Video content is everywhere. And it's exploded as a marketing channel for brands. If you're not using video, you're not keeping up in the marketing race.
But with that massive increase in video content creation comes all kinds of production-related challenges: Creating high-quality video is neither cheap nor quick. It's not like creating written copy or still imagery… it takes time to shoot, re-shoot, edit, and export every time a change is requested.
While some creative assets can pivot like a cigarette boat, video is like an oil tanker. And trying to shoehorn video into workflows that weren't built for it can create process bottlenecks like you wouldn't believe.
As your brand faces greater and greater need for video content, how can you create a streamlined process for proofing that video content?
The right answer isn't trying to fit video proofing into a workflow or platform that wasn't built for it. Instead, the solution is choosing a video proofing platform designed to effortlessly handle the complexities of proofing and approving business video content.
In this article, we'll cover what video proofing is, the two types of video proofing, the step-by-step process, essential features to look for in video proofing software, and tips for streamlining approvals across your team.
What we'll cover
Table of contents
- What is video proofing?
- Why video review and approval is harder than it looks
- The two types of video proofing
- Steps in the video proofing process: How it works
- Video proofing checklist: What to check before delivery
- Essential features of video proofing software
- Tips for video proofing
- FAQ
- Elevate your video proofing workflows with Ziflow
What is video proofing?
Video proofing is the process of reviewing a version of a piece of video or animation, usually in an online proofing workflow that allows stakeholders to leave feedback directly on specific points or timestamps in the video content. It's a key part of any marketing video workflow or project, where multiple stakeholders may need to evaluate or sign off on videos as they're being developed.
For most organizations, collaborative proofing software is the best way to go about video proofing as it gives the features and flexibility needed to proof video with clarity and efficiency. The right platform offers an intuitive interface that designers, editors, and external reviewers can all use without a steep learning curve.
Why video review and approval is harder than it looks
"The music is too loud" is not feedback
A general note about the audio in a 90-second cut tells your editor nothing. Where is it too loud? Compared to what? At what frame? When reviewers can't, or don't, leave timecoded feedback, your editor spends half their day hunting for the moment the note refers to instead of fixing it. A review process that allows untimecoded notes creates rework in every round.
Compressed previews lie
Most stakeholders are reviewing a compressed proxy — a lower-resolution version of the file that's easier to stream. What looks acceptable in a proxy can have visible compression artifacts, color shifts, or audio degradation in the master file. If your approval process is based on a preview, you haven't actually approved the final deliverable.
There are more moving parts than any other asset type
A video proof has picture, audio, graphics, supers, subtitles, music, voiceover, and legal copy — all of which need to be right, simultaneously, at the right moment. Missing one doesn't make the video slightly wrong. It can make the whole thing unusable.
Version control is a nightmare
Video files are large, slow to transfer, and easy to mislabel. 'Final_v3_APPROVED_USE THIS ONE.mp4' is a joke that isn't funny when you're trafficking a campaign. Without a clear version control process, the wrong file going to the wrong place is only a matter of time.
The common thread across all of it: the errors that hurt most aren't creative errors. They're process errors. The legal super on the wrong version. The audio mix signed off before the VO was re-recorded. The subtitle file nobody updated after the script changed. A good review process catches all three. A bad one catches none of them.
The two types of video proofing
Many organizations use video proofing in two distinct ways: technical proofing and editorial proofing.
Technical proofing
Technical proofing focuses on the technical aspects of the video itself, such as the quality of the video and audio, the accuracy of the editing, and the functionality of the interactive elements.
Here, the video team is looking not at specific content but at the structure and technological soundness of the video: audio peaking, lower-thirds spelled correctly, missing frames, color-correction consistency, etc. These are all issues that should be addressed by video team members before the video goes to external reviewers for approval.
Editorial proofing
Editorial proofing focuses on the video's content, such as the accuracy of the information, the clarity of the messaging, and the effectiveness of the storytelling.
During editorial proofing the video team along with internal and sometimes external stakeholders are all looking for content issues that might impact the effectiveness of the video once it hits the real world.
Steps in the video proofing process: How it works
From an outsider's point of view, the video proofing process might seem simple: people watch the video, they give their feedback, and that's the end of it.
But because video isn't a static content form (it has moving pieces, literally), proofing gets more complicated in practice.
These are the six basic steps in an effective video-proofing process, along with how a high-quality video-proofing platform like Ziflow can streamline and enhance collaboration at each step for efficiency and clarity.
1. Upload a proof on your collaborative proofing platform
Using the feedback gathered in step one, your creative team will create a draft of the video. Once you have a piece of video content ready in draft form, upload it to your video proofing platform.
A collaborative video proofing platform is a central cloud-based location where all interested parties can review your video and offer specific feedback with time-stamped comments on specific frames or timecodes of the video. This approach is vital for getting specific, actionable feedback rather than vague suggestions, leading to better proofing and better project outcomes.
Ziflow is an ideal proofing platform for this purpose: it's a versatile platform designed for all types of creative content, with all the reviewing tools you need and no unnecessary hoops to jump through. Ziflow integrates with the tools your team already uses, saving time and reducing friction.
2. Provide reviewer access
One of the elements that makes video proofing difficult is the wide range of reviewers who may need access. You have internal team members and stakeholders and external partners and points of contact who need to review and weigh in on video projects before they're finalized, often sending a project through a few iterations along the way.
Without a secure online proofing platform with clear version control, it's difficult to grant access to the right people and ensure everyone is watching the correct version of the cut.
Many creatives have been victim to poor version control in some way, like when a critical stakeholder spends time giving detailed feedback on a past cut of a video (or the awkward conversations that follow). But with a secure platform like Ziflow, you can keep everyone centered on the right version of your video content, and extend access to all who need it, including external reviewers, securely.
3. Solicit feedback: commenting, annotation, and markup
The next step is gathering feedback from all those reviewers. Because we're dealing with a dynamic, visual medium, it's vital to have a platform that can allow for dynamic, visual feedback, like time-stamped comments directly on video timestamps for frame-accurate feedback or side-by-side version comparisons.
Look for a collaborative platform that allows for commenting directly on media files, including annotation and markup on visual media of all file formats (especially video). Advanced proofing features like these help designers and editors understand exactly what needs to change.
4. Incorporate feedback into iterative refinement
Now that you've collected feedback from all the right stakeholders, it's time to turn that feedback into video improvements.
Again, because video is dynamic these changes aren't always one-and-done. You may need to iterate on a specific change and seek feedback to make sure you've executed what a stakeholder intended. Also, one change can cascade into others, which can lead to additional review cycles, feedback, and refinement.
Make sure your proofing platform allows for managing and tracking iterative refinements through successive versions of a video or file.
5. Compare versions (using version control)
When working in such a highly visual medium, it's common to need to compare previous and current versions of a file to ensure feedback has been sufficiently incorporated. Doing this over a generic cloud storage service like Google Drive, or even a collaboration platform like Microsoft Teams is a nightmare… which is just one more reason why it makes sense to choose a dedicated media proofing platform that includes version control.
6. Approval and finalization
When the iterative process wraps up, it's time to secure approval from all accountable stakeholders and then wrap that video up!
Use proof approval software to ensure everyone with approval authority has the chance to see the almost-final product and track who has (and hasn't) signed off on it. Those approvers will each be responsible for differing elements, which they must ensure meet the specified requirements.
Once you have approval from all needed stakeholders, you're ready to finalize the video and send it to the next step in the workflow, to the client, or to the next internal department or external partner.
Video proofing checklist: What to check before delivery
Use this at creative QA and revisit the relevant sections at each subsequent review stage. Video review means watching the whole thing, every time. No skimming.
How to know your video is ready to deliver
A video is ready to deliver when all of the following are true.
- The master file, not the proxy, has been reviewed by someone with the authority to approve it
- Every timecoded piece of feedback from every review stage has been addressed and verified
- Legal has reviewed and approved all claims, disclaimers, and regulated content
- Subtitles and captions have been checked against the final approved script
- Technical specs have been verified against the delivery requirements for each platform
- The file being delivered is correctly named, correctly versioned, and confirmed as the approved version
If any of those aren't true, it's not ready.
Essential features of video proofing software
As valuable as video can be to your brand, it's vital to get your video content right, as 87% of consumers in a late 2023 survey say video quality impacts their trust in a brand.
But getting this high-stakes content right requires video proofing, which you can accomplish most efficiently through a collaborative proofing platform with advanced proofing features.
Look for the following features in any proofing platform you're considering. Many of these features are self-explanatory for videographers, but creative teams that primarily work with other media should take note of those with an asterisk, as they also align with creative operations priorities (managing the end-to-end creative process).
- Extensive file support
- Frame-accurate and range-based commenting
- Annotation and markup tools
- Playback speed management
- Version comparison and management
- Mobile functionality
- Integrations with existing tools
- Ability to view video proofs alongside other asset types in multichannel campaigns
- Ability to overlay and compare two versions of a video, highlighting distinct changes
- Safe zone overlay for render assurance
- Security (such as the ability to watermark content)
- Speed (fast uploading and downloading)
- Scale (ability to handle videos of all lengths and complex review processes with hundreds of collaborators and comments)
- Automated workflows to streamline approvals and reduce manual follow-up
Tips for video proofing
The biggest impact you can make on your video proofing process is implementing a quality video proofing platform. However, your workflows also need to be designed optimally to get the best possible results.
Make sure your business follows these best practices in your video production workflow.
Establish clear review processes
First, make sure your business sets up clearly defined review processes: software can keep you from drowning in confusion or complexity, but it can't define who reviews what and when (at least not without help).
By establishing these processes clearly and communicating them widely, you'll help to manage expectations and keep your project timelines on track. This is especially important when working with external reviewers who may not be familiar with your internal workflows.
Automate review workflows
No one wants to see approval workflows grind to a halt because they're sitting on someone's desk when they're on vacation.
But that's exactly what happens in manual approval processes: the project manager emails a stakeholder and simply doesn't hear back. Days (maybe weeks) go by, and everyone's still waiting on those one or two approvals. Eventually, the PM tracks down the missing approvers only to discover they're out of the office or the collateral needing approval is literally sitting on their desk.
With the right tools in place, it's possible to automate these review workflows so that missing reviewers get reminded periodically without human intervention via automation. Approvers can also set delegates that can cover for them if they are out of office. Automated workflows help you streamline approvals and keep review cycles moving.
If your team regularly creates similar workflows, there's also no reason to create them manually from scratch every time. With Ziflow, you can add automation to your creative workflows using a library of prebuilt approval templates.
Provide comprehensive proof briefs
It's easy to assume that everyone involved in video proofing knows what they are looking for, but this isn't always the case. That's why we recommend providing comprehensive proof briefs to all reviewers at the start of the proofing process.
Let them know what is or isn't in scope for their proofing so that you can reduce extraneous or irrelevant comments while also focusing your reviewers on the stuff you really need them to review. This level of clarity can lead to more focused and useful feedback (and a lot less wasted time). Whether you're a small team or managing dozens of campaign assets, clear briefs make a difference.
Maintain clear version management
In any kind of approval workflow involving multiple parties looking at different elements, version management is essential. Organizations need a clear and consistent system for managing versions and tracking changes effectively.
We've all been a part of email threads that illustrate the threat here: One person attaches a file, another replies with a question, yet another person replies with a new version of the file and changes who's CC'd, and before you know it, there are 15 versions of a file and no clear chain of custody.
Video proofing software such as Ziflow can solve these challenges through clear and automatic version management, ensuring everyone is always working from the right version of a piece of creative. This alone can dramatically reduce review cycles and help you deliver projects faster.
Elevate your video proofing workflows with Ziflow
If your team is stuck chasing feedback through email threads, losing track of versions, or watching review cycles drag on for days, it's time to try a better approach.
Ziflow enables you to review videos effortlessly, comparing revisions with previous versions and collaborating with other reviewers on needed next steps. With an intuitive interface and advanced proofing features, both internal teams and external reviewers can get up to speed quickly.
Plus, Ziflow has plenty of use cases beyond video files. While Ziflow is loaded with powerful video proofing tools, it's also an ideal workspace for real-time online proofing of just about any kind of creative file or format—from campaign assets to print materials.
Best of all, Ziflow is built for the creative enterprise, with API access and all kinds of add-ons and integrations (including prebuilt integrations with Adobe Creative Cloud, DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro). Ziflow integrates with the tools you already use, saving time and keeping your workflows connected.
Ready to streamline approvals and enhance collaboration across your team? Start your free trial today.
With a track record that spans media giants like WarnerMedia, Viacom, and Google, Aaron's expertise shines through in multi-million dollar projects across various mediums, from traditional television to the dynamic realm of YouTube.
