We’ve had multiple clients over the years approach us with the same problem: a poorly executed video that needed to be salvaged. The causes are myriad. A lack of planning or strategy upfront, creative differences with the previous producer, miscommunication, or poor project management. Regardless of the cause, they want us to take the existing footage, interviews and edits and transform it into something compelling and useful. This happens more than you can imagine, so we developed a step-by-step for how to take broken projects and turn them into something great.
1. Revisit Goals and Audience
Often a failed video comes as a result of unclear goals and audience. Without clearly defined goals and audience, it’s easy for the video to lose its way – it’s confusing, long-winded, lacking emotion and overstuffed with information. Revisit the client’s original goals and audience and ensure that those remain when beginning to tackle the project. Sometimes the client changes their goals and audience a result of what was learned during the first attempt at creating a video. That’s OK, and in fact useful. But be sure to get all stakeholders on the same page.
2. Review the Old Video and Original Assets
Review the old video (if there is one) to find anything that may be working. Sometimes there’s parts of the original video that can be reused or re-purposed, saving time on sifting through many hours of original assets. Discuss with the client what they liked and disliked about the first video to inform your perspective as you dive into the original materials. Make sure to pick their brain on what interviews, scenes or visuals they feel offer the most potential in the original material so you know where to focus your efforts. Lastly, make sure to get any interviews transcribed that haven’t been already. It’s surprising how often this isn’t done the first time around.
3. Write a New Treatment That Simplifies and Uses Emotion
After your review, write a new treatment or script for the video. This will allow you to put on paper how you see the video unfolding, and gives the client something they can share with stakeholders for feedback and approval. It’s especially critical with this type of project that you iron out all issues at this stage and get full approval before moving forward. Aim to simplify and clarify the story, honing in on limited key information and keeping a strong emotional core. Often we’ve found that the failed video attempt included too much information, text and and interviews, and simply stripping things down is a huge first step in improvement.
4. Edit with an Open Mind
Once you start editing, keep an open mind that pieces from the original video may be useful (same as tip #2). It’s entirely possible that the previous edit did incorporate some of the best soundbites, visuals and moments, but were edited in a less than compelling way. Your new edit may cause the client to see the entire idea in a new light, and they may even ask for some sections from the old video to be included again. It may seem counterproductive, but your job is to take these conflicting ideas and bring them together in a cohesive and engaging manner.
5. Consider Adding Motion Graphics or Voice Over
Don’t be afraid of adding new motion graphics or voice over that wasn’t in the original concept for the video. Sometimes, due to failures in production, essential content simply was not captured. You can make up for that by creating and capturing new content – some simple motion graphics to complement what’s missing, or even introduce an engaging voice over to cover for a lack of quality interview content. Even if that’s not what the client originally envisioned, if it fixes issues and allows the entire project to be saved, they are very likely to see it’s value.
