There's a gap between the video you imagine and the first cut editors deliver. The gap isn't editor talent. It's that you're writing instructions for a feeling editors have never seen. The Examples field in your edit request is the one place where you can hand them shared visual language to work from, so don't leave it blank - take advantage of it!
Pro tip: Drop a link to a video you love before you write a single line of instructions. The link does more work than any paragraph you can type.
Why written direction isn't enough
"Punchy, modern, professional" means six different things to six different editors. Words describe a feeling without showing one. A link to a video that captures the exact tone you want skips the interpretation step. Editors don't have to guess what "punchy" means to you. They can see it.
Pick the example before you write any notes
Scroll LinkedIn, YouTube, or Instagram before you open the edit request. Find a video that captures the feel you want, even if it's a competitor. The closer the example matches the substance of your video, the less editors have to translate. A 90-second explainer about software pairs better with another 90-second explainer than with a polished brand film. Then paste the link into the Examples field. Multiple links are fine, but keep it to two or three favorites.
Tell editors what you actually like about it
A link by itself is half the brief. The other half is naming what specifically pulled you in. Was it the pacing, the cuts, the energy, the tone, the way the speaker sounds, the way the camera moves? Put that in Additional Notes. "I love the fast cuts and the way it never lingers on a slide longer than three seconds" is direction editors can act on.
Name the music with specificity
"Upbeat" is the most useless word in any edit brief. Editors will pick from a library of ten thousand upbeat tracks and one of them will be wrong. "Warm acoustic guitar with a soft kick drum" or "driving punchy lo-fi with no vocals" gives editors a real target. Genre. Instruments. Energy level. The more specific the description, the closer the first cut.
Pro tip: AI chats are great at naming music from videos - try asking Gemini.
Describe the feeling you want at the end
Editors interpret tone from the closing seconds backwards. If you want viewers to feel curious, say so. If you want them to feel inspired to book a demo, say so. If you want them to laugh, say so. Editors take inspiration and interpret direction. They can land very close to your example, but they won't copy it one for one. Naming the emotional payoff keeps the cut honest to what you're actually trying to accomplish.
Try it this week
Open MarketScale, start an edit request, and before you write anything else, paste a video link into Examples. Then in Additional Notes, write one sentence on what you love about it, one sentence on the music, and one sentence on the feeling you want at the end. The first cut will come back closer to what you imagined than anything you'd describe with adjectives.