Video VersioningOne Film. Every Version You Need.
Cutdowns. Ratios. Durations. Variants.
Film Me provides video versioning for marketing, communications and agency teams: cutdowns, aspect ratios, duration variants and regional or branded versions made from one approved master film. Every version is reframed by eye, checked by a person and delivered in a clear, named structure.
Definition
Video versioning is the production of alternative versions of one approved film, such as shorter cutdowns, different aspect ratios, alternative durations and regional or branded variants, so the same story works on every platform and in every market.
The versions a modern campaign needs
One approved master is only the start.
| Version type | What it is | What needs a human eye |
|---|---|---|
| Cutdowns | 60, 30, 15 and 6-second edits from a longer master | A cutdown is a new edit. The story has to work again at each length. |
| Aspect ratios | 16:9 widescreen, 1:1 square, 4:5 and 9:16 vertical | Reframing every shot so faces, products and text stay in frame. |
| Duration variants | Platform limits and broadcast lengths | Pacing and music edits that still feel natural. |
| Regional variants | Different offers, legal lines, end cards or footage by market | The right version reaching the right market, correctly labelled. |
| Brand variants | Partner logos, sub-brands, internal and external versions | Brand rules applied correctly to each. |
| Caption options | With and without burned-in captions; separate caption files | Accuracy, line breaks, reading speed and safe areas per ratio. |
Why versioning goes wrong
It looks like exporting. It is editing.
Versioning is often treated as a technical afterthought. That is how speakers lose the tops of their heads in vertical, and how captions end up under the platform's buttons.
- Every reframe checked shot by shot, not left to auto-crop
- Titles and captions rebuilt for each ratio's safe area
- Cutdowns re-edited so they still tell the story
- One naming convention, agreed before work starts
- Every file checked against The Film Me Finish
How many files is your campaign?
Count the versions before you brief them.
Finished files = master films × (1 + cutdowns) × aspect ratios × languages × caption options × variants.
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.
How AI helps with versioning
AI augments. It does not replace.
Automation is ideal for the repetitive parts of versioning: first-pass reframes, render queues, export presets and file naming across hundreds of files. People decide where the frame sits, how each cutdown is told, and whether each file is right.
How Film Me uses AI| Automation helps with | People decide |
|---|---|
| First-pass reframing | Where the frame sits in every shot |
| Render queues and export presets | How each cutdown tells the story |
| File naming across hundreds of files | The naming rules themselves |
| Technical checks | Final review of every version |
Questions about video versioning
Versioning, answered.
What is video versioning?
Video versioning is making alternative versions of one approved film: shorter cutdowns, different aspect ratios for different platforms, alternative durations, and regional or branded variants.
Can you version a film that someone else edited?
Yes. Send the finished master and, ideally, the project files, graphics and music. Film Me can version from a flat master file, though access to the original project gives cleaner results for reframing and text.
Is reframing to vertical automatic?
Auto-reframing gives a first pass. Film Me then checks every shot by eye, because automatic crops regularly cut off the speaker, the product or the on-screen text.
How many versions can you make from one film?
As many as the campaign needs. One master with four cutdowns, in three aspect ratios, three languages and two caption options is already 90 files. Film Me plans them in a deliverables matrix so every file is named, tracked and checked.
How is versioning priced?
Against the deliverables matrix. Cutdowns are editing work and are priced as such; ratio, language and caption variants cost less each because the creative decisions are already made.
Related Film Me services
Large-Scale Video Editing
Programmes of ten to several hundred videos, edited to one standard.
Training Video Editing
Course and eLearning libraries that look and sound like one series.
Video Localisation
Subtitles, captions and translated graphics, checked by people.
White-Label for Agencies
Overflow editing under your brand.
Start a Conversation
One Film. Many Versions?
Send the master and the list of platforms and markets. Film Me will return a deliverables matrix and a quote.