The Video Production Editing Process

It’s quite common for a client to ask one of us during or at the end of a shoot how the video production editing process works, so we thought we would go into a bit more detail about the post production workflow.

There are many types of video we produce for industry, sub genres as it were. Interview based documentary style, brand videos with or without a voiceover or text, adverts, instructional, health and safety, drone, parody and lately online video chat based videos using software such as Zoom and Teams. All of these videos can be edited in a variety of ways, yet all of them have our base editing in common. So how do we start our editing process?

We start with the footage first and import it into our editing software, Adobe Premiere Pro. We need to make sure that the sequence aligns in setting to the footage, so that our frame rate doesn’t stutter and feel awkward in playback. We also have to put all of our items into organised bins at the side of the sequence interface to make things neat and tidy.

We will watch all of the footage first to start and get familiar with the subject and where exactly to start when we begin the editing process. Lets say we need to cut down a 25 minute interview down to a 5 min video. We’d need to have a good look at our script to see what is primarily needed for the client, and from here we will go through the track a number of times, chopping bits out and narrowing down the unnecessary bits from the stronger parts. Cutting certain scenes and cutting shots from the same shot can look awkward if they’re just pasted together. Playing with the Position and Scale tools can help to make these scenes look different, as if the camera has focused on a new position of the subject, when it’s actually just the same clip.

When we’ve put the final sequence of raw footage together, then we will spice it up. Using some paid stock music that fits the tone of the video, we’ll add that underneath and play with the audio levels to make the sound balance crystal clear. From this we then add transitions between cuts where needed to make the cutting smoother and natural, as well as adding captions and subtitles if the client has requested them. Then we’ll colour grade the video. Saturation, colour balances and exposure all play a key role in bringing the video to life visually with brightness and flare. A lot of cameras film some great shots, but their base colour settings aren’t the most vibrant. So post-production can really amplify this for you.

When the cut is finished, we’ll export the video to the wishes of the client. Do they want it as high quality as can be? Or do they want a smaller export size so they can publish them more easily on social media platforms? There are many different options to pick from so we’ll always discuss with the client properly what is best for them.