How do you get client feedback on the exact frame of a video?
Send the client a link they can play in a browser and let them write each note on the frame they are watching, so every comment carries its own timecode. That ends the guesswork of notes like “the bit near the end”. The best setups put those notes straight onto the editor’s timeline, so nothing is retyped and nothing is lost when the cut changes.
Most feedback goes wrong before anyone disagrees about the edit. A client writes “can we lose the shot after the logo?” in an email, and the editor spends ten minutes working out which logo and which shot. Multiply that by forty notes and a review round can cost a day.
The fix is simple to describe. Every note should be attached to the frame the person was looking at when they wrote it.
How to set up frame-accurate feedback
- Send something they can play without installing anything. A link that opens in a browser gets more replies than a file they have to download. Clients rarely have the right player, and they should not need one.
- Make the note land on the frame. When the reviewer pauses and types, the note should record exactly where they paused. Timecode typed by hand is better than nothing, but people mistype it and players disagree about where a clip starts.
- Show timecode on screen if you must send a file. A burned-in timecode window lets the client read the position off the picture. Ask them to quote it with every note.
- Ask for one note per thought. A single paragraph with six changes in it is hard to tick off. Six short notes are easy.
- Keep the notes next to the cut. Notes that live in an inbox get copied into a list, then into the timeline by hand. Every copy is a chance to put a note in the wrong place.
- Mark notes as done, rather than deleting them. When the client asks “did you change that?”, you want to show them the note and the answer together.
What to tell the client
Keep the instructions short. Pause where you want the change and write what you want. Then keep watching. Tell them they do not need to describe where they are, because the note already knows. Most people find this easier than writing an email, and you get more precise notes as a result.
How B/side handles it
You share a link from B/side. Your client or producer opens it in their browser and writes a note on the frame they are looking at. The note appears on your timeline as a mark, and in the Notes panel, on that frame.
An edit never deletes a note. If you trim the shot the note was on, the note is still there for you to answer. Notes can be edited and resolved, so a round of changes ends with a clear record of what was asked and what was done.
Reviewers and clients who only watch and give notes are never charged. Sharing and notes need the Studio plan or higher.
When something else is better
If your edit lives in another editor and you are not planning to move it, a review tool that works with that editor is the sensible choice. The principle is the same wherever you cut. Get the note onto the frame, and keep it next to the timeline.
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