Video Editing Services

Post-production (aka video editing services) typically begins immediately after video production ends. Once your footage has been filmed, it’s time for our editors to take charge. It’s the stage of the video production process when all of the small details and thoughtfulness of pre-production really pay off.

Having planned for every aspect of your video, the final product should be a cohesive representation of your brand! While the design of your video identity begins in pre-production – and is captured during production – post is where your video branding is cemented into your content.

If you couldn’t tell from our overview of Pre-Production, very, very little in our industry happens overnight. There are a few steps that your editor must go through with every video production:

Importing/Organization – First, we have to move the video files from the memory cards in our cameras onto our editing computers. This step may be obvious, but this is where it all begins. The video and audio files are organized by project for both the editing process and for safe-keeping (archiving). These files are then copied to multiple hard drives for extra backup in case of data corruption, and they’re also uploaded to the cloud for extra extra backup. Now that our precious footage is safe from the evils of the world it’s time to…

Select The Best Footage – This is the fun stage! Well, only if your idea of a good time involves sifting through hours and hours of footage to find the very best material. And our editors love it!

Now that no frame has been left unturned, your editor will begin to lay out a rough timeline that represents the placement and pacing of the video that was dreamt up during pre-production. We’re on our way to our first cut!
Once the rough cut comes together, we’ll share a sneak-preview with the client to ensure that everyone is on the same page before proceeding onto the more complicated stages of the editing process.

Our editors would rather obsess over every detail of a video before presenting it to anyone, but a rough cut gives the client the opportunity to give course-correcting feedback that could save time on the back end of the process.
Editors take client feedback and incorporate it into a second (or third or fourth) cut of the video. Once there is no more feedback on a cut, the project moves on to the final stages!

The final stages of post-production take a high quality video and elevate it even further!

Color Correction – This is usually the most obvious differentiator between an amateur and a professional editor. Let’s set the scene: some of your epic footage was captured in super bright daylight, while some was captured in darkness. Maybe one location was a corporate office with bright fluorescent lights while another scene was captured in a warm, comforting living room. It’s important to balance all of these shots out to ensure that colors appear consistent throughout the video and don’t jar the viewer at every cut. This is the technical side of color balancing, where exposure and white balance are adjusted and balanced throughout the video.

Color Grading – Often confused for color correction, color grading is when an overall look/mood/style is applied to the entire piece. Color correction means balancing your image so it looks great, color grading means giving that image attitude and emotion!

Animation & Motion Graphics – This is where your brand guidelines come into play. Our editors add branded titles and callouts where necessary, and turn logos into animated bumpers. It’s always wise to create a memorable logo animation since in certain cases this is the first and last thing your viewer sees when watching your content.

Audio Mixing – Now that all our visuals are finalized, it’s time for our audio engineer to make sure your video clearly communicates its message. We use professional audio equipment when we film, but that audio still needs to be mixed to ensure that it’s in line with the high quality of your video. Studies have shown that an audience will forgive bad visuals, but not bad audio. Thankfully, your video now has neither!

Final Cut – The video is branded and colored, and everything has been approved–the video is ready for export! You did it! Well…not all by yourself. But that’s not the point…the video is now complete!

Delivery – The video is then exported to its appropriate format, depending on where the video will eventually be viewed. The final asset is delivered to you in full quality for final approval!

Rushing through the video editing process could result in a video that fails to meet the goals we defined and worked towards throughout the entire production. Try not to rush your production team–they are aiming for perfection!

Some editors don’t give each video the necessary time it requires to make high quality videos. This is not the way we roll. Our stud editing team dedicates their full energy to each project – treating every video like it’s our last!

While every company is different and therefore requires a unique strategy, our tride and true system provides structure and direction to a complicated process. Post-production is crucial to the success of a video marketing strategy. It allows your business to establish your digital brand, engage your audience, and accomplish your goals.