My summary of Scenery before using it – Listening to an episode of the Greymatter podcast, I heard Maya Frai at Greylock Partners describe Scenery as a product that “is bringing much-needed disruption to video editing tools through a collaborative platform.” I therefore expect a tool that makes it easy to collaborate around video, similar to what products like Google Docs or Coda do for documentation.

How does Scenery explain itself in the first minute? – “Make great videos together” is the main strap-line on the homepage of Scenery, followed by an explanation that “Scenery is a collaborative video editor on the web for teams to create, share, review and edit video projects.”

How does Scenery work? – Scenery is a canvas-based video creation and editing tool. Similar to digital collaboration tools like Miro and Figma you can invite teammates to contribute in real-time. The canvas is designed for users to create a storyboard, making it easy to create and move the different video scenes around.

Scenery has a timeline feature where you can easily add scenes and play around with the sequencing. Using common software capabilities like drag and drop, Scenery wants to make the editing process as intuitive as possible.

I’m particularly interested in the collaborative features of Scenery and I like the functionality that enables people to review versions and leave feedback instantly.

Did Scenery deliver on my expectations? – Yes. I can see a clear link between the Scenery product and its intended use cases. For example, agencies and production houses can use Scenery to easily show and work with their clients. Similarly, client reviews are now instant and easy to act upon.

Main learning point: Scenery aims to make video production easier and more collaborative. Scenery’s collaborative features feel like its main differentiator, enabling real-time content collaboration, similar to what we’ve become used to with tools like Figma and Miro.