What Happens in the Edit, and How Long Does It Take?
The edit turns hours of footage into the finished film. The editor builds a first cut from the strongest moments, then adds the voiceover, music, sound design and text on screen, and works through rounds of changes with you before delivering every length and format. As a rough guide, we allow at least double the shoot time for the edit, and more when there are graphics or several versions. Waiting on material, such as a final script, a voiceover or supplied photos, can push it out.
Key Facts
- As a rough guide, the edit takes at least double the shoot time, and a graphic-heavy piece gets its own estimate.
- For six interview videos of about a minute and a half each, cut from ten-minute interviews with overlay, we allowed three and a half to four days of editing.
- For one conference opening video, we sent four music options the same morning and a track was signed off inside two hours.
- Supplied photos work best as background texture, with our own footage carrying the cutaways.
What Are the Stages of a Video Edit?
Our edits usually move through six stages, and some of them overlap.
| Stage | What happens | What we'll need from you |
|---|---|---|
| Getting ready | The footage is synced and organised, and the best answers flagged on the shoot day become the editor's shortlist | The final script, plus logos and graphics as master files |
| First cut | The story is built from the strongest moments, sometimes over a temporary voice | A watch for structure and feel |
| Sound | The voiceover, music, sound effects and the mix go in | A pick from a few music options |
| Text and graphics | On-screen text, titles, logos and the end frame | Brand guidelines and the end frame you want |
| Changes | Each round of feedback becomes a new numbered version | One set of collated notes per round |
| Delivery | Every length and format, such as widescreen, vertical and 4:5 | The specs, as early as possible |
How to review each cut so the next one is better is in how to give feedback on a video edit.
How Long Does the Edit Take?
At least double the shoot time is our rule of thumb, and we hedge on the conservative side when we quote it. For six interview videos, each about a minute and a half long and cut from ten-minute interviews with overlay, we allowed three and a half to four days. A graphic-heavy piece gets its own edit estimate.
More versions add time, because every extra length and format is more edit work. So does waiting on material. When we took over a rescue edit, the start date depended on the previous production company handing over its project file. How edit days show up on a quote is in what goes into a video quote.
How Is the Music Chosen?
By listening to options instead of debating adjectives. A brief that asks for "banging" music means something different to everyone, and music is the part of a film people love or hate. So we send three or four tracks early and let the people signing off choose, in one email so their answers arrive together.
The track also has to move with the film. If the story dips into something quieter in the middle, the music should ease off under it and build again afterwards, instead of one track laid flat across the whole thing.
What Does Sound Design Add to a Video?
Feeling and a sense of place. In a test of our own, we shot one script twice, once with all our gear and once on a cheap children's camera. The cheap version was lifted by everything around the picture, with a voiceover, visuals chosen line by line, music and sound effects. Because the idea was bigger, the editor could pause and let moments sit.
The music makes the audience feel a certain way. Sound effects transport the audience to feel like they're there.
Sound can also open a film. When a story turns on something a person heard or noticed, we'll open on that soundscape and let them describe the first time they noticed it, then bring in the rest of the story.
How Do You Open a Video So People Keep Watching?
Start on a real moment, then pull out to explain it. When we planned a YouTube video of our own, the cold open was a real message from a stranger who was annoyed that Matt had beaten her on a LinkedIn leaderboard. Only after that does the video step back and explain what's going on. The view is earned in those first seconds, before any argument starts.
The opening also has a job, and it depends where the video plays. In a short ad, bring the brand in early. On a charity's 30-second TV ad, the agreed note was to bring the logo in over the opening shot instead of saving it for the end. A conference opening video is different again. For one we made, the first 15 to 20 seconds were there to give the room time to find their seats.
What Makes an Edit Feel Well Paced?
An even rhythm. When feedback says a cut feels off, the cause is usually the swing between fast and slow sections. On one brand video, the notes said the opening text came up very quickly, then the pace slowed, sped up and slowed again. The fix was to even out the rhythm and keep the slower sections the client liked.
For short videos, we tighten, then tighten again, until the pace never wavers. A strong hook up front helps, and so does a loop where the last frame leads straight back into the first. None of it works without something real to say, or viewers feel tricked.
Shot size does some of this work too. On an interview-led TV ad, the agreed notes were to go closer and tighter on the emotional lines, use faces at the key moments in place of illustrative cutaways, and let a burst of laughter change gear and release the tension, without leaning on any one person.
Does Text on Screen Help?
Yes, when it's short and lands word by word. Text like that focuses attention and lets people follow the story with the sound off. One brand brief set that as the test, asking for a film that told its story without sound.
It has to read as words, though. A long run of moving text can start to look like code, so we break it into short blocks and change the colour between sections. Then we show it to someone who hasn't worked on the project, because their confusion is worth hearing about before anyone else sees it.
Can You Build a Video Around Our Photos?
Yes, though we'd rather use them as texture than as the spine. Supplied photos are out of our hands and often arrive late, so a film that leans on them has to wait for them. Used in the background, they give context while our own footage carries the cutaways, and the editor can start straight away. For two award videos at a conference, that meant looping the supplied images through a moving graphics template, so both pieces were ready on time.