FKINP Canadian clients should buy supplied-footage post-production by sending every provider the same brief, separating story editing from finishing, and putting reviews, deliverables and handoff terms in writing.
Compare supplied-footage editing providers
First confirm whether a provider accepts footage-only work, how far its service extends into finishing and what working materials it will return.
BOMCAS Media — Alberta
Supplied-footage fit: Offers standalone post-production and outsourced editing through a remote workflow serving Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer and other Alberta communities.[2]
Story editing and finishing: Covers narrative structure and pacing, colour, audio, graphics, VFX, captions and delivery preparation.[2]
Project handoff: The cited page does not state what editable files or linked media are delivered; define the handoff in the quote.[2]
Click Play Films — worldwide service, US offices
Supplied-footage fit: Accepts self-shot footage, archives and work begun by another editor. Its service is worldwide, but its listed offices are in the United States.[4]
Story editing and finishing: Offers offline story editing and online finishing, with fuller scopes adding grading, sound, motion graphics, captions and multiple formats.[4]
Project handoff: Says it can work from client project files and “hand back everything.” Define the files, media, fonts and plug-ins included.[4]
NEEDaFIXER — worldwide, no Canadian office identified
Supplied-footage fit: Accepts physical drives and several digital-transfer methods, then uses an assembly-cut, rough-cut, fine-cut and picture-lock workflow. It describes worldwide service but identifies no Canadian office.[5]
Story editing and finishing: Vendor case examples include HDR and SDR masters, a 5.1 mix, DCP delivery, language versions and aspect-ratio variants.[5]
Project handoff: The cited page discusses archiving but states neither a retention period nor the contents of a working-file handoff; put both in the agreement.[5]
Viva Media — Toronto and the GTA
Supplied-footage fit: Presents editing within a broader production and creative-development service for Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Markham, Vaughan and the surrounding area.[1]
Story editing and finishing: Offers editing, grading, mixing and placement-specific versions.[1]
Project handoff: The cited page confirms neither footage-only acceptance nor project-file handoff; require both in writing if they are needed.[1]
- Commercial terms: BOMCAS requires a quote and offers rush work at a premium.[2] Viva provides project-specific written quotes.[1] Click Play usually provides a fixed quote within two business days.[4] NEEDaFIXER uses day rates or package pricing, typically with staged payments.[5]
- Scope limits: Viva treats media buying, posting and performance reporting as separate unless expressly included.[1] BOMCAS says schedules vary by format and complexity and advises discussing VFX before filming when possible.[2]
- Published evidence: Click Play’s scale figures,[4] Viva’s lead-cost testimonial,[1] BOMCAS’s performance claims[2] and NEEDaFIXER’s delivery examples[5] are vendor-reported rather than independent comparisons.
Send every provider the same quote brief
Quotes are comparable only when they reflect the same material, creative objective and delivery requirements.
- Source material: State the footage volume, file and camera formats, folder structure and whether audio is synchronised. Identify available transcripts and selects, along with missing, duplicate or damaged media. NEEDaFIXER asks about camera formats during onboarding.[5]
- Edit objective: Specify the intended runtime, audience, platform, purpose, pacing, style references, required inclusions and story. Attach brand assets and fonts and describe music preferences. BOMCAS and Click Play request these kinds of intake details.[2][4]
- Schedule and outputs: List the deadline, review dates, aspect ratios, resolutions, caption files, language or accessibility versions and final formats. NEEDaFIXER’s intake covers runtime, platform, deliverables, deadline and budget.[5]
- Media handling: Ask the provider to itemize preparation, transfer and storage. BOMCAS accepts Dropbox, Google Drive, WeTransfer and its client portal.[2] NEEDaFIXER accepts physical drives, S3 or Wasabi, Dropbox, Aspera and Signiant and says it performs MD5 checksum verification after ingest.[5]
Ask each quote to state its footage-volume allowance and overage basis. Before committing, also request an assessment of what the footage can support; Click Play expressly includes this step before commitment.[4]
Define the story cut and approval milestones
Offline editing covers the creative work on story, structure and pacing. Online work covers the full-resolution conform and finish, including colour, graphics, sound mix and delivery.[4] NEEDaFIXER publishes an assembly-to-rough-to-fine-cut-to-picture-lock sequence.[5] Use the following definitions as proposed contract terms rather than assumed industry standards:
- Assembly cut: A broad sequence of likely material. Name who will approve the overall direction and identify omissions.
- Rough cut: The stage for decisions about structure, messaging and missing content. The named approver accepts the story approach or requests consolidated structural changes.
- Fine cut: The stage for timing, shot choices and detailed creative adjustments. Approval confirms that only agreed final refinements remain.
- Picture lock: Written approval that visual order and duration will not change before finishing begins.
The agreement should explain how reopening a locked cut affects the schedule, price and approval process.
Price editing and finishing separately
Request a separate price for each stage instead of accepting “professional editing” or “finished video” as the scope. BOMCAS treats editing and finishing as distinct services.[2] REEL CANADA’s page, using 2022 ScreenSkills material, identifies separate roles including editor, colourist, subtitler and assistant editor.[3]
- Preparation: Footage ingest, verification, organisation and syncing.
- Picture: Offline story edit, full-resolution online conform, technical colour correction, creative grading, graphics and VFX.[2]
- Audio: Dialogue repair, noise reduction, room-tone work, sound design, voice-over, mix format and target loudness. BOMCAS describes normalisation to LUFS targets but gives no specific value.[2]
- Access and delivery: Captions, described video, platform or runtime versions and final delivery preparation.[2][6]
Colour correction addresses exposure, white balance, skin tones and consistency among cameras or locations; grading applies the intended visual look after that technical work.[2] Captions represent audible content, while described video narrates meaningful visual information such as actions, settings, graphics and scene changes.[6]
Ask whether delivery requires open, sidecar or platform-specific captions and a separate descriptive-audio version. The University of Toronto notes that many players do not support switchable description tracks, so one version may need embedded audio description and another may carry only the primary audio.[6]
Control revisions, feedback and licensed assets
Name one authorised client lead to collect stakeholder comments and submit one consolidated, timecoded response per round. Click Play includes two revision rounds in its standard scope and requests consolidated notes.[4] BOMCAS accepts timestamp-specific comments through Frame.io or Vimeo.[2]
Define a revision round as one client submission followed by one provider response. The agreement should state the included count, feedback deadline and approval process or rate for additional rounds.
Attach an asset schedule covering music, stock media, fonts, graphics, voice-over and other third-party materials. For each asset, identify the licence holder, permitted uses, territories, duration and required paperwork. Viva says quotes should confirm music usage,[1] BOMCAS offers music-licensing support,[2] and Click Play says it retains licensing paperwork.[4]
Separate changed requirements from revision feedback through a written change-order process. Viva cautions that changed requests can affect scope and cost.[1]
Specify exports, editable files and archives
List each video’s runtime, aspect ratio, resolution, codec or file type, caption treatment, audio configuration, language and destination. Click Play recommends settling aspect ratios, captions, runtimes and technical specifications before edit lock.[4]
Treat editable-project handoff as a separate deliverable from final masters. Click Play says it can accept client project files and return everything, but the agreement should define:[4]
- the editing application, version and project-file format;
- the linked-media folder structure and included proxies;
- graphics, caption files, fonts and plug-ins;
- licence restrictions affecting later edits;
- whether original media will be returned, copied or deleted; and
- who provides the drive or transfer service and how copied files will be verified.
Set dates and charges for active storage, archive retention, deletion, retrieval and attempted recovery after retention ends. NEEDaFIXER says it stores ingested media on RAID and LTO tape and documents retention and archiving during onboarding, but gives no retention period.[5]
Compare the quotes on equal scope
Shortlist providers that confirm acceptance of the supplied footage, the delivery date, every required finishing service and the agreed project-file handoff. Compare those quotes using the same categories: media preparation, cut milestones, revision rounds, colour, sound, captions, licensed assets, versions, exports and archive treatment.
A lower quote may cover less work, so compare assumptions and exclusions as well as the total. Provider testimonials, scale claims and selected case examples offer context but do not guarantee a project’s outcome.
What to confirm in the agreement
The cited pages for Viva Media, BOMCAS, Click Play and NEEDaFIXER leave some or all of the following terms unstated.[1][2][4][5]
- Price: Currency, applicable taxes, footage-audit charges, volume allowances, overage rates, storage fees, rush charges and retrieval fees.
- Reviews: The included count for Viva, BOMCAS and NEEDaFIXER, what constitutes one round, feedback deadlines and additional-revision rates.
- Contract: Payment schedule, cancellation or refund terms, liability, insurance and responsibility for missing or unusable footage. NEEDaFIXER describes deposit, rough-cut approval and final delivery as typical payment stages, but the agreement should state the actual schedule.[5]
- Rights and assets: Ownership or licences for raw footage, music, stock material, graphics, fonts, voice-over and other third-party assets.
- Handoff and storage: Project-file format, linked media, proxies, plug-ins, source-media return, retention period, deletion date, retrieval terms and recovery after retention ends.
- Canadian and destination requirements: Confirm applicable copyright, privacy, accessibility, English and French, broadcaster and platform specifications. The University of Toronto provides general accessibility guidance rather than Canadian legal advice.[6]
Attach the approved quote brief and deliverables schedule to the agreement. Viva recommends documenting deliverables, assumptions and exclusions before work begins and handling later changes separately.[1]
References
- Viva Media | Toronto Video Production Company (vivamedia.ca)
- Video Editing & Post-Production Alberta | Professional Video Post | BOMCAS Media (bomcasmedia.ca)
- Video Post Production – REEL CANADA (reelcanada.ca)
- Post Production Services | Video Post Production | Click Play Films (clickplayfilms.com)
- Post Production Services – Turn Raw Footage into Release-Ready Content (needafixer.com)
- Post-Production: Editing Videos – Introduction to Videos – Research Guides at University of Toronto (utoronto.ca)
