Searching for a Video Editor
There are several aspects to consider regarding your hiring a an individual or company to help you with Chicago video editing and I’ll explore them with you now.
Should You Edit Your Video?
Though this seems obvious, it isn’t always. Sure, if you want a marketing video where you hope to attract the eyes of many prospective clients, your video definitely needs to be edited, unless you’re trying to go for a very different and unique approach and for some reason just want to show raw footage. However, this is never really done. If anything, a marketing video may contain a ‘rough’ look where it looks homespun or amateurishly shot, but this is all planned and quite professionally done.
If you’re producing a training film, it may not have to be edited. If you’re producing a ‘homemade’ video where you just point and shoot Chuck demonstrating how to service a machine for instance, you may get away with just showing your audience the raw footage. However, if you expect to keep their attention, you may want to consider adding some titles and text and possibly close ups to your video. If you’re trying to convey a more complicated process, motion graphics may be called for, in which case a professional should be brought in to help.
An event video doesn’t have to be edited unless you want to show it to anyone. Sometimes you just want to archive the footage of a trade show you sponsored or participated in, just in case you want to use it for some future purpose such as making a sizzle reel to attract attendees to next year’s show.
So you may not need a Chicago video editor, at least not right away, if you just want your video for archival purposes, are just showing it in-house to a ‘captive’ audience or it just don’t need high production value.
When you DO need Video Editing
I posted a blog on how to choose a video production company and similar criteria apply to choosing a Chicago video editor. If you missed it, you can download our ‘consumers guide’ to choosing a production company. Most of the principles apply to hiring an editor as well. Here are the criteria I’d recommend when selecting a Chicago editor for your next video:
- See samples of his or her work.
- Discuss how the editor plans to approach your video. Don’t be shy. This is the time to get specific about what he or she intends to do. I wouldn’t accept the response, ‘we’ll see how it goes as the project unfolds’ as an answer.
- Have the editor edit a small amount of the footage and see how it goes. Tell them to put in 2-3 hours of work and send you a Vimeo link so you can see their progress. This will give you an idea of how fast they work and the quality you can expect the rest of your project to be.
- Speaking of time, get an estimate in advance of how long the edit is expected to take. Unless you decide to add elements to the edit and make it more complex, the video editor should be able to at least give you a range of how long the edit will go and stay within that range.
