When we think about what makes an editor great, we often evaluate them by the finished video projects that they create. We ask ourselves, did the editor weave together video and images in a way that tells a compelling story? Are the technical aspects of high quality? We look at the transitions and their overall style among many factors that go into creating a standout finished project. Talent and experience are essential, but we should not overlook the technical equipment and tools—because the right video management platform can make the difference between a good and a great project.
Whether you are working on projects for cinema, news, professional sports, the federal government, education, or corporate clients, you want to produce the best video content.
The Difference Between Good and Great Video Editing
As a video editor, you are engaged in a complex creative process. You are bringing together raw media assets such as audio and video content. Depending on the scale of the project, you may be working with a small intimate team, or a large team of creatives spread across the globe. Video editing is a highly technical discipline where you are not only creating but also overseeing file ingest, transcoding, creation of a rough cut, color correction, special effects, and fine-tuning. Along the way, you will be partnering with other creatives through production, post-production, and marketing who will need access to media assets.
A significant amount of time goes into managing assets, connecting with the creative team, and managing the workflow. Yet, a key part of the job requires getting into a creative zone and doing magnificent work. Your video management platform can make the difference between good and great editing by carving out more time for you and your team members to be in that zone with fewer worries.
Look for these features when evaluating video management platforms.
- Look for a company that is well-established in the video production industry and is invested in the latest technology. AcornCloud is a SaaS platform designed and delivered by CHESA, with decades of industry experience.
- The platform should integrate best-in-class tools. Acorn’s technology partners include Adobe Premiere Pro, which integrates CatDV. This integration brings powerful media asset management and workflow orchestration, as well as LucidLink, which provides a global namespace for rapid high res ingests. All provided as a hosted and managed service inside CHESA’s AWS environment.
- Your creative team needs to be able to search and retrieve audio and video files and other assets. The platform should include a powerful Media Asset Management (MAM) system that features drag-and-drop ingest capabilities and the ability to support a wide range of file formats and CODECs.
- Metadata enrichment is important; your MAM should utilize artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) so that your team can supercharge their searches to find the right video and audio assets. AI/ML can tag footage via image recognition and audio files using speech-to-text. With enriched metadata, your assets can be searched and retrieved instantly by the entire creative team.
- Whenever possible, the platform you select should be able to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, freeing up your team for the more creative aspects of their work.
- The tools in your video management platform should work seamlessly with the editing software so that you can find assets from the project pane. Support of NLE and Proxy workflows is essential.
- Both workflow orchestration and Review and Approval processes should be built in, allowing team members to get live feedback and share the latest version. The ability to include notes and support collaboration with other team members, whether in the same studio or across the globe, is also important.
- Your media assets are valuable. The platform should not only make your assets accessible to all team members, but they should also be securely stored in The Cloud with access managed by user permissions.
Great tools are almost invisible. They supercharge the work while staying out of the way. When you have the right tools, your team can spend more time in an elusive and desired flow state. You empower them to do their absolute best work efficiently and with little downtime. Your team gets the best of the creative mind and produces video projects that stand out.
Find Out How Your Creative Teams Can Benefit from Acorn Cloud
Acorn Cloud is a SaaS platform that quickly gets creative teams up and running. It seamlessly integrates best-in-class tools, so the system gets out of the way and lets editors do what they do best – bring video and audio together to tell a compelling story.
Acorn Cloud is designed by CHESA, expert systems integrators with decades of experience working with video editors and customizing solutions.
The right tool can take your video projects from good to great. To find out more about Acorn Cloud, contact us today.