What to do when the client overshoots

by Shiny

You’ve taken on a job and you’ve agreed to the delivery deadline, but then you receive the hard drive of footage from the client and you see they’ve shot days worth of footage for a 2 min vid. What do you do?

In this episode you’ll learn steps to take to avoid overwhelm and find the footage you need as quickly as possible so that you can deliver on time. The lessons in this episode are a sample of one of the courses included in Unsplice Pro called ‘How to get Hours of Footage Down to Minutes’. It is part of our mission to bring real-world practical industry knowledge to the editing community that will build trust with your client and keep you top of their go-to editor list.

Handling Large Amounts of Footage [00:00:00] Introduction to the problem of receiving too much footage for a project and the anxiety it can cause.

Overview of the Course [00:01:24] Explanation of the course “How to Get Hours of Footage Down to Minutes” and its practical application for real-life projects.

Dealing with the Problem [00:02:47] The importance of learning from courses and podcasts to accelerate one’s career and become an expert faster. Information about the benefits of joining Unsplice Pro before April 1st.

What Not to Do [00:05:01] Watching all the footage in real-time is not possible and not a solution. Reframing the problem as a client problem and communicating with the client to manage expectations.

Communicating with the Client [00:08:24] The importance of communicating with the client to understand the brief and the footage. Asking questions about each scene and its content to manage the project effectively.

Athlete Branded Content [00:10:45] Importance of understanding each scene and its purpose in a branded content featuring an athlete.

Good Takes and Bad Takes [00:12:11] Importance of asking the client about good takes and bad takes during the shoot.

Paper Edit [00:13:00] Explanation of what a paper edit is and how it can help in understanding the footage needed for the final edit.

Reviewing the Brief and Treatment [00:15:37] Importance of reviewing the brief and treatment to understand the beats and scenes that are most important to the story.

Creating a String Out [00:17:34] Explanation of what a string out is and how it can help in quickly navigating through the footage.

Transcribing the String Out [00:18:38] Tip on how to transcribe the string out to quickly skim through the footage and find the necessary dialogue.

Transcription Services [00:20:07] Tips on using transcription services to deal with large amounts of footage.

The Shiny Method [00:22:11] Explanation of the Shiny Method, an acronym for Start, Human, Identity, Nuance, and Y Tho, to overcome blank timeline syndrome and pinpoint footage.

Start [00:22:45] Importance of creating a powerful start to the film and how it can inspire the rest of the edit.

Human [00:23:31] Consideration of the audience’s demographic, location, and taste in music and films to create the identity of the film.

Identity [00:23:31] Importance of the music, sound effects, editing style, graphical style, and colors in creating the identity of the film.

Nuance [00:25:12] Explanation of nuance and how it helps define and find only the necessary footage for the edit.

Y Tho [00:26:15] Importance of knowing the purpose of the film and having a north star to refer back to when deciding which footage to include.

Collaboration with Clients [00:28:28] Tips on collaborating with clients, including having a frank conversation about overshot footage and thoroughly reviewing the brief and treatment.

If you are lost and don’t know how to make your video editing career a reality, Unsplice Pro teaches you the exact step-by-step process you need to get there in the shortest time possible, whilst still juggling your full time commitments.