How to leave video feedback to your motion graphics agency
Let's start with a simple question: what isn’t confusing?
In this world we live in most things are. Math. Taxes. Life itself.
And one of the most confusing instances is: corporate video production. Anything creative is a bit confusing, but especially with video production since it’s a complex multi media asset.
Having spent over 1 decade working in motion graphics agencies, I can tell you – confusion is part of the process:
- How do you define your video project to start?
- What to start with to save the most time?
- How do you define what its about?
- How do you ensure each step is done in succession “properly”
- How much room for error should you leave?
- What do you do if things are misinterpreted and ruined by the very creatives doing the work?
- How many iterations should you allow into your process?
This isn’t even a close to exhaustive list of the issues creative work faces. This is just the day to day of creative work.
And one of the most common situations you will find yourself in: is giving specific video feedback whether on design, script or edits.
This article will take 15 years of creative work experience and turn it into a few useful actionable feedback tips. That you can leave or take, depending on how you see fit.
Whether it’s a web design, blog article, or video project this feedback will be generally useful. However it’s meant for video producers because that’s what we focus on here at Rocketwheel.com
So lets get into it.
“Good” commercial video production feedback, general principles:
Tensions are high. Your creative submitted their first draft. You look at it, and it’s not at all what you had in mind. Your emotions are all over the place: disappointed, frustrated, maybe even angry.
The question is: how to turn this into something useful?
Let’s start with the principles of creative feedback.
And breathe in. It’s normal that your first revision isn’t more than a rough attempt at what you may later enjoy. For now, it’s okay, let it be a starting point and treat it as such.
It’s more muddy than anything else
It’s like trying to find diamonds in a muddy pond. Every movement brings up more sediment making it harder to see the bottom, and to your touch every rock could potentially be a diamond.
You won’t know until you grab it, wash it, take off the extra sediment and run tests.
This is the natural evolution of creative work.
Even with the best brief in the world, the moment someone else gets involved, things will change and it’s evolving. Somebody needs to grab those rocks and examine them.
For this both client and creative need to be aware: change is part of the process.
Creatives can’t be too fixated on “it wasn’t in the brief”. Balanced with the nuance that clients can’t simply “change their mind on the fly”.
You have to remember in creative work even if you don’t like it, someone had to work to make it happen, and that’s the price (effort/time) of sometimes figuring out what you really want.
It’s not like buying groceries or filling your car up with gas.
Sometimes you find out you’re in the wrong pond. Or you’re moving too much and can’t see the diamonds. Or that there are simply no diamonds here, but sapphires – which may actually work better for what you’re designing.
These are the uncertainties of any kind of creative process. And they are inescapable.
Clarity of feedback matters
Lets start by saying nothing is obvious. Even things which seem obvious are not. This can be to a million and one reasons. From cultural to personal to ideological and everything in between.
The idea is to not take for granted that we all think the same. Just because it’s obvious to you - doesn’t mean it will be for other people. And just because you used words to express yourself, doesn’t mean the other person will understand them how you want.
So reduce interpretation. Reduce the amount of words you use. Reduce the amount of points you try to make in a single sentence.
Lean towards details. Explain why, how, what you’d like to be done. Even if at times it feels like overkill.
If lovers in a marriage for 30 years can have misunderstandings you better believe a client and creative working on a project will have the same.
Don’t assume it’s different even with your best creatives.
Balance the negative and positive to see the structure
It’s normal to not know exactly what should be done, but it’s not normal to just expect people to understand.
To make yourself understood you must develop WHY and WHAT you like or don’t like. And you can think of both as sides of a structure (cube, or walls, whatever you like).
Often great feedback doesn’t explain or describe exactly what you want. It sets the boundaries around it. It creates the contours for a creative to interpret the fullness of the feedback.
So within your feedback don’t just be positive. Be negative. And search for a balance between both because it’s through contrast which creatives can start to ask the right questions, or see things “your way” and lead to the result you want.
Specificity works. It’s a superpower.
Sometimes clients may feel “you’re the expert” and leave it up to creatives to do their process of exploration and experimentation.
Yet, talk to an artist and you’ll quickly understand how constraints guide the creative process. And it’s rare the creative will understand your product, market and value propositions as well as you do.
Not all creative solutions lead to the same usefulness. To save yourself time and headache I suggest specificity.
“I don’t like this” can become something like “The illustration looks childish and doesn’t fit the tech-feeling of our brand. I like the content behind it, but want the style to look more like x, y and z (with attached references)”.
It’s more work, but it forces you to figure out what you want, or don’t, and express it. Often if challenged clients will change their feedback. Further confusing creatives.
It’s always a compromise of solutions
You are working on a creative project where there’s a time, budget or some other constraint. Compromise is a normal part of this.
You’re not seeking truth or purity of art. You’re closer to seeking completion.
Keep this in mind - that your project WILL be a compromise. It will be a group effort with many people contributing their thoughts, experience and ideas to the final result.
In a perfect world we’d always get exactly what we want.
In the real world, we do with what's around and that (not perfection) determines what's possible. So if things don’t seem perfect, don’t worry about it. Good enough is often the criteria here.
Best practices for giving video visual feedback with least amount of friction
It’s obvious but timecode your feedback. Yes, it’s that important. Actually out of all the feedback we can give on how to feedback timecodes are at the top.
It’s the easiest way to contextualize what's going on. And it’s funny but to the person writing the feedback it’s always “obvious” where it should be.
Yet even simple things can lead to creatives editing the wrong part of a video, or changing too much, or to little. So please please please, if you do one thing: timecode your feedback.
I also suggest using a software which helps to organize feedback plus adds markup tools. Some software I’ve personally used in the past is SyncSketch or Frame.io both are great options.
Discuss the process upfront
How many revisions? What to do if cancellation? How much feedback is considered major vs minor. It’s not rocket science, it’s just a bit of clarification around what could go wrong and what to do if it does.
Most clients are open to a process discussion but creatives don’t bring it up as often as they should. Which can lead to problems down the line.
The simplest time for discussion is upfront. Not once problems have started to arise. Once you have a problem it’s easy for both sides to feel ‘entitled’ and influenced towards their expectations upfront.
This makes it feel like people are saying whatever suits them best, and can make the other party standoffish. Which in a moment of crisis is the last thing you need.
Avoid it by: having a contract AND discussing the entire creative process upfront. Simple things like: how many revisions, how to provide them, what if we disagree, cancellation policy etc.
Business objectives DO matter, more than you think
Creativity is great but never ending. And sometimes like Ouroboro it can end up eating itself if you’re not careful.
Know why you’re making your video. Is it an animated explainer video? Then don’t let it creep shift too much!
Luckily the solution is: keep business objectives clear and obvious.
Creative corporate art is always done with an end in mind. It’s not soul searching. It’s not about ‘finding yourself’.
It’s a marketer, CEO or investor, who wants the input to generate output (ROI). It’s important that this is the “truth” of the project.
You may change creative concepts or execution, but you should not be changing your business objectives. They are the foundation on which the rest of the experience rests.
And you have to remember: marketing is almost always experimentation. Even when you know your market, product and benefits, they can change and creative concepts can transform them in ways that need to be tested.
Too often people get into the theory and try to find what will work for sure. Yet a lot of our biggest wins and successes have come from exploration.
And some of our biggest failures or time wasters as a result were also from exploration.
Written vs Verbal Feedback: why not both?
This is a delicate subject since some creatives prefer one or the other. And it’s usually true that people are either better with verbal instructions or written.
I’ve worked with creatives who refuse to get on a call. Probably traumatized from an experience where a client kept on changing their feedback non stop.
So it brings up a question: whats the better method of communication?
Since it can be a personality thing. Our suggestion is: do both.
- Written feedback: is great because it’s thought out, and exists materially. It forces the writer to take a position, define it, and gives time for reflection.
- Verbal feedback: is amazing because it CREATES a conversation, allows discussion, and often solutions can be developed through a back and forth.
My personal preferred model is a combination of both. First getting written feedback which forces them to size up what they’re reviewing.
Afterwards schedule a call to allow for discussion around questions or changes. This allows the creative to understand the “validity” of feedback.
And if either feels unnecessary - I will suggest cutting it to save time and energy. So keep an open heart to the fact one may work better than the other, lean into it if it does.
Feedback is the start of a discussion, not the end
Creatives love to see a client's laundry list of feedback and say things like “they don’t understand the project, what is this” and almost shrug it off as the clients folly.
The truth is any piece of feedback is just a starting point. It’s not a completed work. It’s a rough draft of a review of a rough draft. This mindset can remove a lot of the antagonism which is felt with feedback.
For clients it’s hard to explain the unexplainable. They do their best, but of course there will be contradictions, and unknowns.
And for creatives, being so close to the project, they may have a better sense of the “life” behind each decision. So some feedback can feel frustrating or stifling. Especially if it feels like the client has no “leeway” for changing their mind.
For both the solution is to see feedback as the start of a discussion. It allows clients to show their thoughts, and creatives to dissect them.
Often through discussion the client WILL agree to the creative’s point of view. Nulling the initial piece of feedback. However to do that they need to be educated about why, what and sacrifices that one solution may have over another.
And for the creative it’s important to remember that certain things the client does know best. It’s about interviewing them and getting these nuggets out as soon as possible.
Look for creative solutions to creative problems
Don’t over-emphasize the problem. The problem is a stepping stone to the solution - to finding something that works.
Putting too much emphasis on the problem keeps people talking about recognizing it. Most problems aren’t that hard to recognize (i.e the planet is dying).
It’s much harder to implement solutions which are effective and get other people to agree.
Creative work is similar in nature. You want to spend 80% of your feedback providing solutions rather than establishing the problem.
If creatives need more elaboration, they will ask for it.
9 out of 10 times: more questions
Many people feel communication is useless. And many people feel communication is too complex. When you combine these two beliefs you are left with a “just get it done” mindset.
Just get it done comes with a price. That price is a misinterpretation.
Unless you’re working with the best of the best it’s unlikely they will “just get it” (and even then it’s questionable).
So a healthy creative process involves a lot of questions. From the client. From the creative. And from all the potential situations which arise.
Why questions? Not to be annoying and constantly second guessing but because it’s easier to solve creative feedback with questions rather than showing work.
Work takes time. It takes effort. It increases input.
Questions are a fraction of that effort. Can be used quickly. And save you a LOT of time by allowing clarity without commiting to work.
It’s not unheard of that the project manager on a creative project doesn’t have direct creative skills but has the people skills to understand all sides, and find solutions between them.
The People Problem of Creative Feedback and Work
This isn’t an easy one but when you work with people HOW you say something matters often more than what you say. (Style vs content debate).
End of the day both matter but I’ll tell you right now. Working with a creative or team which feels slighted by you as a client won’t be a fun experience.
If you’re working with machines all day, or numbers, it might not matter to you as much.
But in creative work the energy, spirit or mindset of the person doing the creative work does matter. And as such you have to do your best to keep people happy.
Some clients feel because they paid the big bucks they can afford to throw courtesy and manners out the door. This brings back twice as much pain in figuring things out as it potentially saved by not being considerate in the first place
Specificity matters: out of everything it’s most important to be clear with your feedback. As with all things in life, not many like negative, vague or generic feedback. This can mean using words or visuals or references to get your point across. More feedback is usually appreciated, so don’t hold back.
Respect creative experience, expertise and perspective
If you trust a motion graphics agency enough to send them a project, like their portfolio and want to work with them - trust they can bring some value.
Micro-managing your creatives is the quickest way to frustrate them because it says “I don’t trust your ability to make decisions”.
When in reality you should question your own ability to make decisions. Why hire someone you can’t work with in the first place (ask more questions next time).
When you trust someone you listen to their point of view because you believe it has value. You might have missed something. You may be uninformed. You may be trying to go fast when it’s the time to go slow.
A great creative partnership will help you uncover these moments and move past them with grace. But you must come with the desire to trust, and never let go during the process.
Avoid too much subjectivity it will mislead you
Obvious but needs to be said: art is subjective.
If everyone on your team likes something but you don’t sometimes it’s just a question of taste or preference. It’s not a hill worth dying for.
After hundreds of projects I can tell you: sometimes I didn’t like what we were doing. Not because it looked bad (creatives and clients were happy) but because it was against my personal preferences.
The best thing you can do: is shrug, move on, and not dwell on it.
Not everything will be done perfectly – that’s fine
An easy rule that we use is the 95% rule. It means that out of 20 pieces of feedback it’s normal for 1 to not be done.
It might have been forgotten, misinterpreted, or just done incorrectly.
It’s the price of being human. This type of inefficiency can’t be avoided. And very likely shouldn’t even be tried to.
Even with multiple levels of quality control or checks, things will slip through the cracks, and yes sometimes its because someone didn’t do their job.
But sometimes it’s because of creative blindness. Similar to submitting an article with typos even after you took the time to proofread.
Our own mistakes are often the hardest to spot. Knowing this it makes sense that some amount of mistakes will make it into revisions.
Knowing that this is normal can be the difference between seeing it as treacherous betrayal or just a regular part of the process.
Be timely and your project will be timelier
People mirror behaviours. And the easiest way to show you care is to respond on time, and soon as you can.
Clients who push their feedback back days or weeks are essentially saying “this isn’t THAT important to me right now”. That’s fine, except when it becomes a non-negotiable for you.
At that moment you find yourself frustrated with creatives who are not responding as fast as they should. Who may be working on other projects. Who may even have shifted your timeline without telling you.
For this reason: being timely and always following up with whats the deadline/deliverables outstanding is a great way to keep your project on time.
Consolidate feedback from multiple stakeholders
I suggest doing this on both teams: client and creative.
It’s most effective to have 1-on-1 discussions even when representing multiple points of view. And only bringing in specific people (client stakeholders or creative specialists) when absolutely necessary.
Why? Because discussing feedback needs to be done humanely. Too often people are in a rush and it only takes a few comments to undo a lot of fairness.
So it’s best to pick the fairest (i.e most diplomatic) person from each side, and let them figure out the logistics of the project, including how feedback and what feedback to be handled.
The job of this person is to consolidate the feedback. This can mean hopping on meetings with each person individually or sending emails. But what it does is create a single point of contact per side and solve feedback being staggered.
It also allows for an easy avenue of conflict resolution. And the shielding of the creative process from emotions or personalities that destabilize progress.
Tools and software for feedback on the creative process
The best tool is: time. Taking the time to compile feedback, ask questions and give the project more room to breathe if necessary.
It’s normal people feel time constraints more than anything else. (with budget being a close second).
So if I could make a suggestion: allocate more time than you would like to your project. From 30-50% more time makes it easier to not feel stress when things shift.
Time is truly your greatest asset.
Syncsketch for asynchronous, time stamped feedback on videos
There’s many tools but we like SyncSketch because it allows you to markup a video file, draw on it, includes timecodes, and allows multiple people to review on their own time.
You could look into Frame.io or some other alternatives. Like most software within a category they are a stone throw different from each other in terms of functionality or ability. Mainly differing by branding and the details on your monthly invoice.
Two reasons why we love Syncsketch is also the version history review - making it easy to see prior versions and compare them.
Plus the ‘live sync’ which allows multiple people to view the same video in real time. It plays at the same time on each person's screen, making it considerably easier to ensure everyone sees the same thing.
Google docs, my go to script and concept
For making a brief.
For getting feedback on a script.
I love Google docs. Yeah, it’s simple, free, and collaborative. Plus most people know how to use it.
I suggest for most of the “soft” parts of the process to do your documents in Google doc. And make sure there’s a trail of links which connect them.
If you have multiple briefs, scripts or inspiration boards it can be a good idea to unify them all in one place, or central document. Just so that when you bring on a new creative, or person, they have all the same information for review.
Nothing worse than being given a partial brief and needing to make mistakes which could have been avoided. This hurts the clients perception of the creative, and the creatives trust in the client knowing what they want.
Final words on creative feedback: laissez faire
Let it go. Let it be. Go with the flow.
These are the philosophies which will help you when it comes to creative feedback. Not making everything serious, not taking everything serious.
And accepting the limitations that come with corporate creative work. Understanding that the project is meant to be finished – not turned over like every rock at the beach when you’re searching for crabs.
Your mindset going into the project will dictate how much effort you put into feedback. And how hard you fight creatives or revisions as they come in.
So it’s always a great idea to set the right expectations, and remove the heaviness of creative work. As it’s already hard enough, no need to make it harder.
Hopefully this guide can save you a few minutes of stress or a few hours of back and forth.
