How to Hire a Video Editor

What to look for in a video editor?

• Software – The video editor should use the same software the rest of your team uses for video editing. Some examples here are Final Cut Pro if your office is on Mac. Adobe Premiere Pro is for Mac and PC. Adobe’s After Effects is for motion graphics.
• Portfolio – When looking at a Video Editor’s portfolio, it’s important to consider the following:
• Quality work
• Creative work
• The type of videos
  • Reviews
  • Vlogs
  • Vacation videos
  • Product marketing
  • Wedding videos
  • Talking heads
  • Video essays
  • Advertisements
  • Promotional videos
  • Feature films
  • Explainer videos
  • YouTube videos
• The level of difficulty
• Technical skills
  • color grading
  • color correction
  • sound effects / design
  • choice of background music
• The overall look and feel. ie Can they tell a story?

Additionally, if you’re looking for a non employee remote video editor you’ll want to screen for workstation quality. This includes computer specs, internet speed, and power grid reliability.

After having an initial interview you’ll want to do a paid test project before engaging in more long-term work. Think like a short 1-2 hour project to gauge the overall skill of the editor you’re considering hiring.

Where to Hire a Video Editor

If you’re interested in how to hire a video editor, there are several outlets you can peruse to find the right video editors for you. Depending on the urgency for these services or your company’s size, some may suit your needs better than others. 

Freelance Marketplaces

There are several websites available that encourage and showcase freelance video editors on the market. Whether you’re a client who’s looking for an experienced video editor or a freelancer applying for a new gig, these outlets have several options for contract work.

Among the many freelance marketplaces available online, one of the most potent platforms is Upwork. With several jobs to choose from, members can provide clients the work skills they need for any industries or work fields. Several job postings rank from beginner to advance and offer several one-time gigs for novice editors to build their experience.

If you own a business or need someone to edit a video for you, you can post a project or job listing and wait for potential remote workers to reply with their proposals. After receiving your applicants’ proposals, you can review each of them, compare their bids, look over their prior clients’ testimonials, and browse their portfolios if available. 

After interviewing and hiring your candidates, you can collaborate, communicate, and track a project’s progress with them to ensure the delivery of quality content. After your video editor delivers your desired content, you can then pay them via hourly or fixed rates.

Other alternative freelance marketplace platforms you can seek video editors from include:

• Fiverr
• PeoplePerHour
• Viedit
• Freelancer.com

Industry-Specific Marketplace

Suppose you’re a business owner looking for the top videographers or video editors on the job market. In that case, you may want to find websites that prioritizes finding video editors for an industry-specific marketplace. You can find people in your industry through extensive research without wasting hours browsing for editors who don’t have what you need.

StoryCrews is a directory focusing on helping clients find video editors based on location and specialty. You can narrow down your choices during your search by specifying if you need a videographer, video editor, or marketing strategist to contact and request their services.

You can also receive instant access to individuals and companies working under the site’s directory to contact them to provide services for your business. 

After deciding what you need, you can choose the specific market or category the editors specialize in to see if they’re an ideal match. Some of their services include:

• Creating a video marketing strategy
• Storyboarding 
• Video editing

The industries supported through this online outlet include:

• Dental
• Education
• Finance
• Healthcare
• Legal

Other industry-specific sites may focus on other niches, such as film, theater, television, or wedding videography. Once you narrow down your preferences, you can find the nearest agencies or freelancers for you to consider.

Another example of an industry specific marketplace is Viedit.  Here you can seek out specialists not only in video editing, but also animation and production.  

How Viedit works- You create a project brief > Upload your files > Choose the best offer > Then work with the vendor until the project is completed.

Monthly subscription services

If you find it time-consuming to search countless hours for the right video editor for your project, there are several agencies available that provide video editing services for you. Typically, most people turn to subscription services for recurring work.

We’re one agency that prioritizes quality video editing. Find out more about our service here at Vidpros.com.

When you subscribe to Vidpros for our services, you can select a monthly subscription plan that suits your needs best. 

How does Vidpros pricing work?

It’s simple you buy a fractional stake in a video editor.  Time does not accumulate or roll over because that editor is assigned to you each work day whether you use them or not.

How many hours would you need?

There’s the old saying you can choose 2 of 3: good, fast, or cheap.  Our work is always good.  So you can either prioritize speed or cost efficiency based on the number of hours you choose.  For example you have a time-sensitive project.  You’ll want to have a multiple hour per day subscription even though you may not utilize all the hours later in the month.  Alternatively, you can prioritize cost by buying fewer hours and more complex projects will take additional days.

If you’re not a video editor – you may be wondering how much work can be done in x hours. As projects vary in complexity we’d recommend you speak with one of our specialists.  Call or email us!

What type of editing do we do:

• Color grading
• Transitions
• Chroma key and greenscreen
• Video thumbnails
• Audio syncing, mixing, and tweaking
• Lower thirds graphics

DIY Hire vs. Vidpros Service 

Some people may be more comfortable advertising and hiring editors by themselves, while others may find it more convenient to get editors through a service like ours at Vidpros. 

Here’s a few things to consider and some advantages of using a service:

Filtering Bad Editors

People partaking in DIY hiring procedures for video editors may need to meticulously decide which editors are fit for their projects and which ones aren’t. Their goal is to deliver quality videos matching their clients’ needs and expectations.

If you’re searching through a freelance marketplace, you may want to consider looking at applicants’ reviews from prior clients. If some reviews seem less favorable for some editors than others, refrain from picking the highly critiqued ones. 

A video editor agency typically has many editors on their team, giving them more freedom in choosing the best editors for the job. If a client leaves several revision requests and critiques on an editor’s work, the team’s supervisor might need to reassign the project to someone more qualified.

If an agency advertises open positions for their team, they’ll typically ask applicants for a demo reel of their work. If they find one that doesn’t meet their standards, they can move to those that do.

Providing Vacation or Sick Day Backup Editors

When building a team of video editors, one of the factors you may need to consider is balancing their workload and conflicts that may interfere with their schedules. It would be wise to select a handful of editors to reach out to if another requests a vacation or sick day during your hiring process. 

By having a dedicated team, you’re more likely to get your video content out by the deadlines you want to meet. If you don’t have a sizable team to act as backup editors, advertising the position via a job post or social media post would be an ideal alternative to save time. 

Although most people might prefer communicating in advance before using their vacation or sick days, it would also be a wise decision to expect the unexpected, as workflow interruptions can happen at any time. 

Agencies typically have several people working on multiple projects, especially when they dedicate a specific number of hours to each client’s projects. They may also provide them with a copy of the sequence to edit to let the client compare which one’s better when the original editor has time to work. In turn, you build a relationship with them, unlike one-off freelance gigs.

Conclusion

There are many ways you can reach out to video editors and advertise projects for their services. Some of the critical elements of picking the right video editor for you include the candidate’s quality in past work, what others say about them, and their services match your budget. It would also be wise to pick one that matches your niche or topic.

Depending on your urgency, you can find qualified video editors through freelance marketplaces, marketplaces for a specific industry or niche, and video editing agencies. Although each option has its differences, they might be suitable for businesses or individuals that need the fullest extent of their services.

When hiring a video editor, it would be best to give them access to assets your video needs, from footage and music to graphics and an outline to follow to keep the video’s flow continuous. By giving them the tools they need, video editors can listen to your feedback to mix your video efficiently and enhance its professional quality.

By selecting a video editing agency, clients are more likely to get their work completed due to the editing team’s size if their assigned ones need to use vacation or sick days. Once you’ve narrowed down your search, you can move onto creating an application form, interviewing any potential applicants, and then make a test project to judge their skills.