Video editing. It’s where the magic happens–where you can actually see everything begin to take shape.
But video editing is also where you can easily throw a monkey wrench into the works and drive up your costs and push back your deadline. To keep that from happening you’ll need a basic understand of a) the complexity of the video editing process and b) the implications of your “small and simple changes” so you can make informed decisions that won’t negatively impact your budget or deadline.
The 9 Stages of Video Post
Here are the stages of our video post workflow. (See a detailed breakdown here.)
- Post Prep – projects are created and prepared
- Asset Process – assets are prepared and ingested into projects
- Edit Prep – editor gets to know the project
- Story Cut – editor finds and develops the right story
- Rough Cut – editor creates the overall timing and feel for the video
- Graphic Build – graphics/animations and/or special effects are created
- Final Cut – editor begins the final polish of the video
- Finishing – color correction and audio mixing are added
- Final Approval – the “speak now or forever more hold your peace” watching of the completed video
The Monkey Wrench
Sometimes during the editing process, without ever knowing it, you can “throw a monkey wrench” into the works. This almost always happens in one or more of the following five ways.
- Being “too busy” to review
- Rushing through the process
- Editing by a committee
- Not keeping the final decision maker in the loop
- Deviating from the Creative Brief
The Solution
But alas, all hope is not lost. Working together with your anti-monkey wrench team (video production company), you can eliminate the monkey and his pesky wrench all together. The solution is simple.
- One – Use our one single online source to note all your comments and/or changes on the project. This single source saves LOTS of time and confusion and is FAR more efficient than email.
- Priority – Make it a priority to promptly respond to all requests. If it takes you just 2 days to respond to all 5 requests, you’ve just added 2 weeks to your project.
- Approve – Be prepared to approve your project each step of the way. Set aside time and give it your full attention.
- Communicate – Communicate with your producer to make him aware of anything that could impact the success of your video.
- Clarity – Give your production company clarity with a single voice, point of contact, for the project.
It’s easy to remember. Your One Priority is to Approve, Communicate and Clarify.
For our part, we help our clients manage changes in 4 practical ways.
- Budget – We budget for client changes. (See your proposal & agreement for details.)
- Track – We track client changes so you can know where you stand at any point in time.
- Communicate – We communicate the scope of requested changes.
- Estimate – We estimate the cost of changes and how much time the requested changes will take.
Remember, you don’t have to know everything about video editing, that’s our job. But you should understand the implications of your changes.
The easiest way to keep your budget and deadlines in check is to remember these two simple principles.
- Each stage is built on the previous, so changes have a ripple effect on everything that follows.
- The later the changes, the longer they take and more expensive they will be.
Take what you’ve learned here to stop the monkey from throwing a wrench into your video edit.
QUESTIONS: What can video production companies do to help clients better manage changes?
____________