Crafting a Personal Brand Video: Behind the Scenes with Charlie Maher

Brand videos are very important for you or your company’s brand. We recently created a brand video for this tennis player looking to create awareness for his journey as a 58-year old to break the age barrier in pro tennis. You can check out the Discovery to Production Blog post here.

Discovery to Production talks about how our clients found us and how we were able to strategize a brand model for their video, then produce the content that will eventually become their brand.

Editing and Finishing is the last stage in the Skillman Video Group‘s process for creating a video. This is where the 4 editing and review phases occur. However, this video took an extra step to get to the level of quality we were looking for.

Phase 1 – Assembly Cut

The first phase in the editing process is to compile all of the footage onto a timeline and arrange it so it makes sense.

This initial phase should only include audio and visuals. Very basic, but that is where you have to start. The assembly cut is then sent to the client for initial review. Christina Skillman, the CEO, and Creative Director prefers that the client not watch this cut, but rather, listen to it.

She prefers to have the client have their eyes closed when doing the initial review because all she wants is for them to like the story. She doesn’t want them to be affected by uncolored footage or jump cuts in the footage. It is always great to get that genuine reaction with their eyes closed. Once the client approved the assembly cut, we moved on to adding b-roll.

Phase 2 – B-Roll

Weeding down footage and adding b-roll is the second phase. This is where we make the story even more cohesive, reducing the length of the video to around 2-3 minutes.

With this shoot, the b-roll helped a ton. It added motion and emotion. Everything in your video communicates something to your viewers. Charlie is a high-energy person, 58 years old and still going, so we conveyed that by always moving the camera, even in the interview.

B-roll for this video consisted of steady-cam shots of Charlie Maher warming up and playing tennis. This video is the first touch, showing viewers who he is as a person and what he is trying to do, break the age barrier in tennis. After reviewing the video with his eyes closed to listen to the more cohesive story, He did not like the music. No big deal; we just re-edited the video to different music, which he loved, so the video was approved. We were then ready to add some color.

Phase 3 – Color

Sending this video out to a colorist helped this video immensely.

Christina Skillman chose to send it out to a colorist to create the best version of this video. When she sent it out, she told the colorist what emotion and mood she was looking for. Having a colorist makes a huge difference, you can tell them what colors you want and what emotions you’re trying to convey.

The video looks richer and prettier compared to the uncolored version. The amazing colorist was able to add the right amount of color to pull the grit and vibrancy through.

Phase 4 – Audio Mix

We usually have 4 stages of editing and finishing, but for this video, Christina decided to bring in an audio engineer to help level up the video.

The audio engineer was able to add sound effects, including grunts, sneaker squeaks, and even the jumping rope. These little grunts and squeaks are part of the video and part of the story, without them, the video doesn’t feel authentic at all. Adding these sound effects immerses the viewer in the video even more.

Phase 5 – Final Review

The final phase in the editing and finishing process of video creation is the final review.

Once all of the b-roll, color, and audio were completed and mixed, we sent it out for the client to review. He absolutely loved what the video conveyed about his brand. After these 5 stages were complete, the video had transformed from raw, uncut footage to a masterpiece.