Behind the Scenes: Video Editing that Amplifies a Brand’s Story

We’ve covered the importance of pre-production and capturing quality footage to our video production process, but editing footage is the crucial final step to create a video that elevates a brand’s story and highlights their products and services. Our video team has mastered the art of editing raw footage to present stories to drive audiences to action.

Superb video editing creates a story that elicits an emotional response from an audience. When done well, the storytelling is seamless without the viewers focusing on the edited elements. Without sound effects, can you imagine how flat a video would sound? Consider how difficult it would be to understand a story’s timeline if interview clips weren’t presented in the proper order.

“Editing makes the story,” said Nathan McNurlen, post-production director. “It’s the final phase where all aspects of production and asset creation come together. The themes, tone and visuals defined earlier in the process are fully realized during the edit.”

Before shooting, our team plans extensively. One of our video editors is often involved from the beginning of the production process so they understand how to incorporate sound, tone and story sequence to match the client’s goals and vision.

“It’s imperative to include editors at every stage of the process,” Nathan advised. “It’s key for an editor to understand what the intended deliverables are while also allowing for adequate input for what will happen at different production phases.”

Our videographers are privileged to work with some of the best brands in their perspective industries. During shoots, we interview business leaders and employees, their clients and colleagues. Once they have raw footage, our editors typically start by marking the most compelling portions of those interviews. Then, they parse those clips together with b-roll to begin fashioning a story sequence with a beginning, middle and end.

“Editing is a balance between letting the stories tell themselves and enhancing what the footage shows,” said Sydney Dhabalt, video editor. “Stories are most impactful when being told by those who have experienced or believe in the message. And the process is so interesting because all our team members could edit the same video and choose different sound bites and lend their own artistic lens to the piece.”

Story sequence is an integral part of creating a narrative. But the music, sound effects, color tone and rate at which the clips move are all cues that evoke an emotional response from viewers. Warmer color tones could denote comfort or happiness. A fast-paced sequence could elicit an energetic response.

Music and sound effects are especially important. Depending on the response our editors hope to elicit, they could enhance sound effects to draw viewers into the environment or downplay them so the audience focuses on the image, interview or voice-over audio.

“Video is such an experiential medium,” said James Drescher, senior producer. “There are so many layers we add to the message. I have to make so many decisions while shooting so I capture the best footage possible, but our editors have to make just as many decisions in the final production stage. Editing is an art in and of itself.”