Do you really want raw footage?
Why You Don't Really Want to See the Raw Footage
“Can we get all the raw footage first? We’ll do a paper edit before the first cut.”
We get it. You’re under pressure. Stakeholders want to “see everything.” But here’s the truth: letting non-editors dig through a hard drive full of raw footage is one of the fastest ways to stall a project, kill momentum, and dilute the creative.
Here’s why we think it’s a bad idea - and what actually works better.
Why Asking for Raw Footage is a Bad Idea
1. Unfinished footage looks bad.
We’ve had smart, senior stakeholders panic over perfectly good raw clips. Why? Because they’re used to polished work. Raw footage hasn’t been color corrected. It hasn’t been sound-mixed. The camera’s still rolling before and after the action. Basically, it doesn’t look good yet. That’s normal, they just don't know that.
2. Editors are trained to separate the wheat from the chaffe.
You hired professionals for a reason. Great editors know how to build rhythm, find the emotional core, and cut around imperfections. We often shoot hours of footage for seconds of video. Let us cut it down from hours of footage to a 5 minute cut, then we can whittle it down together to a 30-second version.
3. Stakeholders derail scope with personal favorites.
Show the raw footage to five stakeholders and you’ll get five different favorites, each insisting their preferred clip or soundbite makes the final cut. Suddenly, your tightly scoped 30-second video has ballooned into a 40-minute Frankenstein edit, packed with good intentions and no cohesion. This isn't collaboration. It's feature creep by committee.
4. Feedback cycles drag out.
Even if you get all the raw footage to your stakeholders, the feedback rarely comes quickly or cohesively. Why would it? Instead of a relatively simple task - give us feedback on this 5m cut, we've tasked you with reviewing 8 hours of footage and crafting the story. You end up in limbo waiting for six people to disagree with each other about a five-second clip.
5. No one has the full context.
The story, goals, tone, and strategy behind the shoot don’t live in the footage. They live in the pre-production work. Reviewing without that context is like flipping through a dictionary and trying to write Shakespeare. You’re looking at raw material with no sense of structure, intent, or emotion and expecting it to read like a finished masterpiece.
You don’t hire a homebuilder and say, "Let me do the framing."
6. You wouldn’t do this with any other expert.
You don’t hire a homebuilder and say, "Let me do the framing." Giving unedited footage to stakeholders is like handing over lumber and nails to someone who’s never held a blueprint. They might recognize the parts, but they’re not equipped to build the house.
7. It delays what you actually want: a great video.
Every extra step before the first draft adds risk and delays. The fastest way to a strong final cut is a rough cut. Quickly.
What You Should Do Instead
1. Just say no.
It might ruffle a few feathers, but just set that boundary. "No means no Mr. VP of Sales." If that's a step too far out at the outset, try it on the second project, after you've built more trust.
2. Give stakeholders a seat at the table early.
The best place for stakeholder input is pre-production. Nail down your goals, messaging, story arc, and what success looks like. Get alignment up front. Take this as a chance to remind them you understand their brand, their messaging, their goals and are capable of acting as their ambassador in the production process.
3. Move faster than the stakeholders.
You can usually get a first draft as quickly as you could get all the raw footage and a transcript. The difference? The first draft actually looks like a video. This might get you in trouble, but just make the draft and send it.
4. Set the expectations for the draft with the stakeholder.
Let them know that a rough draft means it's going to look rough. It won't be color corrected, it won't have polished interstitials, sound might be wonky, it might be 5x as long as you intend for the finished project
Hot tip: a great way to do something like this is with a Loom video breaking this down before they get to review the clip.
5. Ask the right question:
“Do you want to make the video yourself or just shape it?”
Most people don’t have the time (or desire) to actually build the thing. So let your creative partners do what they do best, and then let them react to something real.
6. Remind them you're on their side.
If you've done the work up front, and know the stakeholders' stakes, you can remind them how you providing a first draft gets them to their goals faster.
The Bottom Line
People have a hard time telling you what they want. They have an easy time telling you what they like, and an even easier time telling what they don't like. Spend the time up front to figure out what they want, and then find out what they like and don't like about it as soon as you can with a rough draft.
If you want a great video quickly, the goal should be fewer steps between production and the first draft. Not more. Let us get you something to react to.
