage in the competition for talent.
• On video platforms such as YouTube and LinkedIn: Finally, publishing on relevant platforms is crucial to demonstrate your expertise and build lasting visibility in the B2B space.

3D animations are so important in industrial films because they visualise processes and products that are invisible to a real camera, too complex, or simply don’t exist yet.

Our professional view is that the strategic use of 3D animation can lift a film to a whole new level. The key advantages we see again and again in our projects are:

• Making the invisible visible: The biggest advantage, in our view, is the ability to show the inner workings of machines, depict chemical processes or visualise data flows. We can make visible things a camera could never capture.
• Perfection and clarity: In our experience, animation allows unrivalled clarity. Every detail can be shown perfectly, in an idealised, distraction-free environment. That way the technical message is communicated clearly and with absolute focus.
• Showing prototypes: A huge strategic advantage we often use for our clients is visualising products and plants long before they are physically built. This is ideal for convincing investors or starting pre-marketing.
• Safety and efficiency: Finally, animations solve a very practical problem. Dangerous processes don’t have to be filmed for real and huge plants don’t have to be shut down at great cost for a shoot. Every process can be shown absolutely safely, efficiently and precisely.

An industrial film is a highly effective video marketing tool for any company active in the industrial and manufacturing sector. Industrial films usually address a B2B expert audience and can therefore assume different background knowledge in the viewer than, say, a classic corporate film or commercial.

Industrial films can be used in sales as well as in internal communication, in reporting between departments and as a closing presentation, e.g. before/after committing budget for investments.

Like any kind of corporate film, the industrial film is so successful because it engages the three decisive senses – seeing, hearing, feeling – and can therefore store information better in the brain.

Industrial films are usually 3–7 minutes long and typically cost between €5,000 and €30,000.

59% of executives prefer video over text.

Websites with video get 41% more traffic.

Viewers retain 95% of a message from video, but only 10% from text.

90% of customers find videos helpful in the decision-making process.

81% of companies already have a film.

53% of marketers worldwide see the highest ROI in video marketing.

Industrial films are suitable for companies of any size, headcount and sector. Industrial films are increasingly used by industrial companies such as manufacturers, suppliers and production firms. But any company in the B2B sector that wants to present rational facts and customer benefits and/or internal production processes will be able to use an industrial film successfully.

An industrial film is not suitable, however, for a B2C audience (i.e. private consumers), or for building an image or deliberately evoking emotion. An industrial film also targets sales and promotion (“hard selling”) only to a minor degree. For that, a corporate film or commercial/product film may be more suitable.

An industrial film has the advantage that processes, content and information can be visualised professionally, competently and vividly. This makes an industrial film always feel down-to-earth, authentic and competent, and it is rarely dismissed as advertising, marketing or spin. Concrete advantages of industrial films:

Industrial films visualise processes.

With an industrial film you can train specialists.

Industrial films can appeal to applicants as skilled workers (at least to a certain extent. In general a recruitment film is better suited for this).

An industrial film can help increase revenue in the long term.