The One (!) Video ״Trend״ I’m Excited About for 2019
Here are a few trends you probably heard of for the past 2 years: 360, VR, Vertical, Square, AR. Have I missed anything? oh well okay, count Livestream in, as well!
You know what all these trends have in common? they’re new, which is why whenever people talk about video trends and predictions, they keep using the buzzwords above (don’t get me wrong, I did that, too).
Managing the Video vertical at Fiverr, seeing insanely high number of video projects coming to fruition, I feel confident enough to say that 2019 is going to be the year of Video Editing, and I’d love to use the rest of your attention span to explain…
The editing room was always considered as the place where magic happens. It started in the late 19th century as films were cut and glued together in order to build a narrative or even create special effects, such as the ones Georges Méliès created in the early days of French cinema.
While the skill of editing is one of the oldest in the history of video, it’s now more relevant than ever, here’s why:
Repurposing
Businesses of all sorts already know they need videos, which is why, most of the businesses today already have a video that speaks about their business. But — as we have so many platforms with different “formulas” as to what works on them, i.e: 6 second bumpers for YouTube, muted square videos for Facebook, up to 15 seconds vertical videos for Stories etc.. now businesses understand that they need to take the video they have and make additional cut-downs out of it. There are more and more services around repurposing existing footage and if you’re a video editor, you should really make sure you offer this service to your clients. We see more and more brands using the expensive campaigns they worked on, using freelancers to make many more versions out of them.
If you’re a business, I strongly recommend to get a hold of all the videos you ever created, these videos might be on YouTube, Wista, Vimeo etc.. make sure you find the high-res files, if you can’t find them, download them and keep all these in one folder, sooner or later, you’ll want a new video, and editing some of the ones you created in the past, will prove to be a great way to do it.
Collaborating on an Editing project
Working with an editor remotely used to be a huge challenge. But — we’re now at times where so many great collaboration tools are available to use. I like to describe these as “Google Docs for Video” and you can see loads of these, such as: Frame.io, LookAt, Wipster and even Vimeo released their own Vimeo Review tool. With these tools you can comment on the timeline and give the editor perfect context as for what you want to change in the version he’s shared with you.
Stock Footage is changing
Stock footage usually has a negative connotation, with the word “stock” being used by designers and creators as an adjective of something that looks too directed, unreal and fake. In the past couple of years we’re seeing more free and paid services that are raising the bar in terms of what kind of footage you can get a hold of, without leaving the room. Platforms such as Unsplash (for photos), Filmsupply, Coverr and recently Vimeo, are all offering beautiful footage of all sorts. Such footage can be used for the creation of videos, from A to Z. A good video editor can take stock footage, combined with other assets and create beautiful videos that would look unique in their own way.
Do it For Me vs. DIY
If you live on Planet Earth, you must’ve noticed the overload of automatic tools for video editing/creation. Google is automatically editing your photos and footage to cute short videos and platforms such as Promo, Shakr and Magisto are building templates that allow you to customize videos with your own messaging.
I personally acknowledge that eventually AI will take over the world, have you listened to Elon Musk’s latest podcast with Joe Rogan? (so creepy!)
But until the above happens, I personally feel there’s still no replacement for an actual editor to work with. A good video editor would understand your business, your goals and the unique guidelines that you specify in your brief. In addition, for most businesses it’s easier to work with a person that will take the creative decisions themselves, rather than deal with a self-served tool.
To some it up, video editing has been around forever so calling it a trend is way off. But — with the growing number of platforms and viewers, the need of multiple versions, formats, variations etc… is growing, and the skill that will answer that need is Video Editing.
