Effective feedback &
VIDEO PRODUCTION
CHANGE REQUESTS
You’ve just received the first cut of your video project. It’s amazing, but you still would like a couple of changes. This is completely normal and is an expected part of the production process. So what is the process to make video production change requests?
1) Collate all your feedback and deliver it in one email
It is important to collate all your feedback and deliver it in one email. This may include feedback from your marketing manager, director and any other members of your team that may have a say in the final project. There are a number of reasons that this can help streamline changes and allow you to gain the most value from your engagement:
- Collating the feedback in a single email ensures that the feedback given by your team doesn’t conflict. For example, Sophie wants to delete the clip at timecode 2.10 – 2.15, but Jarrod wants it moved to earlier in the video.
- Feedback is given in one email, rather than ten emails, reducing the risk that something is missed or overlooked.
- Delivering all the feedback at once means all the changes can be made at once. This significantly reduces the turnaround time on change requests and potentially saves you from additional costs.
2) Provide your video production change requests in writing
Put it in writing. This means that the post-production team can work directly off your list ensuring that all points are addressed. This also provides a document you can look back on to see what changes have been requested.
Depending on how you are providing your change requests this may be done either via email or direct through our video delivery platform.
3) Don’t forget the time codes
Providing time codes helps the production team find the change you’ve requested. For example:
“At 8.15 can we please have the word ‘orange’ underlined”
This assists the post-production team in quickly finding the word orange and completing the change request.
4) Keep your feedback timely - or factor in time in your deadline for delays
We all have a schedule that we need to stick to. Production teams often have multiple projects in the pipeline, and when they finish your project, it is likely that they will soon be moving on to the next one. If you wait too long to provide your feedback, it is likely that the crew will be busy working on their next job, and your change requests will need to be slotted in to the schedule.
For example, a company gets a video produced with a 2-3 day turnaround. Elite Media delivers the project during this time frame.
The company then takes three weeks to respond with feedback. By the time the company responds, your video production team is fully booked for the next five days. Your change request will be slotted in to the next available time slot.
If you return feedback quickly however, it is likely that the changes will be able to be addressed promptly. This is because time would have been allowed for you to provide feedback in the days following the end of your project.
It is important to be mindful of your deadlines when making change requests to take this into account. The sooner you provide your change requests, the better.
5) Be mindful of the terms of your contract
Another reason it is important to collate all your feedback in one place is that you may only have a set number of change requests included with your video or video project.
For example, you may send an email to us that looks similar to the following:
Hi Elite Media team,
The edit is looking great, love your work. May I please request the following changes:
- Can we turn the music down a little more from 0.29 – 0.35?
- Can you please move the shot at 1.10 to 1.45
- Are we able to change Sharon’s title from Sales Manager to Director of Sales.
Thanks in advance!
The above example would be considered a single change request. However, if these changes were sent in 3 different emails, across 3 days, these would be considered three separate change requests.
Your contract will allow for a certain amount of change requests. If you exceed this, additional charges for our time will apply.
The reason for this is that it in this scenario it would be likely that the editing team would have already gone ahead and begun processing the first change. Each time a change is made and delivered, the project needs to render, be exported, and be uploaded to the client. Rendering, exporting and uploading can take hours at a time, and therefore sending changes separately can add huge amounts of time to the overall production.
Things to look for during video edit reviews
- Punctuation and spelling errors
Production teams are only human, and even with our quality control checks typos can still happen. Make sure to double check names and the positions of people in your organisation when they appear on the video.
- Things in shot that shouldn’t be
Sometimes things sneak into shot that shouldn’t be there that you may be able to pick up on a bit easier than we can. These could be things like an old uniform or logo, a workspace that hasn’t been presented as you’d like it to be, or a supplier’s or client’s logo that you would prefer not to be seen.
For any further questions about providing video production change requests please contact us on (03) 8849 9334.
Alternatively, if you would like to speak with us about your upcoming video project, please fill in the form below.
