Navajo Children's Book Translation and Recording

We are seeking an experienced YouTube video and audio editor/post-production professional for a unique educational project involving the Navajo language.

We are working with a client to create a teaching resource based on the Navajo translation of a well-known children’s book. Because Navajo is a complex language and there are relatively few people who are both fluent speakers and comfortable reading written Navajo, the recording will involve multiple Navajo readers rather than a single narrator.

The Project: the book is approximately 225 pages. We anticipate having approximately 20–25 different people, with each person reading roughly 8–10 pages. For reference, the existing English audiobook is approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes long. We expect the Navajo version to be somewhat longer.

All readers will be recorded professionally in a studio, with both video and high-quality audio captured. The readers are native/fluent speakers participating because of their language knowledge and connection to the project; they are not professional actors or audiobook narrators.

The finished piece will serve as an educational and language-learning resource alongside a teacher toolkit and written Navajo translation.

What We Need

We are looking for someone who can take footage from multiple recording sessions/readers and turn it into a professional, cohesive long-form audio/video presentation.

The work would likely include:
* Editing footage from approximately 20–25 individual readers into one seamless presentation
* Cleaning, balancing, and standardizing audio so that changes between speakers are not distracting
* Color correction and visual consistency across recordings
* Removing false starts, pauses, obvious mistakes, setup moments, and unnecessary dead space
* Creating smooth transitions when one reader hands the story off to another
* Maintaining consistent pacing throughout a potentially 2.5–3+ hour finished program
* Incorporating occasional graphics, titles, illustrations, or visual overlays
* Potentially displaying artwork from the book when appropriate
* Creating tasteful visual transitions or identifiers when the reader changes
* Ensuring that the finished product feels intentional and engaging rather than simply like a series of individual studio recordings
* Preparing final files in appropriate formats for digital/educational distribution

We are particularly interested in an editor who understands storytelling and pacing and can work with people who may not have polished on-camera delivery. The goal is not to make the readers feel like professional actors; it is to preserve the authenticity of their voices while producing something that feels polished, respectful, and easy for children and educators to follow.

Important Considerations

You do not need to speak Navajo. However, because the editor will not necessarily understand the spoken language, we will need to develop a clear workflow for identifying pages/sections, approved takes, reader changes, and any corrections.

Attention to organization will therefore be extremely important.

You should be comfortable working with:
* Long-form video
* Multi-speaker or multi-narrator projects
* Educational or documentary-style content
* Graphic overlays and titles
* Large quantities of source footage
* Detailed editing notes and file organization

Experience with documentaries, oral-history projects, educational media, language-learning content, or multi-camera/multi-speaker productions would be especially relevant.

Confidentiality
This project involves copyrighted and not-yet-released materials. The selected freelancer will be required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) before receiving project files or other confidential materials.

All source materials and finished work will remain the property of the client/project.

When Responding Please Tell Us:
1. About any similar long-form, audiobook, documentary, educational, or multi-speaker projects you have edited.
2. How you would approach creating consistency across recordings involving 20–25 different readers.
3. How you would handle editing spoken material in a language you do not understand when page numbers, scripts, and editorial notes are supplied.
4. What software you typically use for audio and video post-production.
5. Whether you handle both audio cleanup/mixing and video editing yourself.
6. Whether you can incorporate supplied illustrations and simple motion graphics/titles.
7. How you would recommend structuring a project of this size for review and approval—for example, completing sections or chapters before assembling the entire program.
8. Your estimated pricing structure for a project of this nature. Please indicate whether you recommend an hourly rate, project rate, or milestone-based approach.

Please include links to 2–3 examples of your work that are most relevant to this project. We are more interested in seeing examples demonstrating strong storytelling, dialogue editing, long-form pacing, and professional audio than flashy promotional videos.

This is an unusual project, but also a meaningful one. We are looking for an editor who will approach the material thoughtfully and help us develop the best post-production workflow as the project progresses.