Video content is prized across many marketing channels, so businesses are scrambling to make more of it. The result is video productions that always leave a wake of extra content. Producers shoot more than they need when creating a video to ensure they have ample material to flesh out their project, and in most cases, that excess footage gets left on the editing room floor.
It doesn’t have to, however. The extra content created during a shoot isn’t necessarily subpar or unusable — it just wasn’t right for the original project. There are many options for repurposing it, though, to make the most of the investment.
Businesses and organizations that use videos in their marketing and branding campaigns can leverage their extra video content and turn it into a variety of new and complementary projects. There’s little reason to throw it away or leave it with the production company when it can easily be reworked to support a range of efforts. This guide explains the benefits of finding ways to use excess video content and provides a few ideas on how to use those leftovers.
Benefits of Using Extra Video Content
The exact amount of extra footage can vary, but every video production produces more footage than the video needs. The shooting ratio can be 10 to 1 or 20 to 1, or even greater, meaning that for every finished minute in the original project, there might be an additional 10 or 20 times of existing footage.
A typical full-length Hollywood feature can have a shooting ratio as high as 100 to 1. That includes multiple takes of every scene, multiple angles shot for every scene, and even entire scenes that never make the final film. Here are a few compelling reasons not to dump that extra footage in the trash:
Efficient Use of Resources
Someone who is paying to have a video produced has bought every step of the process, from scripting to filming and postproduction. Turning unused footage into content is an efficient way to make the most of the resources a company puts into its project.
Cost-Effective Video Production
Repurposing unused content is a cost-effective way to make a video. People who leverage unused footage into new video content don’t have to start from scratch or pay for every part of the process. They don’t have to write a new script, rent out a studio, hire actors, or deal with other aspects of shooting a film. They simply pay for an editor to sculpt something new out of existing footage.
Creative Potential
Unused footage offers a lot of creative potential. A savvy marketing team can use it to complement the original project or create something completely different. A video made for internal training purposes, for example, could be turned into short vignettes to post on social media to show customers a look inside the organization.
Shooting extra footage is inescapable when crafting a high-quality video, and there’s no reason not to use that footage to drive new projects. People who pay to have videos produced should talk with their production team to get ideas on using this extra footage.
Ways to Use Extra Video Content
Reusing video content on new projects is fairly straightforward, and if properly planned, it doesn’t need to cost that much money. The owner can use the content in a way that supports the initial project or repurpose it in a new way. Here are a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing.
1. Teasers
An editor can turn any video content into teasers that support the film’s marketing campaign, including footage used in the initial project and extra footage. The teasers can just be short clips similar to trailers posted on the organization’s website and social media pages to excite interest in the larger project.
2. Short Highlight Messages
A full-length video doesn’t work for every platform, but companies can share a short highlight video in multiple places. A business contracting for a training video, for example, may want to create highlights to boost employee engagement before the training session. A nonprofit organization that has just made a video about its work in the community may want to post highlights on its social media page or share clips in its email newsletter.
3. Backstory, Bloopers, and Extras
The mainstream film industry has been using extra footage to increase engagement for years, and organizations that have custom films made can do the same. They can use it to build a sense of intimacy with their viewers by sharing more about the backstory of the video, showing funny mistakes made during shooting, or providing extras in the form of a director’s cut.
4. Individual Profiles
An editor can turn a long-form video about multiple people in an organization into short stories about individuals. Footage from a video about various processes or events, in that same vein, can yield short videos about those same events.
5. In-Depth Videos
The extra footage doesn’t just have to be used to make short-form content. Unused content often provides additional details about the subject matter that can be turned into long-form content. Hours of a documentary interview that was pared down for the original video, for example, could be turned into an in-depth podcast or a longer-form video for people who want to learn more.
Creating this extra material can take a bit more time and money, but it means the resources spent shooting the original footage don’t go to waste. Channeling the unused footage into new material also helps extend the overall reach of the original video. It can be a low-cost, highly effective way for an organization to expand its overall reach and put production efforts into multiple projects that it can spread over additional distribution channels.
Contact Rock Creek Productions Today About Video Content
Rock Creek Productions is an award-winning studio production company that makes all kinds of videos for businesses, nonprofits, and other organizations. Rock Creek Productions has assembled a team of skilled production specialists ready to apply its creative storytelling approach to your video content. Contact our office today to talk about your upcoming project — we can help you craft an engaging video and repurpose the extra content into something compelling as well.
