What decides the price of a CGI ad film?

This is the question we get most. The short answer: in CGI, price follows scenes, not seconds. The long answer comes in five parts.

1. Scene count beats duration

A thirty second film set in one location can cost less than a fifteen second film that jumps through five. Every new scene is a new set build: modelling, lighting and textures start over. Splitting your brief into scenes before asking for quotes makes every estimate sharper.

2. Level of detail

A building seen from afar and a chocolate bar the camera dives into are not the same effort. Cost flows to wherever the camera gets close. In our Tadelle film, the chocolate snap was the shortest and most expensive second of the piece.

3. Mixing with real footage

That is an extra layer of precision on top of pure CGI. We explain how FOOH works here, and list every item that shapes a FOOH budget in our FOOH cost breakdown.

4. Number of formats

If the film ships in vertical, horizontal and square, say so upfront. Adding a format later means reframing from scratch; planned early, it costs almost nothing.

5. The timeline

A tight one means parallel teams doing the same work. Urgency is a line item here like everywhere else.

If your brief answers these five questions, a quote takes a day. If it does not, no problem: fill in the form on our CGI advertising page and we will close the gaps together. The full checklist of what to ask before commissioning is here. If you are considering an AI-produced film instead, the cost drivers shift; we cover them separately in what decides the price of an AI ad film.