Guide to get started in video editing as a beginner

Posted by Ema Smith on August 15th, 2018

Did you decide to make your own videos? Maybe you want to start on Youtube? The video editing can also be a sacred + on your CV, especially in the field of communication! Welcome to the non-impenetrable, but magical ways of video editing, we will give you all the tips to get started! 

Video editing is selecting, editing, processing, and assembling multiple video clips to make a coherent and continuous whole, which will be your final video.

This is one of the essential steps of post-production. Even if you are not a professional video editor, you can still shoot and edit very good videos thanks to the existence of video editing online devices and software. Really powerful.

Before to climb

Creation

Try as much as you can to imagine what you want as a final result. Even before you turn, make a little storyboard where you draw the plans you want and try to keep as much as possible.

During the filming, think well of the specificities of filming like the rule of thirds and the insurmountable line of 180 degrees. In short, the rule of thirds is to place characters, important objects or any other key element on imaginary lines that divide the image into equal parts. These lines should be placed at horizontal and vertical thirds. They are called the lines of force and their intersections of strengths.

When filming, you must never cross the line of sight between two characters, in order to preserve the spatial coherence between the shots; otherwise, the spectator is totally lost. This is called the 180-degree rule. Once your shots are made, make sure you get them right - select the sequences to use during editing, called rushes and transfer them to the editing platform - and they are just like what you had imagined.

Importing

It is now time to import your videos into your editing software. The videos and sounds are as they were recorded during your shoot, which you can then change as you please. If your videos are not compatible with your software, you can always convert them to the correct format and it will be good!

Changing plans through transitions

Start by putting on your timeline the videos that you selected during your tour and stick them side by side. Often the plans are not enough for themselves and you will have to make some cuts using the Blade or Cutter tool that you will place where you want to cut your plan.

You can then make your little Micmac by adding video or sound effects, transitions, make your color settings, add images, logos...

There are really a lot of transitions, but in general, we use only 3:

• The dissolve that suggests the dream. This transition can make a strong impression in emotionally intense scenes.
• The fade to black that evokes a temporal or spatial ellipse. It is often used between 2 scenes for example.
• The straightforward transition in decision makings without any transitional effects. It suggests a continuity in time and space.

The sound of your video

You can then take care of the sound of your video. You hear noises that you could do without? The buzzing, crackling in the background? You can get rid of it! You can do your adjustments by hand, but I strongly advise you to turn to noise removal plug-ins. On some software like Final Cut Pro X for example, there is an improvement of the automatic audio, sometimes very practical. For that, think well to split the video of the sound to be able to work on one independently of the other.

You can also add sound effects that you can download quite easily. If your video has a voiceover thinks to check that it is clear and that the volume is high enough, but without being saturated. Same with the music. It has a lot of influence and impact on the viewer. Choose a free one if you want to host it on YouTube or use it for business purposes, and have fun with this music to mix it with your editing and make it even more impactful.