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How to Plan a Large-Scale Video Editing Project
A large-scale video editing project succeeds or fails before the first edit. This guide from Film Me sets out seven planning steps: count the real number of files, write a deliverables matrix, lock a master style with a pilot, fix the review rhythm, plan languages early, define quality control, and agree delivery.
What counts as a large-scale editing project?
Large-scale video editing is the post-production of many related videos or versions as a single managed programme, with a shared style, specification, review process and quality check, rather than as separate one-off jobs.
In practice that means anything from a 12-module training course to a campaign with several hundred versions. The planning method is the same. What changes is how much of it must be written down.
Step 1. Count the real number of files
Most teams count videos. Editors deliver files. One approved film often becomes dozens of finished files once cutdowns, aspect ratios, languages and caption options are included.
Finished files = master films × (1 + cutdowns per master) × aspect ratios × languages × caption options × variants
A worked example: 1 master film with 4 cutdowns is 5 edits. In 3 aspect ratios, 3 languages and 2 caption options, that is 5 × 3 × 3 × 2 = 90 finished files. Try your own numbers:
Your project contains about
finished files
(1 master + 4 cutdowns) = 5 edits × 3 ratios × 3 languages × 2 caption options = 90
At this size, Film Me recommends a pilot batch and weekly deliveries against a shared tracker.
Send Us This ScopeHow it is worked out: finished files = master films × (1 + cutdowns per master) × aspect ratios × languages × caption options × variants. Example: 1 master film with 4 cutdowns is 5 edits; in 3 aspect ratios, 3 languages and 2 caption options that is 5 × 3 × 3 × 2 = 90 finished files.
Step 2. Write a deliverables matrix
A deliverables matrix is a table that lists every file the project will produce. It is the single most useful planning document in volume post-production, because it sets the quote, the schedule and the tracker.
| Column | What it records | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Video | Title or module number | Stops two people describing the same film differently |
| Version | Master, 60s, 30s, 15s | Each cutdown is editing work, not an export |
| Aspect ratio | 16:9, 1:1, 9:16 | Reframing needs a human eye on every shot |
| Language | Original plus translations | Drives translation, review and graphics work |
| Captions | None, open, closed file | Changes the export and the quality check |
| File name | The exact name of the finished file | Agreeing names early prevents chaos at delivery |
| Status | Not started, in edit, in review, approved, delivered | Turns the matrix into the tracker |
Step 3. Run a pilot and lock the master style
Do not start all the videos at once. Take the first one to three all the way to finished, approved masters. This is the pilot batch.
- You see the real standard before committing to the rest.
- The look, graphics, music treatment and loudness are decided once, from real material. This becomes the master style.
- Templates and export presets are built from the approved pilot.
- The time the pilot took confirms the schedule and the cost of everything else.
Step 4. Fix the review rhythm
Large projects are slowed by reviews more often than by editing. Decide these four things before the first cut is sent:
- Who approves. Name one person with final say, and the people who feed into them.
- Where feedback goes. One review tool. Not email, chat and phone calls at the same time.
- When. A fixed rhythm, for example a batch every Tuesday with notes back by Thursday.
- How many rounds. Two rounds per video is a sensible default once the pilot is approved.
Step 5. Plan languages and captions at the start
Localisation added at the end is slow and expensive. Planned from the start, it is routine. Leave room in graphics for longer translated text, keep on-screen words to a minimum, agree who checks each language, and decide whether captions are burned in or supplied as files.
AI translation is a useful first draft. It is not a finished translation. Names, job titles, product terms and tone need a person who reads the language.
Step 6. Define quality control in writing
Decide what "finished" means before the first file is delivered. At Film Me every file is checked by a person against five headings, called The Film Me Finish: story, picture, sound, brand and technical. Whatever standard you use, write it down and apply it to every file, not a sample.
Step 7. Agree delivery and archive
Agree the folder structure, file naming, delivery method and a delivery log that records what was sent and when. Decide how long source projects are kept and who holds them.
A planning checklist
- Finished-file count calculated
- Deliverables matrix written and agreed
- Pilot videos chosen
- Approver named; review tool and rhythm fixed
- Languages, caption types and reviewers confirmed
- Quality standard written down
- Naming, folders, delivery method and archive agreed
Film Me provides a free post-production brief template that covers all of the above, and a companion guide on how to brief an external post-production team. For how Film Me runs projects like this, see large-scale video editing at Film Me.
