Notes, not knobs: how to give feedback on a video

To give feedback on a video, write notes, not knobs. A knob is a setting: "logo 20% bigger", "music down 4 dB". A note says where the problem is, what you see, what you want the viewer to get, and how much it matters. Give the timecode, describe the problem, and leave the fix to the person who makes the film.

Why the usual feedback slows a video down

Most first cuts come back with knobs. Someone watches the film once, opens the chat, and types settings: bigger logo, faster pace, a bolder font, louder voice. It feels precise. It looks like the quickest way to the version you want. In practice, it is often the slowest.

A knob hides the reason. "Make the logo bigger" could mean the brand shows too late, the logo is hard to read on a phone, or the client asked for it. Each reason has a different fix. A bigger logo might fix one of them and break the layout of the end card. Then the next round of notes asks to fix the end card, and the film goes around again.

The people who edit video for a living say the same thing. Zemma Productions tells clients to identify and describe what they do not like about an edit, because "it is your editor's job to find a creative solution to that problem." The person who made the film knows which settings are connected. You know what you felt as a viewer. A good note gives each side the part it knows best.

This matters most to small teams: a founder with a launch film, a marketer with an explainer and three social cuts, a team that tests ad variations every week. Every extra round costs a day of waiting, and a vague round can cost two. Notes are the cheapest way to make video faster, because they cut the rounds, not the quality.

The contrarian part: do not tell the maker what to change

This is the part that feels wrong. You paid for the film, or you own the product, so you should say exactly what you want. And you should, but say what you want the viewer to get, not which control to move.

Take "make it faster". It is the most common note on a first cut, and the hardest to act on. Faster can mean shorter shots, a quicker voice, a cut of three seconds from the middle, or a different music track with a quicker beat. Now take "at 00:06 I stop watching while the app screen loads". That note names a moment and an effect. The maker can trim the load, cover it with a voice line, or move the product shot earlier. You get the outcome you wanted, and you did not have to know which of the four fixes was right.

There is one exception. When the fix is a fact, give the fact. A wrong price, a misspelled name, an old logo, a legal line that must be word for word: these are not matters of taste, so write the exact correct text. A note is for judgement. A fact is for copying.

How to give feedback on a video: the four parts of a note

A note that a maker can act on in one pass has four parts. You can write all four in one or two sentences.

1. Where: the timecode

Put the time first, and a range when the problem lasts. "The music is too loud" makes the maker search the whole film. "00:04 to 00:07" sends them to three seconds. Review tools are built around this. In Frame.io's help page on comments, clicking a comment card brings the player to the timecode in the comment, and you set the start and end of a range comment with the I and O keys. Vimeo's help centre describes its collaborator comments as being for time-coded feedback during the editing and review process.

2. What I see: the problem, as a fact about the film

Describe what happens on the screen or in the sound, in plain words. "The music covers the price." "The first line leaves before I can read it on my phone." "The product shows only after the logo." Do not guess the cause. If you write "the font is too thin", you have already chosen a fix.

3. What I want: the effect on the viewer

Say what a viewer should hear, see, feel or do at that moment. "People hear the price clearly." "The brand is clear before the end card." "The hook makes me want to see the next shot." This is the part that lets the maker choose the right knob.

4. How much: must fix or worth trying

Mark each note as a must fix or as a suggestion. A must fix blocks the film from going live. A suggestion is the maker's call. Without this mark, every note looks equally important, and a small taste note can get the same time as a wrong price.

If something is hard to say in words, show it. Frame.io's comment tool lets you add an arrow, draw a line, draw a box or draw freely on the frame. A box round the logo with "too late" beside it is a complete note.

A worked example: three reviewers, one 15-second ad

Here is how the four parts add up on a real-sized job. Say a team makes a 15-second in-stream video ad. That length is not arbitrary: on its video ad format page, Meta says it generally recommends a 15-second maximum for in-stream ads. Three people review the first cut: the founder, the marketer and someone from sales.

Each reviewer watches the full film once without stopping, then once more to write notes. That is 3 reviewers × 2 views × 15 seconds = 90 seconds of watching for the whole team. Watching is cheap. The rounds are what cost time.

The founder writes 4 notes, the marketer 5 and the sales lead 3: 4 + 5 + 3 = 12 notes. One person collects them all. Three notes say the same thing about the price, so 12 − 2 = 10 notes are left, because the three become one. Two notes disagree about the music, and the collector settles them into one decision: 10 − 1 = 9 notes. The collector marks 3 of them as must fix and 6 as suggestions.

If each person had sent their notes on their own, the maker would have made 3 versions, one after each message, and the third set of notes might undo the first. With one list, the maker makes 1 version. The team saved 2 rounds, and it took one person a short time to merge the lists.

One voice, one list, one round

The worked example depends on one habit: one person sends the notes. Fragrant Film advises that you choose one person on your team to collect and deliver feedback, and combine everyone's input into a single, aligned response. That person does not have to make every decision alone. They make sure the maker gets one list with no contradictions.

The same article suggests that you sort the notes into groups, such as music and audio, pacing and structure, text and graphics, visuals, and brand voice. Groups help in two ways. The maker can fix all the sound notes in one sitting. And the collector sees conflicts faster, because two notes about the same music track sit side by side.

Before the first view, agree on who will collect the notes and by when. A deadline for notes matters as much as a deadline for the cut. Notes that arrive after the new version is made start another round.

Match the note to the stage of the film

A note can be correct and still arrive at the wrong time. Structure notes belong to the first cut: the order of scenes, what the film says first, whether the product appears early enough. Zemma explains that the rough cut is meant to establish the creative direction of the video, and advises that you raise your concerns before the edit moves on to the fine cut.

Small notes belong to the later cuts: a word in a caption, the colour of a button, a frame where a cut lands early. If you send small notes on a first cut, the maker may polish a scene that a structure note removes the next day. If you send structure notes on a final cut, much of the finished work goes.

When a film is made from a brief, the brief is the first note. Most notes on a first cut are things that the brief could have said. Our post on the one-line brief shows what to write before the first cut so that fewer notes are needed after it.

Use data for notes you cannot see in one viewing

Some problems only show once a video is live. Your own taste is one viewer; an analytics report is all of them. YouTube's help page on key moments for audience retention says that dips mean viewers are abandoning or skipping at that part of the video, and that the intro figure is the percentage of the audience that still watched after the first 30 seconds.

A dip is a timecode with a problem attached, which is half a note already. Write the other half: what happens on screen at that moment, and what you want viewers to get there. "Dip at 00:22, where the voice explains the settings menu. I want people to reach the demo." That note is more useful than "make the middle shorter", because it tells the maker which part loses people and why it matters.

Common mistakes and their fixes

• "Make it pop." No one can act on this. Fix: name the moment and the effect, such as "00:00 to 00:02, the first frame looks like every other ad in the feed; I want the product in it."
• Notes without timecodes. The maker hunts for the moment, or picks the wrong one. Fix: give a time or a range for every note.
• Notes on an old version. Timecodes move after an edit. Fix: name the version you watched. Vimeo keeps comments from earlier versions in its version history, so you can check which cut a note was about.
• Feedback in pieces. Three messages over two days make three versions. Fix: one person, one list, one deadline.
• Taste dressed as a must fix. Fix: mark taste as a suggestion, and keep must fix for errors and for things that stop the film from working.
• Watching on a laptop for a phone film. A vertical film looks different in your hand. Fix: watch it on a phone, with the sound off once, before you write notes about text and captions. Our caption rules list what to check on mute.

Notes in a chat-made film

The four parts work the same way when the maker is a studio you talk to in a chat. In FoxyLab, you paste a link or write a line, and the studio writes, voices, animates and renders the film in every size you need, from launch and product films to explainers, social video and ads. Then you write your notes in the same chat, and the studio changes the film from them.

A note such as "00:04, I can't hear the price over the music, people must catch it" gives the studio the moment, the problem and the effect. It can then choose the change, whether that is a quieter music bed under that line, a slower voice read, or the price shown on screen. The FoxyLab launch showreel shows how a chat turns into a film, and Ritual Coffee's one ad in four formats shows why a note about text should say which size you watched: a line that fits in 16:9 can sit in a different place in 9:16.

A checklist before you send notes

1. Watch the full film once without stopping, on the device your viewers will use.
2. Watch it again and write each note with a timecode or a range.
3. Write what you see, not the setting you would change.
4. Write what you want the viewer to hear, see or do at that moment.
5. Mark each note as must fix or suggestion.
6. Give exact text for facts: prices, names, legal lines.
7. Name the version you watched.
8. Send one list from one person, by the agreed time.

Questions people ask about video feedback

Should I ever give a specific instruction instead of a note?

Yes, for facts. Write the exact text of a price, a product name, a date or a legal line. For anything that is a matter of judgement, such as pace, size or music, describe the problem and the effect you want, and let the maker choose the fix.

How many people should give feedback on a video?

As many as need to approve it, but only one should send the notes. That person merges the lists, removes duplicates, settles conflicts and sends one response by an agreed time.

What is the difference between notes on a first cut and a final cut?

First-cut notes are about structure: the order of scenes, the opening, and where the product appears. Final-cut notes are about details: words, colours and timing of single cuts. Structure changes late in the process throw away finished work.

How do I give feedback when I cannot say what is wrong?

Say where you lost interest or felt confused, and what you expected to see instead. "At 00:09 I don't know what the app does yet" is a useful note even with no fix in it. You can also draw on the frame in a review tool to point at the part you mean.

Your next film does not need perfect notes, only notes with a time, a problem and an effect. Paste a link or write one line in the FoxyLab studio, watch the first cut on your phone, and send your notes in the chat as one list.