Why Design Teams Get Stuck on Video Projects (and How to Unblock Them)

Video production can sound simple. Even with AI pushing it's capabilities.

“Just animate it.”
“Just make it move.”
“How long could it take?”

And yet, weeks later, you’re still staring at a half-approved ideas, three versions of the script, and a racking up a never ending amount of credits for an AI tool you've barely used trying to prompt your way out of it.

If you’ve ever felt like video projects move slower than literally every other thing your design team touches…

Congrats! You’re normal.

You’re not bad at your job. You are simply trapped inside The Video Stuck Zone™.

Let's put a pin in that terrible name and talk about why this happens, and how to get unstuck without lighting your timeline (or your team) on fire.

The Silent Killer: Video Touches Everything

Unlike static design, video isn’t just “design, but moving.”

Video is:

• Writing

• Strategy

• Storytelling

• Design

• Animation

• Sound

• Accessibility

• Branding

• Distribution planning

• Stakeholder opinions (plural, loud)

Which means video projects fail for the same reason IKEA furniture does: you thought it was one step, but it was actually nineteen.

Design teams get stuck because video exposes every crack in a process that usually works just fine for everything else.

Stuck Point #1: “We’ll Figure the Story Out in Animation”

Ah yes. The Creative Optimist Approach.

This usually sounds like:

“We’ll just start animating and see where it goes.”

This is how you end up animating beautiful nonsense. Which ALOT of marketing does.

When the story isn’t locked early, animation becomes a very expensive brainstorm. Every unresolved message question turns into rework, frustration, and quiet resentment toward the timeline.

To unblock it:
Lock one real goal before anything moves.
Not “explainer.” Not “brand moment.”
Something testable, like:

• Educate new users on one concept

• Get signups

• Support a sales conversation

Strategy clarifies motion, not the other way around.

Stuck Point #2: Too Many Cooks, No Head Chef

Video invites opinions the way wedding cake invites forks.

Suddenly:

• Marketing wants it bolder

• Legal wants it safer

• Leadership wants it shorter

• Design wants it prettier

• Someone from Sales “just had a thought”

And no one actually owns the final call.

The result? Infinite revisions that technically improve everything and emotionally destroy everyone.

To unblock it:
Assign a single decision owner. Not an approver committee. A human being with the authority to say, “This is done.”

Feedback should funnel toward clarity instead of chaos.

Stuck Point #3: Design Perfectionism Meets Timeline Reality

Design teams are trained to refine. Video production punishes over-refinement.

That one transition you’re polishing for half a day? The audience will never notice it because they’re trying to understand the message, check their email, and live their life.

Perfectionism in video makes it unfinished.

To unblock it:
Define what “good” means before production starts:

• Does it need to be award-winning, or clear?

• Internal tool or public campaign?

• Flexible or locked forever?

Video is about momentum. You don’t sculpt every frame. Choose your battles.

Stuck Point #4: No One Planned for QA, Accessibility, or Localization

This is where timelines go to die quietly.

Captions need review.
Audio needs standards.
Colors fail contrast checks.
Localization doubles the work.

None of this is "creative" but all of it is required for scale.

When these steps aren’t planned, they appear late like a surprise bill after the wedding.

To unblock it:
Build QA, accessibility, and localization into the timeline from day one.

They aren’t just add-ons. They’re production phases.

(Also: future-you will be deeply grateful.)

Stuck Point #5: Design Teams Are Already at Capacity

This one’s uncomfortable.

Video doesn’t arrive in a vacuum. It lands on teams that are:

• Already understaffed

• Already context-switching

• Already holding brand consistency together with vibes

Video asks for sustained focus in short bursts. Most in-house teams don’t have that kind of slack built in.

To unblock it:
Be honest about you or your team's bandwidth.

If video is critical, it needs either:

• Fewer internal responsibilities

• External support

• Or realistic expectations

Burnout is not a productivity strategy.

The Real Fix: A Clear Video Process (Yes, You Need One)

Video projects get stuck because video exposes process gaps faster than anything else.

A solid video workflow answers:

• Who owns decisions

• When story is locked

• What “done” actually means

• How feedback moves

• How reuse and future edits are handled

Once those answers exist, video becomes what it should have been all along: a force multiplier.

If you want a reference point, we break down our full animation workflow and process here.

(Not to brag. Just to reduce suffering.)

Final Thought: It’s Not You. It’s the Medium.

If video projects feel harder than they should, even with AI, it’s not because your team is bad.

It’s because video demands:

• Clarity before beauty

• Decisions before polish

• Process before pixels

Get those in place, and suddenly video stops feeling cursed and starts doing what it’s supposed to do: communicate clearly, efficiently, and at scale.

And hey, if you’re stuck right now?
You’re not behind.
You’re just at the part where most teams quietly stall.

We see you.