If you’re producing video, either for your business or for a personal YouTube, you learn quickly how much work goes into making quality content.
Scripting, production, and delivery are all skills that you need to pick up along the way. But one of the biggest time sinks is editing.
It’s an underappreciated facet as when it’s done well; it should be the last thing a viewer ever notices. But that effect comes at a high cost in terms of time and skill.
It’s why you might be looking to hire a video editor rather than handle it personally. But how do you go about hiring a video editor, and is it really worth it compared to doing it yourself?
Well, let’s take a look at all the factors that go into video editing and the associated costs in how you could choose to handle editing duties.
What Does Going DIY Cost You?
At first, you might question why you would bother hiring a video editor in the first place.
After all, while editing software can be obtuse, anyone can figure out how to stitch together a basic video with a little effort. Why pay someone to do it for you?
While the DIY route might seem like the cheapest choice on paper, there are greater costs than you might think.
It’s All Tech and Time
First, there’s the tech you need to get started. While your computer might be robust enough to handle video editing, that’s not always a given. If you wind up needing upgrades, it won’t take long for those to eat into your savings.
Then there’s the cost of editing software.
We’re past the days when you could get away slapping a video together in iMovie. Better to save that for posting vacation videos to social media.
In terms of acceptable editing software, the industry standards are Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premier.
Final Cut Pro is an Apple product, so you’ll need Apple machines to run it. So unless you were all Apple products, to begin with, you’re going to want to factor in an expensive upgrade into your calculations. On the plus side, you’re able to buy the software for a cool $299.99, a decided advantage over its counterpart.
Adobe Premiere Pro is the other standard choice.
Like other Adobe products, it’s not locked to any particular operating system so that you can run it on most machines. A big downside is that it’s subscription-only, and a monthly subscription to Premier and other associated programs like After Effects and Audition can quickly add up. In the long run, you could end up paying several times what you would for Final Cut.
And that’s before you factor in the amount of time it would take you to hand-edit every video. Time that could be better spent scripting and recording new content.
Why You Would Hire a Video Editor Instead
Taking on a professional video editor minimizes or even eliminates those costs.
For starters, they come prepared with their own workstations and software so that you can factor that into your calculations.
But the major factor here is time. Every aspect of video production takes more time than the casual observer would think. And editing can be the most time-consuming of them all.
By outsourcing those tasks to a professional, you’re free to focus on other aspects like producing and promoting your content. If you have the means, you could even retain the services of multiple editors to put video content out daily, something that will help you get noticed by YouTUbe and social media algorithms.
Types of Video Editors
There is more than one way of hiring a video editor. And different options might be better suited to your work style.
Here are three of the more common options.
Hiring Freelance Editors
If you need to hire a video editor on short notice, going with freelancers is the best way to do that. Whether you’re facing unexpected deadlines, find yourself with a greater workload than you planned, or lose the team member who would normally handle editing duties, freelancers are the easiest ways to get out of a bind.
Not only is it your best choice in a pinch, but hiring freelancers can be a quick and easy way to speed up production, freeing you and other members of your team up to handle other duties. And when you find a good one, they can be an amazing asset that you’ll want to have on all your future projects.
And since they aren’t contracted workers, you have more flexibility than you would have with a regular employee. Not to mention you don’t have to account for holiday pay, benefits, and the like.
And since most freelancers are professionals in their field who live off of their reputations, you can often count on finding industry veterans who have been plying their trade for years. This can give you access to professionals who might otherwise be well out of your budget allowance, letting you produce content of a quality well above your investment.
Outsourcing to a Dedicated Editing Company
If you want to go as hands-off as possible, sending your footage to a professional editing house is always an option.
These companies retain a pool of qualified professionals, so you rarely have to worry about quality or punctuality being an issue. However, you might not always get the same personalization that you would from working with an individual editor.
Retaining a Full-Time Editor
This option has you contracting a full-time professional to be your in-house editor.
Having a professional as a full-time team member means you always have someone on deck to handle fresh content for you. And over-time you can build a rapport with them that will make it easier for you to communicate what you want out of your videos and simplifying the editing process.
Many filmmakers like Steven Spielberg partially credit their success to have a trusted editor they can rely on to refine their visions, so don’t underestimate the value of having such a pro in your corner.
But before you make a long-term video editor hire, consider the trade-offs.
For one, this means interviewing prospects, signing contracts, and the like, which takes time you might not have. Hiring a full-time editor is probably not the most practical decision if you already have a full schedule.
Budgeting is another concern. Hiring freelancers is often more cost-effective than retaining a full-timer, especially if you’re not yet producing content on a constant basis.
Making the Right Choice for Your Content Style
At the end of the day, you know your content, production style, and audience better than anyone. So it falls to you to decide if you should hire a video editor and how to do so.
If your primary focus is running a business, outsourcing to another firm could be the right choice. Or, if video production is the business, retaining several freelancers would reduce turnaround time.
Of course, editing isn’t the only high-skill duty that goes into video production. To keep production running, be sure to keep up with all our tips on finding the professional help you need.
