01
Situation
Our team got the opportunity to go to Japan and make a video promoting the anime Dr.STONE. We use these videos to promote the anime and get engagement on social video. Also, these videos are great for building relationships with the production company as well as give us an in for other production companies if they like our work.
As the video editor, I bring up topics that I would find interesting to explore, the tone, and interesting themes. This anime centers around science, so I wanted to explore that since that differentiates it from other anime. From previous videos, we also know fans love seeing storyboards and early drafts, so that's something we want to request.
02
Task
Once our team returns from Japan, it's time for me to get to work. The team returned with over 50 hrs of footage, so it's a lot to organize. Our final goal is to get it under 30min.
• First thing, I send the footage off to be translated.
• I then start sorting all the footage and finding tiny bits of video I can use as broll. For 5min of footage, I might get 2-3 seconds.
• Next, I try to discover a story thread for the audience and storyboard out how that thread would go.
• Finally, I start sorting sound bites into those sections so I can start assembling the story.
03
Action
This is when I start putting the polish on the story. My rough cut with just the sound bites usually clock in at about an hour and I start to narrow down the story to its main beats.
• Cut things down to soundbites essential to the main story.
• Make sure the story flows from point to point.
• Add b-roll to cover cuts and make things visually interesting.
• Add music, sound effects, color-correction, subtitles to polish it up.
• Submit an intermediate cut for review internally, then a final cut for partner approval.
• Address any notes they have (in this case this can take a month).
04
Results
The finished product drew rave reviews from our stakeholders, partner managers, and the production company. I made a trailer, short clips used as social videos, and then we put the full documentary on YouTube and our platform. The Dr.STONE production team liked it so much they put it on their DVD set.
• We initially hoped for 1 mil cumulative views across all platforms. We tripled it, getting 850k views on YouTube alone.
• Overwhelmingly positive replies on YouTube.
• We were welcomed back to shoot a follow-up for a future season.
• Got invited to do two other production companies to work on documentaries for them also.