How to Give Feedback on Your Video Production

“So the day has come. I’ve hired a production company they’ve brought their first video edit to me. I am so excited Ryan. I am ready to see this. I’m sure there are things that will have to be changed. And I don’t wanna hurt anybodies feelings. And I don’t know the lingo. What do I do? What’s the best way for me to give feedback on that first cut that I get from you?”

– Well, feedback is a vital part of the process because it helps you get the exact video that you want. By communicating really directly and clearly to the production company. Whether they’re on the right track. Whether there’s things that need to be changed. And exactly what it is that you want.

And you mentioned something there about hurt feelings. And you know that’s something really important for clients to realise. That as a professional production company, the emotion gets taken out of it. So they way that a good production company approaches things is the idea that it’s all about getting the client a successful result.

So while editors will really put their heart and energy and soul into making the video, in the end it’s for the client. It’s about creating successful result for them. So when you work with a professional it’s not something that people take personally. It’s just about getting a great result.

So some of the ways that you can give feedback well to get a better result, is firstly use a feedback tool like the one that we use. So as you can see on screen right now, you’re seeing the feedback tool that we use. And the cool thing about this is that when clients watch the video, they can click on the screen and a little dialogue box will pop up. And they can enter their feedback there. So it’s really contextual.

Because you can reference particular parts of the screen, and it references that exact time code, that exact moment where you wanna give feedback. So that’s a great place to start. The next thing is to be as specific as possible. Sometimes communication can be challenging. Or an illusion exists that its even taking place. You know, because people are different. And their context are different and their frame of reference is different.

So when you’re giving feedback, think about how it’s gonna be received. Put yourself in the shoes of the editor. And think about whether it’s gonna be really clear what you’re saying. And you can do that by being as specific and direct as possible. Sometimes you can reference examples. That can be really powerful because you can say: I want it to look just like this one! I want it to have the feel —

– That’s a good point.

– Yeah, and another thing that’s really helpful is if there’s multiple people involved in the process, to collate all that feedback together and put it all in as one round of feedback. Rather than coming through in dribs and drabs. Because sometimes you might be referencing different things. Or in the worst case scenario there’s two people disagreeing.

– So there needs to be one channel of communication. One channel of decision making.

– That’s really important. And yes, it makes the editors job easier, but the most important reason to do it is because it’s going to get you a more successful result.