Like live production, editing can also involve a lot of steps and details. However, this is also where the process of producing video content gets most creative. You’ve collected all of your ingredients and now you get to cook up your “dish” into a delicious audio-visual presentation. Here are a few tips to make the post-production process as seamless as possible.
Work from Transcripts
Fortunately, the rise of AI has made editing a lot easier and simpler than it used to be. You can quickly generate an AI-generated transcript of an interview and use text-based editing in programs like Adobe Premiere or Descript to clean things up. We expect this will get even more powerful and convenient as AI continues to become more powerful.
Create a Two-Column Script
A two-column script is very handy to organize your visuals on one side and corresponding audio on the other side. You can think of this as a “paper edit”, which saves you time when editing or working with an editor. More on the two-column script and some of its conventions can be found here.
Fill In With Stock Footage
It’s easier than ever to find stock footage online, with many online sites providing great visual catalogs. Just be sure that whichever provider(s) you go with that you purchase the correct rights.
Make It Come Alive with Music
Music almost always makes a video better. However, it can be difficult and time-consuming to find the track that works just right. A couple of tips here. Play your music alongside your video so you can get a sense of how it will work together with visuals and dialogue. Music with a lot of foreground instrumentation and a catchy melody will compete with dialogue.
Bring in Brand Elements
Use graphical elements like titles, transitions, and overlays that reflect your brand’s overall vibe, color palette, and, fonts. Note that text used in video productions is typically minimal, bolded, and written in all caps.
Expect to Create Rough, Fine, and Final Edits
Creating a video is an iterative process. There are three stages of editing that video goes through: the rough, fine, and final edit. A rough edit is like a rough draft in the writing process–all of the elements are there, but it needs to be polished. The fine edit is almost completed but probably needs some additional tweaks. The final (or approved) edit is just what is described, a finished version that is ready to publish or deliver. Your job is to provide feedback to the editor between each of these stages.
Incorporating Animation
Animation is a subspecialty within video production and often involves a dedicated team of designers and animators. There are typically six stages when it comes to animation: Scripting, Storyboarding, Artwork, Rough, Fine, and Final. Once an animation is finalized it can be incorporated into the edited video. We recommend that the animation team get started with artwork right away and then they can time the animation to a rough or fine cut of the video once available.
