Ordering a video editing service from any solid company in the world doesn’t automatically mean you will get back a video you are 100% happy with.

In this post, we are going to go through some of the most important things you need to tell your video editing company before starting any project. It will save both of you a lot of time and money.

Video marketing is booming! It is increasingly easy to shoot high-quality footage.

It’s also incredibly affordable to buy 4K cameras.

It is very easy to get your footage professionally edited.

And lastly but not least it is very easy to share your videos.

People would rather watch a 2-3 minute video than reading 700 words of poorly formatted text.

They would rather look at a nice photo slideshow video than browse through hundreds of photos on their cell.

But if you want the professionals to deliver exactly what you expect you need to know what to tell them.

It is super important to make your requirements crystal clear right from the start.

Yeah, I know you may not have all the details yourself right from the beginning or the some of the requirements might change as you go. This is especially true for corporate clients.

But this is the exact reason why most video editing companies will allow at least one free revision of the video draft before you get your final video edit.

Of course, this back and forth communication can be shortened quite a bit if you follow a few simple steps and focus on communicating everything super clear and concise.

Here are the top 5 things you want to communicate to your video editor before getting started on the project.

#1 How much raw footage you have

The is the absolute first thing you want to get straight. What is the amount of raw footage you will be providing?

I know this might seem super basic but it is a lot more important than you would think.

It is incredibly easy to accidentally leave out footage when you are dealing with a large number of files.

I have been working with tens of client who didn’t actually realized that they didn’t actually send over all the footage they had.

So when I got back with the draft video they asked:

“Hey, where is that moment when we are interviewing the CEO?”

or

“Can you also include the shoot where my niece is riding her bike?”.

That’s the moment you realize you didn’t get all the footage you were supposed to.

There is a very simple fix to this. Regardless of what side you are on – the client or the supplier – make sure you clearly communicate how much raw material to edit there is.

The best way to do this is by counting the number of files you have and their total duration.

This could include both video and photo files. Here is how to quickly find out the total duration of the footage you got in many video files.

Select all the files, right click, select properties and then click the properties tab.

Once you got that sorted out, let’s move onto the next step.   

#2 What kind of video is it

Is it a family video, it’s a wedding video or maybe it is a dead serious corporate video.

The footage you send can be self-explanatory.

But it is always a good idea to specify under what genre your video falls into.

This will make things more organized in the video editing company back-end.

Besides the genre, you might want to tell the video editors if you are looking to achieve a specific goal with your video.

Do you want the viewers to buy a product after watching it? Do you want them to sign up for a training or course?

Make sure the message of the video is very well defined.

The whole edit should be focused on the purpose of the video.

All the bits and pieces that make up the final edit should be carefully compiled together so that it transmits the right message.

Depending on your goal, and at the end of the video you should get a conversion or you should make the viewer smile.

#3 Who will watch the video

Always have your target audience in mind before you send out a video editing requests.

Think about who the viewers are and what they would enjoy watching.

If you are making a video for your friends and family it should be fun, emotional and engaging to watch.

On the other hand, if you are making a job application video you should draft the requirements accordingly.

In case your video editing company doesn’t ask you who your audience makes sure to tell them and have them draft the video for your viewers.

#4 What video editing style you want

Video editing is a form of art and it is very subjective.

Some are blown away by Casey Neistat video editing style, some hate it. It’s simply a matter of taste.

It doesn’t mean someone did a better or worst job at editing the video. It all depends on the style you are after.

This piece of information (the video editing style) is super important, so make sure to share it with the guys who are doing the edit for you.

Since a picture (or video) is worth more than a thousand words the easiest way is to provide examples.

When you briefly describe the project send out a couple of examples of video edits you like and ask to have something similar to that.

Better yet, if you can find other videos done by your editing company that you like, point them out.

It is very likely that you will get something very similar back in terms of style.

#5 Talk about the music

Lastly but not least talk about the music. Oh, in case there is no music in your video you can obviously skip this step.

The soundtrack can literally make or break a video.

You don’t need to choose the track yourself, but you can provide guidelines. At least pick the genre.

Another super important thing about the audio track is to always mention any copyright requirements.

If you are going to use the video for commercial purposes you will need to license the music.

Or if you want to put it up on YouTube or Facebook and you use copyrighted music your video might get blocked.

So make sure to have this in mind as well.

There you have it. Your 5 step checklist before you go to your video editing company and ask them to get your new clip done.

Cristian Stanciu

Cristian Stanciu is a freelance video editor, owner, and post-production coordinator of Veedyou Media – a company offering video editing services to videographers, marketing agencies, video production studios, or brands all over the globe.