Call to Clarify

I got the following feedback in an email concerning a little clip I was working on:

"We would like more energetic throughout."

Ah, the beauty of typos. What did that mean?

• We would like it to be more energetic throughout.
  
• We would like more energy throughout.
  
• We would like more energetic pacing/cutting/clips throughout.

So I called.

It's always a good idea to talk to the person so you can figure out what they really want and provide instant feedback on their ideas, make suggestions, and get clarification. This is why many directors and producers like to sit in the edit bay with you and go over things.

This can be really helpful, but it can also eat up a ton of time. "Hmm... now that I think of it, could you just..." And two hours later you've finally convinced them your first cut was better.

It turns out that the cryptic message was actually supposed to be: We would like more energetic music throughout.

I see.

Well, that's the problem you often run into when you are working with royalty-free music. Where do you get the really good stuff? What kind of music are you looking for? ...and so on.

So, the music question is still sort of up in the air, but at least I know what they want me to change.

~Luke Holzmann
Your Media Production Mentor