Nick Heymann
A good brand film doesn't just tell what your company does, it shows why it does it. I produce corporate films that are authentic and memorable.
Most brand films look the same. Drone flyover of the office, a few desk scenes, the CEO at the panorama window, generic stock music with a piano intro. Watch five Hamburg brand films in a row and you can often swap the scenes between them without anyone noticing.
That's not the companies' fault. They are different, with their own culture, their own people, their own story. It's a production template that has settled in over the last decade, because it's fast to shoot and low-risk.
My approach is documentary. I follow real situations: a workshop conversation, a step in production, a customer picking something up. I capture your team's energy and build a film that feels like your company. No fake smiles, no actors in logo t-shirts, no voice-over lines pulled from the services-brochure template box.
The focus is on the people behind the brand. Because people trust people, not logos. That's not marketing theory, it's what any LinkedIn retention report tells you. Videos with faces get watched longer than videos with product shots. And videos where employees feel like themselves get watched longer than ones where they recite a script.
Practically that means your brand film feels like your company, not like your industry. Two Hamburg agencies that both do "consulting" will look different in a film by me. Because I look for the differences, not the shared surface.
Real scenes, real emotions. No fake smiles, just authentic moments.
Good camera work, color grading and sound design. No compromise on the look.
In addition to the main film, you get social media cuts for Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
You get a clear quote upfront with no hidden costs. Every project is individually calculated.
A brand film is rarely a spontaneous project. Most of the time it's been sitting on the to-do list, because the website video gap has been open for years or because a relaunch is coming up. So you know what you're signing up for, here's how the process runs on almost every brand film I do.
Step 1 — First call (free, 30-45 minutes). Usually on video. I ask about your company, your audience, and what the film is supposed to achieve. Not "what should be in it" but "what should stay in people's heads after they've watched." By the end of the call I know whether I'm the right partner, and you have a rough idea of where we'll land on price.
Step 2 — Quote. One to two pages, not a fourteen-page agency PDF with a disclaimer section. It lists what I produce, how many shoot days I'm planning, what deliverables you get, the fixed price, and what would add cost (drone with permit, second language, extra social cuts).
Step 3 — Concept and script. If you take the quote, I work out a concept. That can go from a loose scene list (for documentary films) to a full script with shotlist (for staged scenes). You get the concept for sign-off before anything happens, so shoot day holds no surprises.
Step 4 — Prep. Location check (usually in person in Hamburg, by photos elsewhere), scheduling with the people who will be on camera, drone permits if needed, music pre-selection. In this phase I also figure out who on the team actually feels comfortable on camera. Not every executive is good in front of a lens, and the wrong protagonist can weaken an otherwise good film.
Step 5 — Shoot. One to three days depending on scope. I show up with compact gear, not an entourage. Most of my shoots don't need three people on set, which is a good thing: fewer people in the room means more real reactions in front of the camera. For bigger setups (interviews with second camera, heavy lighting) I bring a trusted Hamburg partner.
Step 6 — Rough cut. About two to three weeks after the shoot you get a rough cut. Edit order is locked, music is roughly in, color grade is not final. This is the window for feedback. I plan in one major and one minor revision round, which covers 95 percent of projects.
Step 7 — Finalization. Color grading in DaVinci Resolve, sound design and mix, final music licensing. You get the main film plus the agreed extra formats in 4K and web-optimized versions. Everything is handed over, and I archive the raw footage for at least 12 months.
Step 8 — After the film. I stay reachable. If you realize three months in that you need a 15-second version for a newsletter, or you want different music, we message briefly and I handle it. With agencies that's usually a new order with minimum volume. With me it's an afternoon of work.
Corporate
Brand Film
A brand film is an investment in your brand. Unlike ads that get stale fast, a good brand film works for you for years. On your website, in presentations, at trade shows, in pitches, across social media. If you divide the price by expected lifespan, most projects land in the low three-figure range per month. That's less than many companies spend on a single month of paid ads.
Compact brand films (60-90 seconds) start around EUR 3,000. That covers briefing, concept, one shoot day, editing, color grading, and royalty-free music. A solid starting point or homepage centerpiece. This tier works especially well for coaches, small service providers, and solopreneurs who need a strong website video but don't have an agency budget.
Larger brand films (2-3 minutes) with multiple shoot days, interviews, drone footage, and sound design typically run EUR 5,000 to 10,000. This is where you get a film that really shows who your company is. Right fit for mid-sized companies, manufacturers, and anyone who wants several departments or production steps in the film.
What moves the price: film length, number of shoot days and locations, interviews or voiceover, drone footage (with potential permit requirements), how deep the color grading goes, and whether you want social media cuts on top. One cost item that gets underestimated is music licensing: a proper commercial track on Musicbed or Artlist runs between EUR 50 and 500 depending on reach. I plan for that from the start so there's no add-on invoice later.
What lowers the price: if you want multiple formats from one shoot (brand film plus reels plus testimonials), per-unit cost drops sharply because set-up, travel, and audio work spread across more deliverables. Two shoot days instead of one often produce four to five times the output. And if you schedule the shoot in the weather-friendly months (May to September in Hamburg), there are fewer reshoots.
Bottom line: you get a clear quote upfront. No hidden costs, no surprises. The first conversation is always free, and if it turns out we don't fit, that's also fine.
Most brand films don't miss the mark because of the camera. They miss it in two places: unclear intent and bad audio. Technology isn't really a barrier anymore. Any phone now shoots acceptable 4K. What's usually missing is the thinking behind it and the discipline in execution.
A good brand film has a clear answer to three questions before the first shot: who should this reach? What should that person think or feel afterwards? What action should follow? If those questions aren't answered, no amount of beautiful footage makes the film work. That's why I spend so much time on the first call.
On a craft level, three things matter more than anything else: light, sound, pacing. Light decides whether a frame reads as high-end or amateur. Sound decides whether viewers stay or swipe away after five seconds. Pacing is the edit rhythm: too fast and the viewer fatigues, too slow and they're gone.
What actually carries a brand film: one or two scenes where something real happens. An employee laughing because a colleague just told an anecdote. A craftsman in the workshop who corrects his own sentence mid-explanation because he wants to be more precise. I don't plan those moments, I create the conditions so they can happen. That's the difference between staging and observing.
What I deliberately don't do: generic stock music, interchangeable drone intros, voiceovers without substance, effects for the sake of effects. And I don't shoot scenes that obviously look staged. If you want to show teamwork in the office, I don't need an actor leaning over a laptop. I need a real meeting, observed from the corner with two cameras.
In the edit, one simple principle applies: every second has to justify why it isn't cut. A 90-second brand film often comes out of three or four hours of raw material. And the final cut isn't what's left over, it's what's been deliberately chosen. The rough cut is always 20 percent too long on purpose, so there's room to breathe while trimming.
People ask me this all the time: do I need a brand film or an ad? It depends on what you're after. Both have their place, but they work very differently.
A brand film shows who you are. It tells your company's story, introduces the people behind it, communicates your values. The lifespan is long: a good one works for 2-5 years. Think homepage, recruiting, investor pitches, trade shows.
A commercial promotes a specific product, offer, or event. It's shorter (15-60 seconds), has a clear call-to-action, and runs on social media, YouTube, or TV. Shorter shelf life, but the impact is more direct and measurable.
In practice I see a mix on most of my clients. Early in the customer journey the brand film does the heavy lifting on trust and positioning. In the conversion phase, ads and reels take over with a specific offer. Both formats serve the same goal, just at different points in the funnel.
My take: if you don't have a brand film yet, start there. It's the foundation. Then you can spin off commercials and reels for individual campaigns. Many of my clients get both from a single shoot, which saves time and budget.
A third category that gets mixed up with brand films: aftermovies, which document a specific event. They show not the company, but a moment. If you run events regularly (open houses, anniversaries, trade shows), an aftermovie can complement the brand film but not replace it.
Not every company needs the same brand film. A local craft business looking to build trust in its region has different needs than a startup trying to explain itself in three investor meetings. My work fits especially well for the following profiles.
Who I usually pass on: projects where the concept is locked in upfront as "a drone flyover, a few scenes, and the founder talks to camera." I can produce that, but it rarely turns into a film either of us is proud of. If you're willing to give me fifteen minutes to explain your company, we almost always find something that works noticeably better.
A brand film is rarely just one video. In practice I usually produce a main version plus several variants cut for different channels. Here are the typical formats that come out of one shoot.
Main film (60-180 seconds, 16:9). The anchor for website, YouTube, and landing pages. Length follows content, but I'd only go past three minutes if it really carries. Most websites see measurable drop-off after 90 seconds.
Short version (30-45 seconds, 16:9). For pre-rolls, LinkedIn posts, newsletter embeds. Holds the strongest shots and the core message of the main film. Often gets viewed more often than the main film itself.
Vertical social cut (9:16, 30-60 seconds). For Instagram Reels, TikTok, LinkedIn Stories. Not a simple reformat but a separate edit with different framing, because vertical composition works differently.
Teaser (6-15 seconds). As a YouTube pre-roll or ad. Very tight, one message, maximum visual density. Cut from the main film's raw material, not separately shot.
Still cuts and key frames. Stills pulled from the film that also work as website and social images. They don't replace a photo shoot, but they often reduce the need for separate photography.
Multi-language versions. German and English is standard. If you communicate internationally, I factor in subtitles and, on request, an English voice-over track. I work with a regular Hamburg voice partner.
Typical placements: homepage (autoplay, muted, subtitles), about page (full length), YouTube channel, LinkedIn company page, Instagram as feed post and reel, trade show booth (looped, muted), recruiting page, and internal onboarding. A good brand film works in four or five places in parallel, not just on the website.
I'm based in Hamburg and shoot most local projects here. The city has its own tone: understated, solid, no show. Hamburg brands communicate more quietly than Berlin ones, and that's reflected in the kinds of films that work well here. A Hamburg brand film rarely sounds loud. It works with substance.
Light is the second half of the story. North Sea light is soft and often grey, but has a clear quality when the clouds break. I've been shooting in this light for years and know when to wait for sun and when to work with the overcast. For brand films that's often the better look: less hard contrast, more midtones, ages better than peak-summer gloss, which looks dated two years later.
My preferred Hamburg locations for brand films: Speicherstadt for anything with brick, harbor ties, and tradition. HafenCity for modern brand shots with clean lines. The old halls in Altona and Bahrenfeld for craft, manufacturing, and studio looks. Schanzenviertel and Ottensen for anything tied to the creative scene and hospitality. If your location is outside the city I come to you. I regularly shoot in Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, and the rest of Germany.
Hamburg clients value that I'm reliable, start on time, and don't make myself bigger than the project. That's not an accident. In this city, profiles that claim more than they deliver get filtered out. I work accordingly.
Practically: short distances across town (I'm usually on site within 30 minutes), reliable Hamburg partners for audio, second camera, and motion graphics when a project needs more hands, and a network of locations I personally know. So if you're weighing a Berlin team with travel costs against a local solution, that's a concrete cost factor.
“Wow, I'm so impressed! This film, those precise and beautifully captured moments. It touches me so deeply.”
— Dorian, Retreat Participant
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