5 Strategies That Will Save Your Next Quickturn Video
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
We'll set the scene: while attending a planning call for one of our keynote presentation development projects, we heard that one of the guest customer speakers could no longer attend the event to share their story on stage.
With one week to the conference, how do we ensure this important client story is still captured and shared with attendees? We'll go to them! With a local crew in Denmark. On Thursday. For the event on Monday.
Just a few short days to turn around scripting, graphics development, filming, footage transfer, editing and approvals.
If this scenario sounds familiar, then you've probably survived a quick-turn video project. Content is coming in HOT nowadays - inspired by the immediacy of social, or driven by volatile executive travel schedules, or a hard pivot in content strategy.
Here's a few ways to make the process organized and with as little pain as possible.
Build a live planning deck for your project
Start with a blank PPT that lives online, which can house your script draft, style frames, music choices, branding info, review links, and timelines. These can change quickly over a week, so the last thing you want is lack of alignment or being one version behind in any of those elements.
Pre-animate graphics with scratch footage
This is where AI is your friend. Watermarked avatars and AI voiceovers can be helpful placeholders so you can begin work immediately on the introductions, lower third graphics, supporting text and animations, and outros. Often, you can get ahead of early reviews for timing, style, and branding.
Attend video shoot remotely
Ensure your crew brings a laptop and a USB capture device to send the video and audio feed outbound from camera. This enables editors, producers, and stakeholders to weigh in and catch things that might require a second take or alternative delivery. This also saves you a debrief call afterward because everyone was in attendance.
Record the remote feed
Why wait for 4K footage to make its way across airwaves and geographies when you can refine your rough edit with the remote footage and test different takes and deliveries? In fact, you can soft approve the whole content cut with your remote recording and drop in the high res footage upon receipt.
Have a footage transfer plan
Our team uses Shade, a cloud-based NAS that allows us to collaborate better and allows editors to begin working with footage before it’s even fully downloaded. This can come in handy when you have 30 min+ of 4K footage plus loads of company provided b-roll making its way to your editors.
Quick-turn projects are never going to be calm. Someone’s flight is delayed. A stakeholder wants a new cut. The upload is slower than expected. And somehow the deadline keeps getting closer anyway.
But with the right systems, a little creativity, and a team that knows how to move fast without spiraling, quick-turn content can still feel polished, organized, and surprisingly fun to pull off.
Now go make something great... preferably with enough time to sleep.
