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So… you got your S*%t together and you’ve found/filmed/got someone else to film/invested in/winged some great footage for your small business - showcasing yourself/your brand/your product… what happens now? 
 
If you are looking at outsourcing the post production to MAKE THE MOST of your precious footage, what do you need to consider?
 
**Use our A-Z of post-production to make sure your small business video doesn’t get lost in the post.**
 
A. Approval (Process) – What is it?  Have one. If you want changes to your video and are they included in the quote?  How many? Specify this before you start the post process.  (A common one is: one round of client changes included in the quote, extra changes after that charged at a per hour rate). Negotiate the approval process BEFORE you begin the editing process!
 
B. Branding – Supply your logo in the format that best suits the software that your post house is using.  Can they take a .jpg or is it too small? .png?  Vector.eps?  Give them the biggest/best file you have and talk to them about where and when you want the branding to appear.  Do you want a watermark on the whole project? Start and end logo with music sting?  Think about what you want and take advice. (see: eXtra files)
 
C. Creep (Project)- Beware asking more of your post house than you initially asked (and they quoted on)!  It’s easy to think “One more video/file/output/version won’t kill them”… but if this happens too often it can kill the vibe, man.  Don’t take professionals’ time for granted… and everything takes time.  If you want more than you originally asked for, be prepared to pay more.
 
D. Delivery (Project, not pizza)- How will your finished videos be delivered to you so you can use them?  USB containing finished files? Hard-drive with all the footage plus the finished files?  Via dropbox or other file sharing platform? Google Drive?  Do you want them delivered straight to your web developer or into your inbox?  Discuss the best options for delivery.
 
E. Enough- You can always do MORE in the post process.  Another cutaway, take out that tiny “um”… between you and your post producer you need to know when enough is enough! Stop already and get your video out there.
 
F.  Footage – What are you going to do with your footage now? Think about how you can repurpose your video to make different content (either now, or later!) … if it’s not time sensitive (ie: this season’s fashion) you can always re-focus your story and use that great footage over and over again.  Even if it IS this seasons fashion, you can use it in interviews or behind the scenes videos.  Evergreen!
 
G.  Goals -  what are your goals with your video content?  Your goals will shape the ENTIRE PROCESS, so don’t neglect this one… You have reams (bytes!) of footage… but to work out what you MAKE with your footage you need to know WHY you’re doing it!  Do you want LOTS OF EYEBALLS? Do you want people to SHARE your videos? Do you want to INFORM or ENTERTAIN?  Choose your goals to target your video creation.
 
H. Hard-drive – Consider getting your post producer to put ALL your footage (raw and finished) on one hard-drive.  That way it all stays in the one place, doesn’t get tangled with the editor’s other footage and at the end of the process you get the hard-drive with all your footage on it for re-use at a later date. (see: Footage)
 
I.  Important (Content) – Get it in the video!  Make sure amongst the tangle of the post production process that the important information that you initially wanted from your video is included in the finished piece.   It’s easy to get side-tracked by the pretty pictures and the lovely music.  Make sure the important bits are in there!
 
J.  Just – Just one more thing… If your video is nearly there… just wait another day, watch it another time, show it to another business friend and THEN make all your final tweaks.  Every time you say “Just one more thing” your editor has to open the project, make the tweak, adjust anything that the tweak has messed with, render it, output it, upload it and share it with you… it’s an awful lot for just one “JUST”… save them up! (see Enough).
 
K. Keep – Keep draft versions of videos.  Re-watch them occasionally to see WHAT it was that meant they didn’t make the cut. You might use them as alternatives someday.  Or you might like something about them/in them that you can incorporate in another video.  Video productions costs time and effort – use and repurpose it when you can. (see: Hard-drive)
 
L. Length – How long will your video series be?  This depends on why you made them in the first place.  If they’re for social keep them short… under 60 sec.  For website use around 3min is a good time to get information across without losing too many eyeballs.
 
M. Music – Where will you source your music ?  You need to own the licence to use music in a video, but don’t be scared, there are lots of places to source legal music! There are free Creative Commons licences available or low-cost music subscription services (AudioBlocks etc) which have huge selections of music to use in your video.
 
N. Names – Give your video series a catchy name.  Use naming conventions on versions of videos so you don’t accidentally load the wrong ones.  Use your video-makers name liberally if you liked their services!
 
O. Ownership – Include this in your conversations with your videomaker.  Who owns the footage?  Do you own it or do they?  If you own it, are they allowed to use it to promote their own business?  Can they use bits of it in other productions?  Have the discussion about who owns what.
 
P. Publish – How are you going to publish your video?  If it’s straight into social channels how big should the file be?   If you’re publishing onto your website consider streaming your video from a third party to keep your website speed up.  Wistia (www.wistia.com) or Vimeo (www.vimeo.com) for example are third party hosts where your video plays from their site on your website (without taking the viewer off your website – key!)
 
Q. Query – If there are aspects of the post-production process you don’t understand, query your videomaker.  Ask them about the process and get them to explain the costs incurred and how they show up in your video.  Better to have the conversation than either party holding it in!
 
R. Render – Render files are a thing.  You probably don’t need to know about them.
 
S. Slow - Producing good creative content takes time.  If you’re up against a deadline make sure you’re honest about those requirements before you begin the post process.
 
T. Transitions – Your video content will require some transitions (where the video moves between one shot and another) and there are a lot to choose from.  I prefer a standard cut or perhaps a 9 frame dissolve, depending.  A dip to white or a dip to black are always good too… a wipe or a cross wipe or a 3D cube spin?  So many to choose from.
 
U.  Use (of footage) – Who owns and can use the footage?  Is it all yours?  Can your videomaker use the finished piece or the raw footage for their own purposes (eg. On their showreel/website)?   Did they do you a good deal? Do you want them to share your video on their own social channels?  
 
V. Veto – Who (if anyone) has veto rights over your video content?  Does the fashion model have any rights to say “I don’t like that shot”?  Is the video a collaboration where a number of people get a say?  Sort this out early on to avoid potential conflict AFTER a video has aired and someone is not happy with it!
 
W. Watch – View your video content from a number of different customer perspectives… The “never-heard-of-you” potential customer.  The “I’ve-tried-it-and-I-liked-it-and-I-might-buy-it-again” customer.  The “I-LOVE-THIS-BRAND” customer.   Target your video views to the set of customers you think will most benefit from the video.
 
X. eXtra Files – Supply your logo, specify your fonts and brand colours.  At some stage in the video process you’ll need your logo on a video –at the start, a small watermark or on subtitles… get everything ready and if you know what you want, be very specific! 
 
Y. YouTube – Your brand should most definitely have a YouTube channel and upload regularly… Google searches love YouTube and so should you!
 
Z. Zenith – The very pinnacle.  Not especially relevant, I just like this word.

If you have some video editing to be done, or some social media video you'd love cleaned up or made or finessed or saved from facebook video nowheresville, make sure to call Tanith your Northern Beaches Videographer.   She loves using all her video skills to tell your business story. 0478550533 Tin Cat Productions Manly. 

some days are ace and awesome and fantastically fulfilling and fun.  other days are meh.  this one was far past "meh" and into "grrrrrr" territory.

retrospective schedule of the day:

make food.  drive childA to schoolX. home. (normally childA would be on the bus, but it has an assignment due and NEEDS those extra 40 minutes for URGENT alterations)

try and talk childB into going to school. (she is having none of it.)

make food.  drive childC to school Y.  home. (THANKFULLY there were no parks around the school, so kiss'ndrop it is!)

WORK - producing video content - aka "being a professional". (interrupt work intermittently to hug childB, make food for childB and generally try and be a good parent while ACTUALLY  working on the social media videos on the sly.)

make food.  pickup childA at schoolX. home.  (childA normally catches a bus home but on sports day they finish early... and waiting is unthinkable)

make food.  pack bags. pickup ChildC at schoolY.  head to after-school activity D.  (pay for extra accessory at after-school acitivity D because I forgot to pack mandatory accessory - of which we have about 7 at home... sigh)

neglect to WORK while child C is at afterschool activity D because I forgot to pack the folder with all the damn paperwork.

head to afterschool activity E with Children A, B&C (where I continue to not work because of aforementioned forgetfulness.)

drop childA at schoolX for activityF. home.  (I need to attend activity F also, but since husband Z is late back from work^&*% I can't go just yet)

make food. try to look grown-up in hand-me-down sandals from a 10year old.  head to school x for activityF.  home.  (I am not sure if I passed the adult-test)

some things are immediately obvious to me from this rundown...
J: i am forgetful
K: my kids need to make their own damn food
L: my kids need to start using their bus passes and feet a whole lot more
M: it's no surprise that I don't actually get much work done on a day like this!
N: i am LUCKY i get to have days like this merging my kids and my home and my business life... i am not unaware of this.

you feel me??

**apologies for the lack of capital letters.  it's a "screw-the-rules" kinda day.