In short
- Check the picture: black or frozen frames, offline media, watermarks, safe zones, first and last frames.
- Check every word on screen against the script.
- Check the sound: clipping, music over speech, jumps in loudness.
- Let automatic checks do the first pass, then watch once as a viewer.
Picture
- Black or frozen frames between clips.
- Offline or missing media (the red “media offline” frame).
- Stock or plugin watermarks left in.
- Text and faces inside the safe zones for where it will be seen, including a phone.
- Flash frames at cut points, and the very first and last frames.
Words on screen
- Spelling and names in titles, lower thirds and captions.
- Text cut off by the edge of the frame.
- Numbers and dates that match the script.
Sound
- Clipped or distorted lines.
- Music that drowns out speech.
- Sudden jumps in loudness between sections.
- Silence where there should be room tone.
Let a machine do the first pass
Looking for black frames and typos by eye is slow and easy to get wrong late at night. On post-prod.io every upload is measured for black flashes, media offline frames and clipped audio, free on every plan, and a separate, capped AI pass also looks for typos on screen and trial watermarks. Each find sits on the frame where it happens, so people spend their review on the parts that need judgement.
Then watch it as a viewer
- 1Watch the whole cut once at normal speed, on the screen most people will use.
- 2Leave a note on the frame for anything that pulls you out of it.
- 3Check the start: does the first few seconds earn the next minute?
- 4Check the end screen and the last frame before export.
Questions
What are the most common mistakes in a published video?
Typos on screen, a black frame between clips, media left offline, watermarks from stock or trial plugins, and clipped audio. Black flashes, offline media and clipped audio can be measured automatically; typos and watermarks need a closer look, which an AI pass can help with.