5. Editing and Animation | 7 Essential Steps to Successful Video Production

Now is an excellent time to go back over your strategy and remind yourself of the project’s purpose so that this logic is at the forefront of all decisions being made. It’s important to remember and define who your target audience is and what environment the video will be viewed, as this will influence the editing style to fit the audience you are attempting to engage with. When you have a clear purpose in mind, it’s easier to produce content and know what you want to be included or cut.
At this stage of video production, you’ll be selecting how you want the shots featured, and there is a range of editing styles to choose from. For example, the footages can be edited to be long and immersive or super-fast, i.e., less than one shot per second – it all depends on whom you are targeting and what message you’re trying to convey.

While some people are happy to sit around and watch hours of TV or movies in one sitting, the same can’t necessarily be said when viewing videos that market a business, brand, company or product. Essentially, you’ve got a small window to engage and captivate your audience and the adage ‘less is more is a good one to keep in mind. When editing your raw footage, it is essential to consider the video’s overall duration and remember that timing is everything. A general rule of thumb – if you think it seems too long, it probably is – brevity is critical.

While you know the strength of your brand, it is essential to understand that there is a vast amount of competing content online in today’s technology-driven era, and it’s all vying to engage with your audience. Your audience is surrounded by hundreds, even thousands, of competing videos attempting to entice them, so if your content isn’t immediately engaging, they’ll simply move on, and you’ll have lost an opportunity.

While mobile phones and other devices have come a long way in recent years and enabled users to become somewhat amateur filmmakers, the art of editing is serious business and one the experts have studied long and hard to master.

Editing takes place on a computer editing station, which is super-fast, has a massive amount of fast memory, and costs a pretty penny. In a nutshell, the faster the computer, the faster the memory, the quicker the editing. There are as many editing styles and techniques as there are filming techniques and hundreds and thousands of ways of cutting material.

The process begins by inputting all the raw footage into editing software, followed by creating a content pass. This essentially is a rough draft, or rough editing, where your video will have a beginning, middle and an end and tells the story. This is usually the first time a client will see some of what’s been shot. If there are interviewees, they’ll all be featured, and if there is a voiceover, then that audio is laid down along with any relevant picture content.

At this point of the video creating process, many decisions are needing to make to identify what fits best, what works, and what doesn’t. It is a process of going back and forth and finessing. The first content pass is longer than the final cut, but this is an opportunity to understand what you can expect to see as a finished product. This will be a version of the video that doesn’t necessarily look pretty but gives you a basis and lays the groundwork.

Next comes the process of creating a visual pass, which takes all the overlay material, and in some instances, graphics and animation to bring the video to life. The two main options with animation are 2D and 3D, with 2D being far more straightforward as it is working within the flat framework of two-dimensional space. 3D animation, on the other hand, is far more complex because it is bringing in a third dimension, and visuals take on shape. If you are looking for something photo-real, i.e., realistic looking, the level of complexity goes up a notch again. Lighting, textures, and other environmental factors come into play to achieve a realistic result. While the process is incredibly time-consuming, when done well, it is extremely effective and engaging.

During the editing process, the process with both 2D and 3D starts with a design phase, including a non-animated version of the animation, to allow the client to see what the finished product will look like before it is completed. Once the design is finished, a wire-frame version is done to showcase how all the elements will move. You are now closer to a finished product.

The last part of the editing process is adding motion graphics, which is often 2D animation incorporated with live-action footage that has been filmed. Motion graphics enhance what the viewer sees and drive the message home by highlighting certain aspects in a frame. They are also highly effective when hearing audio is compromised, such as at a busy shopping centre, an expo or tradeshow. Graphics can contain central messages and are a great tool because people can still understand the video’s essence even when they can’t hear what’s being said. They are attention-grabbing and can bring a dull corporate vision to life in an entertaining way.

Editing is a fascinating stage of video production because it means the finished product is within reach; there’s light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a stage that allows creative juices to flow, but it’s important to remember that post-production editing requires creativity and technical knowledge. Having great footage is just one aspect of the process; piecing it all together to tell a story effectively and engaging an audience is another.

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