EDITING AND ANIMATION | 7 ESSENTIAL STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL ADELAIDE VIDEO PRODUCTION
In previous posts of our seven-part blog series, which details the essential steps to help ace your video content marketing for Adelaide video production, we have so far covered strategy, scripting, pre-production, production and finishing & delivery.
Now with step 5, we examine editing and animation.
By this stage, you should have all your raw footage – or more commonly known as rushes amongst film buffs – and it is now time to piece it all together into a semi-finished product. It’s where all the pieces of a puzzle come together, and you’re starting to see the bigger picture – the excitement is building! But before you start, there are still some crucial steps to ensure your video is picture-perfect.
1. REDEFINE YOUR PURPOSE
Now is an excellent time to review your strategy and remind yourself of the project’s purpose. It’s important to remember this before all decisions. Remember to define who your target audience is and what environment they will view the video. This reflection will influence the editing style to fit the audience you are attempting to engage with. Producing content and knowing what you want to be included or cut is easier when you have a clear purpose.
At this stage of video production, you’ll be selecting how you want the shots featured, and there are various editing styles to choose from. It all depends on whom you are targeting and what message you’re trying to convey. For example, the footage can be edited to be long and immersive or super-fast, i.e., less than one shot per second.
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. 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’s essential to understand the vast amount of competing content online. In today’s technology-driven era, 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.
2. THE ART OF EDITING
Mobile phones and other devices have come a long way in recent years, enabling users to become somewhat amateur filmmakers. But, the art of editing is serious business and one the experts have studied long and hard to master.
Editing takes place on a super-fast computer editing station which can be super-fast. But this takes a massive amount of fast memory and costs a pretty penny. In a nutshell, the faster the computer, the faster the memory, and the quicker the editing. There are as many editing styles and techniques as there are filming techniques and thousands of ways of cutting material.
The process begins by inputting all the raw footage into editing software and creating a content pass. It’s a rough draft or editing in which your video defines a beginning, middle and end and tells the story. This is usually the first time a client will see some of what’s shot. If there are interviewees, they’ll all be featured. If there is a voiceover, then it will be presented along with any relevant picture content.
At this point in the video-creating process, many decisions are made to identify what fits best, works, and 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 video version doesn’t necessarily look pretty, but it gives you a basis and lays the groundwork.
3. ANIMATION
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 than working within the flat framework of two-dimensional space. 3D animation, on the other hand, is far more complex because it brings in a third dimension, and visuals take on shape.
If you are looking for something photo-real, i.e., realistic, the complexity level 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, it is extremely effective and engaging when done well.
During the editing process, the process with both 2D and 3D starts with a design phase. Including a non-animated version of the animation, allowing clients to see what the finished product will look like before completion. Once completed, the design is showcased through a wire-frame version to highlight how all the elements will move. You are now closer to a finished product.
4. MOTION READY
The last part of the editing process is adding motion graphics, which is often 2D animation incorporated with live-action footage 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 trade show. 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.
5. CONCLUSION
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 together to tell a story and engage an audience effectively is another.
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