As an old well-known saying suggests: time is money. That is why when it comes to work projects, saving time on mundane tasks becomes important for any business. After having realized this issue, our team compiled a list of most useful tools used by our videographers to save time and help you on every stage of your project: from first communication with your client to adding the finished product to your portfolio. So that this article could not only introduce you to some new services but also spare you from researching all this information on your own (and wasting hours or even days doing that).

9. Many of us grew up during the times when technology wasn’t as prominent and are used to doing things in an old-fashioned way. For example, numerous people still use paper planners to organize their day and keep track of their appointments. But if you are constantly on the go, carrying a notebook with you at all times might not be very convenient. In this case, it would be much easier to use an online tool which you can access from your phone or any other device closest to you. And we have a couple of examples of services like that. The most basic out of all them is Google Calendar.

Google Calendar is an online version of your work diary. It keeps all your agenda in one place without having to carry a heavy notebook with you at all times. You can use it on your desktop, laptop or smartphone and it synchronizes events on all of these devices. And its added bonus is that it is connected to your Google account. That means that Google will automatically add dates of birth from your Google contact list and any country-specific holidays based on your location. You can show these events in your calendar or make them private. Event locations can also be added, other users can be invited to events or you can make an event “recurring” with a set frequency. This should save you around 20-25 hrs every year on just properly organizing your schedule.

8. Next up in our countdown is Calendly. It is an appointment scheduling software. It spares you from long communication with clients and helps you to figure out the best time for a call much quicker. How it works: you give a link to your Calendly to a person you want to meet with or embed it on your website so that people can book the most convenient time themselves. You are able to set what hours you are available and once the client picks a time, an event will be added to your calendar. No more confusion with time zones because Calendly will adjust the time according to a client’s location. And with that you’ll spare yourself from much hassle and save 30hrs a year.

7. When you are dealing with many projects and tasks at the same time, it might be difficult to keep track of all of them and not to get confused. Visualizing your tasks is a good way to deal with this problem. Once again, the old-fashioned way would be creating a board with all your tasks and separating them into categories (like “To do”, “In progress” and “Done”). You could keep that board on your desk where you can easily access it. But with this approach comes the same problem – what if you don’t have it with you at all times? And the answer is the same as earlier – use an online tool like a project management software. Our team uses a task management tool called Trello.

Trello is a software where users can divide their project into smaller tasks and organize them on a visual board. It can include different columns (like to do, in progress, done, etc.) and these tasks can be moved between them. This helps with better tracking of the progress made on the project. And that’s not all! When you click on any of the task cards, you are able to assign it to a specific person, track how much time you’ve spent on this process, create a detailed checklist of what needs to be done within this task, set a due date, attach any documents and chat in the comment section. This tool is incredibly useful and will save you approximately 50 hours each year.

6. Another problem that may occur is finding a place to store your footage. The old-fashioned way would be to download it to a USB or hard drive. But nowadays there are more efficient systems where you can store your data and files. The most commonly-used ones right now are Google Drive and Dropbox. 

Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service. In addition to storing your videos, it offers an ability to make changes to the files offline and once the device is connected to the Internet again, the changes will synchronize. This bonus might seem insignificant but it is sure to save you about 10 working days every year.

Dropbox is a platform which helps you with hosting of your files by providing cloud storage and a personal cloud. It creates a special folder on a user’s computer and synchronizes the files in it with Dropbox’s servers and all other devices where the user downloaded the software. That way you can keep them up to date no matter what gadget you are using. It also allows you to share these files with other people through sending a link directly or embedding it to your website even if these people don’t have a Dropbox account. Plus the service also has an app which is faster and easier to access. These added functionalities should save you even more time than using Google Drive – approximately 11 working days a year.

5. The final stages of your project is when you probably try to save every spare minute you can and to finish up your job as soon as possible. And one of those stages is showing the final product to the client. For these purposes you can use various file-sharing services. The best one for sharing videos, in our opinion, is Frame.io. 

Frame.io allows users to upload, review and share media files. It is very useful for presenting your footage to newlyweds before the final version is agreed upon because this platform allows users to comment not only on the entire video but also on a specific frame. This functionality can also make discussion with your team more convenient. The service also provides you with the ability to compare different versions or edits of a clip. This tool is probably not the best for creating a portfolio but rather suitable for efficient and detailed communications with clients and coworkers. In our experience this tool can save up to 2 business weeks every year.

4. If you are looking for a way to share your video with a broad audience and create a kind of portfolio of your works then Vimeo is a way to go. This tool is a convenient service to show off your skills and attract more leads. Vimeo is probably the largest platform among all of the video-sharing services after YouTube. To differentiate themselves from their main competitor, their team makes an emphasis on high-quality of their videos. Vimeo also provides its users with tools for video creation, editing, broadcasting as well as means for video professionals to connect with clients. You can make videos from templates or livestream your footage right on the platform. You can even create a subscription streaming service. There are also marketing tools available for you to promote your portfolio. By combining all these useful tools in one, Vimeo is likely to save you something around 2 business weeks as well.

3. Moving on from administrative tools to things that have actually something to do with videos. When you create your original footage you can be sure it won’t be copyrighted when you post it somewhere. But music in your video is a completely different story. That is why when it comes to editing, the challenging thing might be finding affordable copyright music. We know several websites which can provide you with a library of songs that you can use in your videos but our favorite is MusicBed.

With MusicBed you can download good licensed music of all genres. What makes it special is that their team focuses on carefully handpicking the best indie artists. That way you don’t have to dig through dozens of royalty-free songs that you’ve heard a million times before. MusicBed provides you with a catalog of rights-managed tracks and helps with clearing YouTube’s copyright claims if you get them. Which is a nice bonus since it will save you even more time. According to our estimation, your yearly time saved should sum up to 15 working days.

2. Another solution to the problem of project management can be a Customer relationship management system (or CRM for short). They combine project management software with other tools useful for your business. They may differ depending on their purpose but the most popular one for videographers is HoneyBook.

HoneyBook helps its users with every aspect of client-employee relationship by providing tools for invoices, contracts and project management features. It organises the creation process itself as well as communication with clients all in one place and allows business owners to spend less time on administrative tasks. They include the process of making a proposal, scheduling of meetings, signing contracts online, task automation and integration with any other tool you use. And since it covers even more aspects of the entire work-organisation process, this CRM could probably save you nothing less than 18 working days annually. 

1. As a wedding videographer your main job is to provide newlyweds with footage of their special day. But if you present them with a raw, unedited, hours-long clip, they probably won’t be thrilled. You can try to deal with it without any outside help. But that is a more time-consuming way of doing things. Or you can save yourself time and stress and Hire an editor. It will save you an eternity (to be more precise around 50 days) of your precious time. An editor (or a whole company that provides editing services) will take care of all your needs: from project management in general to smallest details your clients want to change. Hiring an editor is the easiest and the safest option you can choose to achieve successful results. So, if you prefer this time-saving alternative then our team at Bride&Groom.video is just what you are looking for!

Do you want to save as much of your precious time as you can? We can help you with that! Contact Bride&Groom.video: [email protected]