Videos do not have an infinite shelf life. Eventually, the information and style of the video will expire or become outdated. But you don’t necessarily have to start over again from scratch—you can repurpose existing creative assets to create a new video that’s fresh, current, and inspiring. How? Just follow these three steps.
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Give it a purpose. Why does your video need a refresh in the first place? Knowing why it needs an update and how the video will be used will help you plan its creative direction, determine the scope of the changes, and identify sources of new content. For example, for the U.S. Coast Guard we created several videos for recruiters to use during virtual events. By using footage we had captured years ago, we could explore new themes without the time and expense of shooting new footage.
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Let your script go. Typically, when you create an original video, your script drives the decisions you make about which footage you shoot. But when you reuse or repurpose existing video content, you’ll inevitably find that certain parts of your existing script just don’t work. Don’t be afraid to reverse engineer your script to align with the video assets you have. Choose several clips that share a similar theme and write your script to fit that theme.
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Give it sparkle. Some videos require subtlety and restraint—but that’s usually not the case when you create something new from something old. Energetic music, engaging transitions, interesting sound design, progressive color correction, and visual effects can give an old video new life. A perfect example of this is when we created a portfolio overview video for ourselves. We pulled out all the stops because this was our time to shine.
If you have videos that are gathering dust on your YouTube channel, contact LMD. We’ll give your videos the glow-up they deserve.
