Behind the Scenes
Stringout of all media assets
Selects Pass where clips are culled, organized, categorized, and ranked
First Cut sent to client
Final Cut sent to client
So David was invited to attend this pop-up event put on by Old Navy and Disney over the weekend at Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles. His job was to capture candid moments with him and his family enjoying the food and fun in their fresh Old Navy fits. The catch, however (our 1st challenge), was that David couldn’t visit the pop-up until Sunday afternoon, and the client needed a v1 draft by Monday morning, the very next day. Fortunately, I was able to clear my calendar and block out the time that evening so that I would be available to quickly turn the project around and meet our client’s timeline.
It was after I started prepping the edit and making my initial rough cut that our 2nd challenge presented itself. As I re-reviewed both the creative brief and the brand ‘DO’s and DON’T’s’ document from Disney, I noticed what appeared to be a discrepancy between the two. The brief mentioned David AND Family enjoying the activities and eating treats, but the Do’s and Don’ts specifically calls out to NOT show kids eating junk or sugary food. One of the main highlights from the footage was David and his kids enjoying ice cream together.
I wanted to clarify what instructions took priority in this situation before I got too far into the edit and avoid potentially wasting time, so I reached out to my producer and the agency rep. After explaining my question, I then learned the actual reality of the situation. It had been agreed to not include David’s kids in the video at all, but that update to the plan was unfortunately made AFTER the footage had already been recorded. The problem was that David’s kids were featured in over HALF of the footage. This could be a nightmare.
As I considered my options, I realized that removing every instance of the kids was going to basically dismantle the whole video concept. I then proposed a compromise where we keep the kids included but not overly focus on them and only show moments where their back is turned or their faces are not prominently featured. Thankfully, this plan was accepted by everyone, and I was able to move forward with completing and delivering a v1 draft later that night.
Monday came and went with no word back from the client. But then Tuesday rolled around, and we finally heard something. David mentions at one point in the video how the pineapple ice cream was brought to the pier directly from Disneyland, which we were informed was not actually true, and the client wanted the section removed. This was again another instance I decided to clarify the root issue and asked if it was the entire section about ice cream that needed to go or just the Disneyland VO line from David. The client confirmed that it was thankfully just the line that needed to be removed.
With my new revision orders, I went back into the edit and was able to successfully trim and recontextualize David’s speaking clip to omit the reference to Disneyland and still retain a positive comment about the ice cream. At the same time, I also took advantage of the opportunity of another draft to include a new clip David had personally requested of his kids throwing popcorn at him, tighten up a couple cut-offs, add a couple more key-frame zooms for dramatic effect, adjust the color of some clips, apply a slight color to the overall project, further refine the mix levels of the music, and just improve the edit a little bit more overall.
The new v2 was submitted that night and approved and published the very next day. It’s currently sitting at a little over two hundred and fifty thousand views, but the main takeaway here for any other editors or creatives reading this is to not be shy, speak up and ask those clarifying questions when challenges arise in projects. When you get to the root issue, you might find that the solution is actually a lot more achievable than originally thought. You’ll be able to offer better solutions, and your client will end up with a better product. Everyone is happier in the end :)