Video editing project coming up? Consider these points to make it better.

Article originally published on Cameraman Hong Kong

Video editing is a time consuming process and to edit something good you'll need someone with experience, decent footage and creativity. Anyone can edit shots to a piece of music and upload it to social media but once you want to tell a story and keep peoples attention, you'll need to consider a few things when planning your video edit. When it comes to media production in this day and age there is no right or wrong, just ones that end up good and ones that end up bad.

Firstly you'll need a base from which to tell your story and this can be one of 4 things in most cases:

1) An interview with sound-bites from the contributor linked together to form a seamless message

2) A script with professional voice over

3) Music

4) Text and graphics to highlight major points

Sometimes it will be a combination of all of the above. A video editor working with a producer (and under your direction) will help decide what elements to use ensuring the most important points stand out.

Another thing you'll need is decent footage and this is something that is often overlooked in this interview led, get it out as quickly as possible world that we live in. This footage can either be obtained by a cameraman specifically for your project or stock footage from a site like Artgrid or Pond 5 that have great video clips submitted by contributors from all over the world.

Check with your editor or production company to see what stock footage sites they have access to.

No matter how you choose to proceed with your next video, make sure you consider some of the items above. Footage is important, it keeps people watching and makes your video better. Most of all, it will save your editor trying to work out how to make sure your two minute talking heads video gets watched until the very end.