Skip to main content

Spring Cleaning in December

As we near the end of 2020, we are starting our spring cleaning a little early and looking at data management for the coming year. We’ve made hundreds of videos this year, with thousands of files comprising those videos. We want to make sure this data is properly managed according to your needs. 

You wouldn’t just delete a Word file, would you?

You may think you are all set after receiving your final video files. But keeping your raw video files is something to consider.

Think about it this way. 

Pretend you are writing a book. You’ve conducted interviews, collected photographs and typed everything into a Word document before sending it to the publisher. The book is published and everyone is happy. Think of the published book like a master video file – it’s the final product after many hours of work and it’s near impossible to make changes.

A few months later you’ve found new research or images to add to your next round of printing. If you only have the published book, but not the Word file, making changes isn’t an option. The same is true with master video files; there’s not a great way to edit them.

There are three ways we can handle your video files.

 

  1. We store them

  2. We transfer them

  3. We delete them

Please choose one of three options:

We update several videos each year after a teacher or principal leaves a school because we have saved the raw video files. Or, we are asked to re-use video from previous projects in new projects. This is only possible when we can access the raw video and project files, which options #1 and #2 provide below.

 1. WE STORE THEM

We will continue to store your video projects on our server. This allows us to have the files ready to edit should you want to update your video in the future or use the footage in future projects. This is an annual plan on a calendar year basis (January 1 – December 31).

  • Single project annual archive price: $50
  • Two project annual archive price: $100
  • Unlimited project annual archive price: $250

 2. WE TRANSFER THEM

We will move your raw video files to an external USB hard drive that will be shipped to you for safekeeping. The hard drive will be formatted for use on a Mac. Files are generally too large to upload to the internet.

  • If YOU supply the hard drive: $250
  • If WE supply the hard drive: $400

 3. WE DELETE THEM

We realize some projects have served their purpose and are no longer needed.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does this work for projects you are editing right now?

If we are in the production process right now, we will continue editing and archiving your project as stated in our contract. This is typically three months after the delivery of your final video file(s). If you want us to store your video files beyond three months, let us know how you’d like us to store your project.

 

What are the advantages of you storing our offline video files?

When we are able to store your files, we take the worry out of managing and backing up this data. We can easily update elements of your video. Oftentimes we replace interviews with new staff members after a teacher or principal leaves a school. Or, we can use video we have previously shot to save time on production of a new video.

 

What about animated video projects?

Videos that are 100% animated take up significantly less hard drive space because they don’t have any video files. We will continue to store projects that are 100% animated at no charge to our clients. Hybrid videos that include animation and video will be considered a video project in terms of our storage policy.

How does this work if we have a retainer agreement?

Clients with a retainer agreement do not need to worry about paying additional for offline video storage. We include this as part of our agreement.

 

Can you just upload the files to my Google Drive or Dropbox?

Raw video files are incredibly large. At this time, we cannot upload these project files to cloud-based platforms. We can transfer the files to a hard drive and you can upload them if you’d like to store them on the cloud.

 

Who “owns” the video files?

In most cases, our clients own the rights to the video files. We’re different than many video production agencies in our approach to this. As long as you’ve paid us for the project, we believe these are your video files to use as you wish.

 

How will billing be handled?

We will invoice clients in January 2021 if they choose a storage option for their files.