Tips For Viewing Your First Rough Cut
Do you have an upcoming meeting with your video editor to see the first rough cut of your video? If so, it will help to follow these tips to make the meeting go smoothly.
View With An Open Mind
The purpose of a rough cut is to get the video in front of you in an early form when it is easy to make changes. Things are not going to be perfect and may look far more different than what you imagined the finished product will look like. However, it is important to view the rough cut with an open mind while remembering that the video is nowhere near complete. Try to picture where things are heading and what the final product could look like with all of the pieces in place. Things will eventually get refined as you go, but ask yourself if the base of the video is heading in the direction that you are looking for.
Know What Not To Criticize
A rough cut is rough for a reason, since many elements are a work in progress and in a really rough state. It will not be productive if you start criticizing the elements of the rough cut that will eventually be improved upon. For example, not liking the voice that was used for a temporary voice over, not being happy with the color correction of the footage, and thinking that the mix of the audio tracks is a bit soft or loud.
It does not make sense for the editor to start working on these finishing details of the video, especially when everything could still change. For example, the editor does not want to spend time color correcting all of the footage if a different shot ends up being used in the final cut.
That said, it is okay to start discussing things that you would like to see when finishing the video, such as how your video could be color graded or ideas for sound effects. Those things are okay to mention since they are contributing to the creative process.
Give Specific Comments
One of the worst things you can do when reviewing a rough cut as a client is not giving specific comments on what you would like to see changed. If you simply say that you do not like it, you are going to leave the direction of where to take the video up to the editor. Now is the time to get specific about what you would like to see changed so that it can be addressed by the time of your next review session.
If you want to learn more about the video editing process, contact a content production company near you.