Collaborative editing is a crucial skill to bring to any job or side hustle.
Collaborative editing happens when people work together to make improvements on the same project. Collaboration – as opposed to one person calling all of the shots – can actually be more efficient than having just one person responsible for everything.
Collaboration leads to more authentic storytelling: In this post, we discuss the impact of working with clients to develop representative characters.
Collaboration also makes space for each individual to contribute their unique skills and point of view to the final product. (And that makes a better final product!)
Collaboration during the creation of an animated video is integral to client satisfaction, which is why we’ve worked for years to build it effectively into our process. (And our reviews show that it’s working.)
Won’t you let us share 3 tips for smooth collaborative editing that you can put to work today?
Collaborative Editing Tip #1: Loop in your stakeholders early!
Getting clear on who your decision makers are is one of the most important things you can do to prepare for effective collaboration.
Big changes are always easier to make when things are closer to the jumping off point. In fact, this is true about small changes, too – something as miniscule as an added sentence has the potential to throw off timing, animations, and voiceover. No one likes a last-minute swoop-and-poop.
This is why defining your decision makers early is crucial to effective collaborative editing. At our studio, each project kicks off with a full-team call designed to introduce all parties to one another before getting started. During our Kick-off Call, our team meets your’s and lays the groundwork – early – for making sure everyone gets their voice heard throughout the project.
Collaborative Editing Tip #2: Use tools that help you edit directly!
Scripting is a collaborative process here at Next Day Animations.
Your subject matter expertise + Our persuasive scriptwriting = Video Awesomeness.
To help it move as efficiently as possible, we are big fans of tracking changes. Many word processing software programs have this function, and it allows for groups of nearly any size to edit projects in real-time.
With tracking changes, you are able to see what edits have been made, decide whether to accept them or not, and even view the full history of edits in case you decide you liked something better in the first draft. No more digging through multiple emails with multiple documents – just use the same one the whole time!
See some of the websites we use for collaborative editing to the right.
Collaborative Editing Tip #3: Slow down to speed up.
Speed is great… but efficiency is better.
In our business, taking the time to double check things makes a huge difference in the final product. For example, one of our most important suggestions to clients is to make sure they read their script out loud at least once before finalizing it.
It may seem silly and like an annoying thing to slow down for. What is this, grade school?
But slowing down at this point in the process could save hours and thousands of dollars later, compared to requesting a whole new script recording after our professional voiceover artists have done their take.
There’s a lesson here: when you build processes and take the time to check your work, things go smoother for everyone. That being said, our name is Next Day Animations for a good reason: we specialize in rush projects and are capable of turning your video project around in less than 24 hours. You can reach our friendly client advisors to learn more about rush projects.
No matter what goal you are working towards, collaborative editing is your superpower for making it amazing.
Connect with our client services today.
Learn more about our process.
