How To Edit Videos As A Beginner

If you are new to video making, the whole process of editing a video can seem a bit overwhelming at first. Being an amateur at something is hard, but all the efforts you put in will be worth it when it comes to video editing. With patience and the right amount of practice, anyone can master the art of video editing. You’ll just need to learn the principles and techniques and practice sufficiently to improve with time.

The first and foremost thing required for video editing is a creative mind that has a story to tell each time. With online video editors, editing is becoming fun, and simple and almost anyone can ace them with practice. That’s why your thoughts must be different and stand out from the crowd as a video editor. To amaze the audience each time with your creativity and skills, here’s a complete guide on how to edit a video.

Use the Right Tools

Once you have your footage ready and you are all set for editing, it’s time to find an editor that suits your editing style. This step will have an impact on your overall editing journey, so you need to make the decision wisely. If you were thinking of buying video editing software all these days, think again.

The options are endless – now, you will find numerous helpful video editors online that will make your journey as a beginner smooth and fun. It’s not always necessary to spend money on expensive options. In fact, expensive editing tools can often be more challenging to figure out. Video editing is no longer constrained to high-end computers. You can edit a good video just by using your smartphone now. So, looking up to an online video editor is an excellent way to start.

Make a Plan

A productive video editing session begins with a good plan. We all know how tiring of a task video editing is. However, if you plan out the process beforehand, it won’t seem burdensome. A good video editor is always familiar with the footage they are using and knows what outcome they want from the footage. So, have a vision and find out what exactly you want to accomplish with the video you will make.

A good video needs to have a message for the audience. Focus on the message, which will keep you moving forward with the editing process. While reviewing the footage, grab a notebook and pen and write down all the highlights of the videos with a timestamp so that you can find them easily when you need them. You’ll save so much time while editing if you take this part seriously.

Create a Basic Timeline

Now that you have a proper plan in place, you can start editing by placing the raw video clips you want to use in your video in the editor. While doing this, make sure you follow a timeline. In this part, you will need to sequence the raw clips in the order you want to see them in to shape up your video. The timeline is a chronological sequence of the video clips that make up for the final video and give you an idea of the outcome.

Begin Editing Your Video

Once you have all the raw video clips in the right place, you can begin to manipulate and edit them into an engaging video. Video editing is a reductive process sometimes because you need to remove content to clarify the meaning of the video. One of the most common tools used in online video editors is the blade tool. This tool lets you cut portions of raw video clips not required in the outcome.

To master this part, you will need to follow the rough cut and fine cut. In the process of rough cut, trim the video clips by grabbing and dragging their heads and tails. It’s smarter to use multiple instances of the same clip rather than splitting them in this case. After that, you can trim each instance according to the part of the clip you want to use in the edit.

Now, you can get back through the clips and make fine cuts to make the video look seamless. This will make the storytelling better, and the audience will understand the essence of your video.

Splitting Clips

Another important step for amateur video editors is splitting the clips into segments. A single video clip is likely to have two points, and showing these two points may not always make the best sense. However, the moment may be too precious to lose.

In that case, splitting the clip and considering each subsequent portion as its own clip is a wise decision because this way, the clips can be sequenced into the overall narrative where each of the clips fits perfectly.

Cutting Down

As a beginner, it may seem that all the footage that you have recorded is an important part of a video. But the truth is, quantity does not equal quality in the world of video editing, and the key to excel is to use less to show more. So at first, you will add the clips you want in your video and then refine the edit by removing clips that are not adding value to your video.

This part repeats throughout the editing process, so, as you edit your video, always look for ways to cut it down to the core parts. Doing this will make the video way more engaging to the audience and help them get the message clearly.

Finishing

Once you are done with all the parts mentioned above and happy with the results so far, it’s time to finish the edit. This process creates the final product that can be shared with the audience. The finishing stage requires colour grading and correction. You’ll also need to add sound effects, graphics, etc., afterward to finish off.

Audio

All your hard work will look even more appealing to the audience if the music selection of the video is proper. So, put time into choosing the right music for your video. To find ‘the one’ for your videos every time, you need to understand the vibe of your video and find it accordingly. If the video you have made is cheerful, upbeat music is the best fit because it’s going to make the video appear even better to the audience.

However, there’s one very important thing to remember – always ensure that the music you are going to use in your video is free of copyright. There are so many websites available online that will help you find great music for your videos. Take your time to find the best fit for your creation.

Graphics

Graphics is very helpful for those times when you want to convey information to the viewers. So, make sure that your graphics are well designed and easy to understand. Keep the background colour in mind while creating the graphics so that they blend in with your video properly.

Final Output

And the final step to finishing off a video is outputting it for delivery. Nowadays, most videos are posted on social media platforms, and for that reason, online video editors come with output presets that are specifically designed for posting to social media. Few editors even upload the video for the user once they receive the output.

Conclusion

Video editing is a very vital skill to have these days because videos are ruling all over the internet. Most marketing strategists are using videos to boost their sales, and they are always in need of a good video maker who will understand their brands and make videos for them accordingly. Sharpen up your skills using an online video editor with the steps mentioned above, and you’ll be unstoppable.