A lot of companies have different policies when it comes to how many changes or rounds of changes are included in the price when it comes to video editing. At Echo Video we will often try not to limit you in that way, seeing post-production instead as a fluid dialogue between us and our clients where we can try different ideas to make sure that you end up with the video that you want. However, nearly all of our projects have three very distinct stages when it comes to post-production that I thought I would take you through.
Rough Cut/1st Cut
I would suggest that for many of our clients, the wait between the end of filming and them seeing the first cut of their video can seem interminable. Most are really keen to see how theyÛªve come across on camera or how weÛªve filmed something. For us, putting together a first cut is often the most difficult and time consuming part of the editing process. ItÛªs effectively when we build the bare bones of the final video.
After importing and arranging all the footage we then need to review everything that has been filmed and start picking out the bits we like. Then the process becomes a bit like working on a massive jigsaw puzzle except we get to cut and trim pieces to ensure that they all fit nicely together.
What weÛªre doing is constructing a narrative for the video – this is usually be based on the script or storyboard- making sure that the story we want to tell makes sense, that it takes the viewer on a journey and that the pacing is right.
ItÛªs at this point that we would probably let you see it for the first time. The video at this point is still in quite a raw state but before we get any further we want to make certain that youÛªre happy with the direction weÛªre heading in.
2nd Cut
Once youÛªve had enough time to watch the video, digest it and send over your feedback, we then get to work on the second cut. Firstly we might need to re-cut or reposition clips based on your feedback until the content of the video is all but finalised. Then we get going on all the trimmings.
These trimmings will be different for each video but they can include a number of different assets that will be added to the video. They can include a voice over, animation, motion graphics, background music, still images and title cards.
All of this will be completed within the brief that youÛªve supplied us with and any graphics will fit in with your companyÛªs branding. The we send it back to you for another check over.
Final Cut
The last stage of the process and weÛªre getting very close to completion. WeÛªll make the final tweaks to the video and update the text and graphics to make sure that youÛªre 100% happy with the way they look and interact with the video. There can be a bit of back and forth here with all these little changes just to get them completely right. If weÛªve used any stock footage or royalty free music they would have been preview copies until this point when weÛªll purchase them for use in the video.
Finally, before we export and deliver the final video there might be a tiny amount of colour correction or even grading just to complete the look of the video.
And there we have it, once all that is done weÛªll deliver you the video in the format you need. This is just a rough overview of the editing process and we will cater it to fit with a clientÛªs specific needs. For example, some clients like to sit in on the entire edit or want the raw footage delivered to them so they can produce a ÛÏpaper editÛ for us. We are more than happy to work in whatever way suits you best.
I hope this has been of some use, if you have any questions about editing or would like Echo Video to edit one of your video projects then please get in touch.