How I Moved From A Part Time Video Editor to A Project Manager at My Last Job

I worked as a corporate videographer and editor for the last 3 years at a solar sales tech company. When I applied for the job in 2021, it was for a part time video editor role, but as any fast paced startup operates, that quickly turned into many more roles and tasks. I worked in the production studio on events and presentations live streamed to hundreds of people, I lead the photo and video team at multi-day conferences, I created compelling short docs about the philanthropy work the company was doing, and I also found myself in a project manager role on various video projects, something I never really thought I’d be interested in. Today’s blog post is all about that experience. 

The Project

We were tasked with creating an animated explainer video that the solar sales reps at our company could send to homeowners who were interested in going solar but curious about how the process would go and what it would be like working with Powur. 
We had to start from scratch - write and script and create a storyboard as well as choose an animation style and visual look. 

My Role

As the Video Department Manager, my role on this project was really a project manager. I didn’t know how to do animation to the extent that we needed for this video and I also wasn’t the strongest script writer on our team. So I was really in charge of pulling all of the pieces together and executing the vision the CMO had for this project.

The Process 

We started with writing the script and figuring out the visual style. Luckily we had worked with an animation team, Xplai, on a previous project so we didn’t need to source new animators but simply define how we wanted the visuals to look. 

I worked with the Director of Marketing and our Social Media Manager who had previous script writing experience to take our brainstorm notes and turn them into a short, concise script and storyboard. It took a number of iterations but we eventually got a solid script everyone was happy with.  

I coordinated with the VP of Brand and our animators to solidify the visual style and nail down the storyboard that would pair with our script. We chose a style of animated video Xplai had on their YouTube channel and provided our brand guidelines for colors and visual elements. They provided us a few options to choose from based on our notes and before long, they were illustrating our storyboard based on the direction we gave them. It was very cool to see our words and visual ideas come to life. And even cooler to see what other creatives can add to your project in the process. 

Once storyboards were approved by everyone on our end, Xplai started the animation process. It was at this point that we had to source a voice over artist via voices.com. And we ended up choosing the same artist who does the little ad break in the Duolingo app, Elsa Levytsky! She has a great voice and was a pleasure to work with. I also took the initiative to find music for the video as this is one of my favorite parts of the video creation process. 

With all of the ingredients coming together for our project, we went through a number of versions with Xplai until we finally got to the final version. We had a really tight deadline as we were premiering this video at our yearly conference and Xplai knocked it out of the park, delivering just under the deadline. 

What it’s like going from a videographer/editor to managing projects

Honestly, it was so weird going from being a task taker to a task maker (this is a term my old boss used to use). It felt like I wasn’t doing anything and barely contributing to the project by just acting as a liaison but that’s what it takes. 

It was a lot of emails, a lot of checking in with different folks, and a lot of feedback and iteration. This was the first time I had worked on a project like this in this sort of capacity and it was really eye opening. I really enjoyed seeing Xplai turn our written words into a visual masterpiece and being able to direct them on the different transitions and pieces of the story. Xplai owned the art and animation and our team really owned the story and direction. I really enjoyed being a part of that process and working in a way that’s much different than I’m used to. I’m so used to being in the weeds of a projects, creating it, and on this project I really got to get more of a 30,000 foot view and offer some directorial input to the animators. 

The Result 

The video premiered at our annual convention and it was a smash hit. It got a lot of positive feedback and is still being used by the sales people to this day. An animated explainer video is a great way to simply break down a complex process like going solar and understanding what it’s like going solar with Powur specifically. 

Conclusion 

Although I tend to think of myself as a creator and a doer, it was really fun to switch it up on this project and act as more of a task maker, a liaison, a director and a producer on this project. I quite enjoyed the storyboarding process, thinking up how we can visually explain this story and tie everything together. The VP of Brand, CMO, and Director of Marketing were all immensely helpful in guiding me through this process and each of them gave me props on how I navigated managing this project. 

I always love a good challenge and expanding my skill set, so if you need help managing or producing an animated video for your business, please let me know! I’d love to be a part of another project like this and see all of the puzzle pieces come together again. 

What’s the furthest you’ve pushed yourself out of your comfort zone in your career? And how did it benefit you in the long run? Let me know in the comments down below!