Creating video content can often be overwhelming thanks to the complex nature of video production. From planning, filming, and animating to editing and revising, there is a lot to manage when handling video projects. The demand for video content continues to increase year over year, so it’s important to streamline and simplify your processes wherever possible.

That’s why, before hitting the play button, your team should learn these 5 tips that will improve collaboration during the video Review and proofing cycle:

Proof Before It’s Polished. Don’t wait until you have a final version of your video to begin proofing. You could end up dedicating hours to an amazing piece of video content that unfortunately misses the mark for the project’s stakeholders. Instead, take an approach that breaks down the project into smaller stages that begin with the broad vision and build into the final video piece. By the time you get to the final cut, you’ll find your content is more on-target and requires fewer revisions. Consider the following elements you might turn into rounds of proofs, based on the type of video you’re producing, its length, and how complex it will be:

• Outline
• Script
• Story board
• Rough cut
• Final cut

Watch Fully First. Before you enter the Feedback zone, sit back, relax, grab some popcorn, and watch the video piece in its entirety. Watching through the full video first allows you to kick off a review by seeing the big picture, hearing the overarching story, and noticing how each element flows together. By holding the feedback until your second watch through, you can contribute more clearly to the video’s purpose and overall direction. You’ll also prevent your overall feedback from being clouded by the first critical note that jumped out to you.

Be Specific. B-E Specific. There’s nothing worse than seeing feedback on a video that refers to “that one part” or “where that thing happened.” At a minimum, you should be providing timestamps to go with every piece of feedback – but hopefully you’re leveraging a video review Tool that does that for you. Using a proofing tool should offer the ability to annotate videos frame-by-frame, highlight video segments, and mark up specific visual elements throughout the video. The more granular you can get with the time and placement of each note, the more actionable your feedback becomes!

Leverage Markup Tools. When it comes to video proofing, nothing beats using digital markup tools. These tools allow you to provide clear, actionable feedback in every frame:

• Rectangle tool → Place a box around the area you’re calling attention to – this might be a graphic element you want to highlight, a small detail you noticed, or even negative space in the frame!
• Arrow tool → In video reviews, drawing arrows is perfect for directional or movement-related feedback on graphic elements, text, or even people within the frame. You can also use them to connect two items in a single comment.
• Draw tool → The world is your oyster when it comes to using the drawing tool! You can circle, underline, scratch through, point, or literally draw directly on the frame of your video proof.
• Zoom & pan tool → Sometimes you just need to zoom. Seeing every element clearly, checking for fine-tuned details, and getting a grip (literally) on the video in front of you is immensely helpful in completing a thorough review.
• Comments → The end-all be-all of video feedback, without a doubt, is using your words. Expressing your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions through comments is critical to using any tool, as well as being able to share broader feedback and thought-provoking questions.
• @mentions → Within comment tools, using @mentions to tag the creator, a stakeholder, or any fellow reviewer is extremely useful. It will ensure they see your comment promptly, allows you to direct a comment to them, and makes collaborating seamless.

Honesty Is The Best Policy. As with any form of feedback, the most impactful way to offer your thoughts and opinions is to remain honest and straightforward. If you aren’t upfront with your feedback, you’ll stray further and further from the desired product, often leading to too many rounds of revisions and restarts. Keep in mind, however, that being honest isn’t a free pass to be harsh or discouraging. Above all else, be sure that your honest feedback remains productive, intentional, and considerate of the hard work and creativity that has gone into the video project.

Bonus Tip – Video content can be especially complex compared to static designs. Try pre-annotating the video with relevant notes, context, ideas, or questions before sending it around for reviewer feedback. Check your video proofing tool for this feature – you’ll be sorry you haven’t used it sooner!

As a digital marketer at inMotionNow, Joel Fogleman blends creativity with analytics to make marketing impactful. He has a fondness for crafting messages that resonate, whether via catchy ad copy, enlightening blog posts, or garden-variety poetry.