Calming Bedtime Story Video Editing Needed
Budget: £20 – £250 GBP
PROJECT
15-minute calm bedtime story video edit — slow slideshow + narration + ambient music. First of an ongoing series for a UK kids/family sleep channel.
ABOUT THE CHANNEL
The Hush Wood is a slow, gentle bedtime story brand for children aged 3 to 7 and their grown-ups. Think the pacing of Cozy Nights, Tales of Bedtime, or Stories of Sleep — long holds, almost-still images, a soft narrated story over a quiet ambient bed. The video plays at bedtime and the child falls asleep to it. The goal is calm; the enemy is energy.
WHAT I'LL SEND YOU (Google Drive link on hire)
- 1 mastered narration MP3, approximately 15 minutes, already at -16 LUFS / -1 dB true peak.
- 6 to 10 numbered storybook stills, 1920×1080 or larger PNG, in playback order.
- 1 royalty-free ambient music MP3.
- A scene-order text file and this brief.
WHAT I NEED BACK
- One MP4, 1080p, 16:9, H.264 / AAC, under 1 GB.
- Total length matches the narration plus a 30–45 second fade-to-dark tail at the end.
- No title cards, no end cards, no on-screen text of any kind.
PACING RULES — THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE BRIEF
- Each still must hold on screen for 90 to 180 seconds. Not 5–10.
- Apply a very slow Ken Burns to every still: 2–5% zoom over the full duration. Slight push-in on character shots, slight pan-across on landscape shots. Slow.
- Transitions between stills: 1–2 second crossfade only. No wipes, hard cuts, light leaks, glitch effects, zoom punches, or stylised transitions of any kind.
- The final 30–45 seconds: the last still and the music fade together to black silence.
AUDIO RULES
- Drop the music underneath the narration at approximately -22 LUFS — felt, not heard. Please confirm with a short LUFS reading.
- Do not compress, EQ or further master the narration — it's finished.
- No music swells, no risers, no transitional builds.
VISUAL RULES
- No captions, subtitles, logos, watermarks, motion graphics, particle effects, light leaks or lens flares.
- No colour grading changes between stills. Keep the supplied deep-indigo + amber palette exactly as delivered.
- No additional images or stock footage — only the stills I send.
WHAT KILLS THE GIG
Fast cuts, swelling music, zoom punches, on-screen text, end cards, energetic motion, transitions with sound effects. Anything that would wake a sleeping child.
REFERENCE FOR TONE (not editing style)
Search YouTube for "Cozy Nights", "Tales of Bedtime", or "Stories of Sleep". That's the still, slow, holds-for-minutes pacing I need.
TIMELINE
48 hours from project start.
REVISIONS
1 round included. The most likely revision request is "slow it down further".
BUDGET
£40–£70 for this first edit. £25–£35 per episode after a reusable template is locked from this job — I expect to commission 1–2 episodes per month ongoing if this one lands.
TO APPLY
Please send one timestamped link to a previous slow-paced edit you've worked on — podcast-to-video, meditation, audiobook, or similar. Edits with fast cuts will not be considered.
15-minute calm bedtime story video edit — slow slideshow + narration + ambient music. First of an ongoing series for a UK kids/family sleep channel.
ABOUT THE CHANNEL
The Hush Wood is a slow, gentle bedtime story brand for children aged 3 to 7 and their grown-ups. Think the pacing of Cozy Nights, Tales of Bedtime, or Stories of Sleep — long holds, almost-still images, a soft narrated story over a quiet ambient bed. The video plays at bedtime and the child falls asleep to it. The goal is calm; the enemy is energy.
WHAT I'LL SEND YOU (Google Drive link on hire)
- 1 mastered narration MP3, approximately 15 minutes, already at -16 LUFS / -1 dB true peak.
- 6 to 10 numbered storybook stills, 1920×1080 or larger PNG, in playback order.
- 1 royalty-free ambient music MP3.
- A scene-order text file and this brief.
WHAT I NEED BACK
- One MP4, 1080p, 16:9, H.264 / AAC, under 1 GB.
- Total length matches the narration plus a 30–45 second fade-to-dark tail at the end.
- No title cards, no end cards, no on-screen text of any kind.
PACING RULES — THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE BRIEF
- Each still must hold on screen for 90 to 180 seconds. Not 5–10.
- Apply a very slow Ken Burns to every still: 2–5% zoom over the full duration. Slight push-in on character shots, slight pan-across on landscape shots. Slow.
- Transitions between stills: 1–2 second crossfade only. No wipes, hard cuts, light leaks, glitch effects, zoom punches, or stylised transitions of any kind.
- The final 30–45 seconds: the last still and the music fade together to black silence.
AUDIO RULES
- Drop the music underneath the narration at approximately -22 LUFS — felt, not heard. Please confirm with a short LUFS reading.
- Do not compress, EQ or further master the narration — it's finished.
- No music swells, no risers, no transitional builds.
VISUAL RULES
- No captions, subtitles, logos, watermarks, motion graphics, particle effects, light leaks or lens flares.
- No colour grading changes between stills. Keep the supplied deep-indigo + amber palette exactly as delivered.
- No additional images or stock footage — only the stills I send.
WHAT KILLS THE GIG
Fast cuts, swelling music, zoom punches, on-screen text, end cards, energetic motion, transitions with sound effects. Anything that would wake a sleeping child.
REFERENCE FOR TONE (not editing style)
Search YouTube for "Cozy Nights", "Tales of Bedtime", or "Stories of Sleep". That's the still, slow, holds-for-minutes pacing I need.
TIMELINE
48 hours from project start.
REVISIONS
1 round included. The most likely revision request is "slow it down further".
BUDGET
£40–£70 for this first edit. £25–£35 per episode after a reusable template is locked from this job — I expect to commission 1–2 episodes per month ongoing if this one lands.
TO APPLY
Please send one timestamped link to a previous slow-paced edit you've worked on — podcast-to-video, meditation, audiobook, or similar. Edits with fast cuts will not be considered.