I’m hiring a company to edit my videos. This post shows what I’m asking them to do.

Why I’m posting this publicly

I’m a little embarrassed to show you the behind the scenes editing, but I decided to post it publicly because people often ask me to show them how I shoot and edit my videos. I thought this would help them.

What I’ll send the video editing company

You’ll get a single ScreenFlow file that contains all this:

1. Video of the interview + audio of my interviewee
2. My audio
3. A video of me introducing the video
4. A video of me saying goodbye
5. A picture of my interviewee
6. A picture of my interviewee’s site
7. A name tag for me (says, “Andrew Warner, Founder, Mixergy.com”
8. A picture for the end of the video (says, “Mixergy.com)

What I need from the editing company

Please edit what I send you and give me a finished video in the .mov (Quicktime) format.

My tools

The only tool that I use to record and edit my videos is ScreenFlow. Get a trial copy of it so you can edit what I send you. (After I hire you officially, we’ll buy you a full license.)

Watch me edit

I have screen shots and detailed step-by-step instructions below. But this 15-minute video will show you what I need.

The basics

This is what you’ll see when you open the file I send you.

Step 1: Clear the background

Why this is important:

When I record an interview, I record my full desktop. I need you to remove everything that’s not my actual interview.

Step 2: Delete the PRE-interview video

Why this is important:

I record everything in my interviews, including the conversation we have before the interview. I don’t want to include that in my finished product.

Step 3: Deleted the POST-interview video

Why this is important:

After the interview is over and we say goodbye, I often have a private conversation with my interviewee. I don’t want that making it to the finished product.

Step 4: Add my intro video before the interview

Why this is important:

Before we start the interview, I need to introduce what it’s about.

Step 5: Move my video into the frame

Step 6: Edit my intro video

Why this is important:

I’ll have a lot of non-action before I start talking. You need to remove it. Also, be sure that the first frame of this intro looks good because it’s what people see while they wait for the video to get started.

How to do this:

1. Navigate to a section just before I start talking
2. Make sure the first frame looks good
3. Click the “mark out” item in the edit menu
4. Click the “ripple delete” item in the edit menu

Step 7: Put my name and title at start of video

Step 8: Add my interviewee’s picture

1. Make sure you add it when I mention his name
2. Adjust the size of the picture (hold down shift key when you adjust size)
3. Add shadow to the picture

Step 9: Add picture of interviewee’s web site

This is hard to show using pictures. Please see the video I’m including with this post.

Step 10: Adjust the volume

This is the most important step. See the video for how I do this. We should talk on the phone about this step in more detail.

Step 11: Add my goodbye video

Step 12: Edit my goodbye video

Step 13: Add the closing image

Step 14: Make sure everything looks good

Play the video and make sure it came out looking good.

Step 15: Export the video