How long does it take to edit a video? A realistic answer from a video production company.

You have a burning question: How long does it take to edit a video?

Great news! You’re working with a video production company. But you don’t know how long it should take before you receive your video content.

Here we’re going to answer: How long will it be before I get my video? 

After filming, a video production company will take the footage back to the edit team, which they will slot into their existing editing schedule to be turned around.

If you want the quick answer and want to skip reading this whole blog. Here you go: 

It can take anything between 1 hour and 180 days!

I’m going to be straight with you. How quickly your content is turned around by the editing team and your video content is back with you really does depend. For example, you might create a news-gathering video that needs to be filmed, edited, and on TV as soon as possible! 

Or maybe your business needs to craft a TV advert to rival the hotly awaited drop of the annual John Lewis’ Christmas Ad, complete with 3d animated life-like animations. Of course, that level of animation means that an edit like that will take significantly longer than someone simply delivering a piece straight to camera. 

At the end of this blog, I’ll let you into a secret. 

It’s something you can do to speed up the editing process by days, if not weeks.

Let’s get back to how long it takes for a video to get back to you. Don’t worry I am going to give you a more definitive answer.

On average, most video projects take 1-2 weeks to edit, depending on the current workflow in the video production company’s (or videographer’s) pipeline. However, we can work extremely fast and turn content around quickly alongside our already scheduled work, for example, if we need to edit a press release in relation to a breaking news story, like we did a few times earlier in 2024 after the ransomware cyber attacks in June. 

To help you out further, here is every core type of video content with the associated average edit times.

If you don’t know what an event wrap film is, check out our blog “What is an event wrap film?”.  In it, we break down exactly what it is and why they’re so important in 2024. 

In short, an event wrap film is when you have a video crew of 1-4 capturing the stage and live talks as well as an overall wrap-up film of the day. 

If the event is 1-4 days long, we will typically create a wrap film that’s 30-90 seconds long with some cut-downs for social media too. 

This is because event video content is invaluable for using online to create anticipation around an event for the people who are attending the next one, FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) for the people who didn’t attend last time and it acts as Digital Merchandise for the people who did attend to look back on the day with pleasure and remember what they enjoyed. 

How long does this take?

If we have to edit it back at our studios, the turnaround time is roughly 1 week.

But if you choose to have an on-site editor, we will turn it around either the same day or within 48 hours of the event. This option is a little more expensive, but many of our clients opt for it as it’s an incredible closing event to a corporate day out to see yourself and your colleagues networking and workshopping earlier that day laid before you on the Big Screen suddenly!

Testimonials are a big favourite at Nomadic. We must film 3-5 of these every month for our wonderful clients. I’m sure you know why these are so popular, but just in case you don’t know why our clients choose them, check out our blog, “What is a testimonial film?” 

These edits are usually not quite as urgent and typically take about 1-2 weeks to have the video back.

Again, there is an option for you to get this back faster if you want it. Typically we can turn these around as fast as an event film, if needed. However, before we reach sign off on one of these video projects, then not only does our customer need to see the video, but also their client, who provided the testimonial. This is to make sure that both parties are happy with the content of the video. This is something we don’t want to rush as we know that both companies are busy, so we check-in if it has been awhile since we heard from our client.

Editing of TV adverts can take longer than the other projects mentioned here. We won’t get into the filming as that can be 1-5 days, so we’ll focus on the editing time only here.

Here are the 4 steps to editing a TV advert:

1. Edit the video, and check video against the storyboard.
2. Get approval from Client/Legal Team if necessary
3. Send video to Clearcast to check and make any amends
4. Send video to TV Channel with clocks.

There are more steps here, but that is a simplified summary of the whole process. This can take 2-6 weeks, and Clearcast can take up to 1 week to check the film, but you can upgrade to FastTrack with Clearcast, which means you can get 24 hour feedback to check if your advert has been approved for TV, or if you need to provide any further info to back it up. Other things that come up during this stage are the size of the text, any messages that you say on your TV advert will need to be backed up, music has the correct license, etc.

To see a full breakdown of Clearcast and how to do everything and save paying an agency (Full guide coming in late 2024!). Warning: it is a technical process, so only dive in if you are very fluent with editing software.

If you don’t know what a promotional video is, then check out our guide here (blog coming in late 2024)

Generally, a promotional video is promoting a company’s products or services. 

This can vary hugely as our clients range from B2B and B2C. For B2B the big factors are trust, results-driven and educational content is key. For B2C, educating and glamorising a service or product does better.

But typically, 1-3 weeks of editing time is sufficient.

Typical time to edit is 2-4 weeks

Is quicker turnaround available- YES

Product video production is pretty self-explanatory (see examples of what these are HERE (Link to product video production). Again, these videos can be quick or slow to edit, but as there is typically more work to be done in the editing process with the colours and digital retouching, they can take longer.

Typical time to edit – 2 days to 4 weeks

This is one of those, how long is a piece of string questions. We have turned these videos around in a couple of days, and also we have taken many months to complete a project. It vastly depends on the complexity of the edit and how urgently the project is required. Animated videos are created typically using a piece of software called after effects which has been used from small company animations, to large scale projects like Iron Man.

Typical time to edit – 2-4 weeks per episode 

Wow! That’s a long time, and yep, that is once you have a dedicated team on it! Again, it will depend if you are filming documentary style video or the next episode of House of Dragons equipped with an animated flying dragon!

Translating the videos into other languages means first having the final signed-off videos and then getting any text or audio recordings translated by an agency. This can take a few days to complete, and we strongly recommend not using Google Translate or an AI service, as these services haven’t quite caught up with the nuances that make a language believable.

When a production company such as Nomadic UK (us) sends our clients the first draft of the video. Typically, we will need to wait for feedback from our contact from the agency or end client. It can take a few hours, a few days or even weeks to hear back once the video has made the internal rounds and been approved or requests made. One client we were working with had a legal team in the UK and Germany, and both needed to comment on specific aspects of the video that we needed to change. It took a few weeks to get all this information back. 

Adding animated elements to a video, such as a talking head, explainer film, or other, will add more time to the process. The animator team will have to wait for the video to be cut down and edited, then work with that team to create a stunning visual. See here for an example of a talking head video with animated elements in it.

Adding special effects such as animated characters to the footage (think who framed Roger Rabbit) will take a lot longer, and typically, you will need picture lock before starting this process correctly. But with the growing power of personal computers, this is now achievable with a much smaller team than before. What used to take months of SFX work in 2014 now takes a fraction of that time and significantly less budget.

We live in a social world where we need various versions of our films for different formats. So, a campaign may be filmed in a landscape suitable for desktops, TV, cinemas, or some DOOH billboards. Then, this footage will need to be edited for social media. Typically, it is square and vertical, with formats in between.

I, Tom Cribbin, edited a TV commercial for Dyson for DOOH (digital out of home screens). I had to edit one video for over 60 screen sizes for display on outdoor digital billboards in China. Every screen in China was a bit different and needed careful consideration, meaning multiple adverts needed to be worked on. But in Europe and the US, these formats are much more standardised making it more straightforward to work with. 

This may sound obvious, but if you need the work back fast, most production companies usually have a quick turnaround option for projects that need it quickly with a small extra fast editing fee. Depending on how quickly the video is required, this option can come with an additional fee. For example, the video team might bring a dedicated editor to the shoot, meaning that at the end of the filming day, you may see a “rough cut” or even something close to being finished. See our blog on video production terms here.

Getting sign-off on storyboards from the broader team before shooting can help speed up the editing process. Firstly, it gives the editing team a clear direction on how to craft the video. Storyboarding is typically reserved for projects with mapped-out elements, such as product films, commercials or promotional films. With testimonials or event videos, a lot can change, so we go for more of a formulaic approach in the edit rather than storyboarding to keep each project unique.

Agreeing a clear timescale up front with the video team is critical for clarity with everyone. So putting together clear deadlines for the team to work from can get everyone on the same page. Especially if the content is being released at a certain time of year, or is part of a larger strategy. 

So there you go, I hope you now feel a little more clued up on how long it takes to edit a video. If you would like to book one in and work with a video team, contact us here: