How you can streamline your Video Editing Process (As Project Manager)

Let's face it, video editing in itself is tough enough. It takes a great mind to think outside the box creatively to narrate a story in a unique, fun, and exciting way. Besides, what normally makes video editing a thousand times harder is the additional complications from managing collaborative work within a team. In addition, contributing individually to the overall process isn't always easy.

For anyone who has to manage a video editing project, it surely feels like something that needs a hands-on and active approach. Unfortunately, however, that's not always an option. 

So, let's break down some solid tips for managing a video editing project for all the project managers out there.

6 Tips to streamline the video editing process (as project manager)

Being a project manager, you need to take care of various things through which making/editing a video becomes smooth. For instance, you might not have much technical knowledge, or the size of the budget might frighten you, but with these simple steps, you can make the whole process more streamlined.

Have crystal clear requirements

Make certain that your team has all the requirements they need to start the video editing. Then, you can ask the team to organize the footage into various categories, such as main footage that has to be edited and the B- roll footage that can be added in between the main footage to build the visuals in the narrative.

For instance, you shot a video of your favorite singer at a music concert. The singer's video will be the main footage, and your B-roll includes the audience's reaction. It can help your team see the quality of the footage and perform the various edits at the initial stage, which helps to eliminate the unwanted footage and identify if anything is missing.

Determine the timeline

Once the footage is selected, you can closely coordinate with your editors to make a plan that will be the roadmap to the whole process. Since the editors are already familiar with the main footage and the B-rolls, they can share their suggestions to reach the target audience more effectively.

You can also divide the tasks among one or more editors to speed up the process but make sure all the editors are closely coordinating with each other to keep consistency.

Being a project manager, you need to adhere to the timelines given by the stakeholder and let your team know about it. It would be best if you get the timelines from the team as they are pretty clear with the requirements after step one, as this will help you in future projects as well.

Main editing phase

Once the timeline is defined, give your editors some room for editing to show you the magic with all the gathered information. Since there are many tasks involved, you need to have a project management tool to ensure that the process is followed closely.

You can make different tasks such as with the subtasks as follows:

1. * Main footage
2. * Additional footage
3. * Visual Direction (If any provided by stakeholder)
4. * Video production
5. * Main Editing 
6. * Post-production (Color grading, color correction, Adding music and SFX, and any other edits)

1. *Spell Check (if there's any text used)
2. *Resolution check
3. *Background Music
4. *SFX

Post-production tweaks

Once you are content with the final edit, it’s time for your video editing team to add the final touch that will truly make your video top-notch. Depending on your goals, you might have lots of potential tasks on hand.

Some of the main post-production tweaks your team might need to perform include:

Submission and feedback

Now you have the first version of the video editing website ready with you. It is always recommended to share the video through a collaborative tool that allows you real-time and more precise feedback, such as Frame.io, Vimeo, and many more.

Since the edited files are comparatively larger in size, it might be frustrating for your stakeholders to download them and then share the feedback. Moreover, these platforms provide precise feedback. For instance, stakeholders can share the feedback on the exact timestamp where the edits need to be made and many inbuilt stages such as progress, revisions, and approval.

Backup

Once all the necessary feedback has been made and the stakeholders approve the final video, you can share the final video through the collaborative tool you're using or through any cloud platform.

The process is not yet completed, and you can always ask the stakeholders if they need the raw/source files of the project to make any edits in the future at their convenience. Once everything is done, you can ask your editors to do an organized backup on the drive.

For instance, subfolders can be made under main folders named as below:

Note: Ideally, the backup should be done daily as the size of the files is often large and might put you in a tough spot if they get lost or corrupted.

Wrapping Up

Managing video editing requires input from many different teams, creatives, and stakeholders, and it can get messy pretty fast. So, to stay on top of everything to deliver excellent content within the deadline, you should have a strong video editing process.

I hope these simple steps can make your process of video editing more efficient. Whether you’re a video production company juggling multiple projects or looking to produce its own in-house content, follow these video editing tips to develop a streamlined video editing process.

And if are looking for an expert help from a video editing company,  do get in touch with us now!

Editor: Richa Sharma

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