Tips and tricks on Video Editing

This article will show you eight essential video editing tips and tricks:

1. Detach yourself from the content

This is especially true when you are editing your own work. You slaved away writing, directing, and shooting the film and now it is your baby that you don’t want to mess with. In order to be an effective editor, you must look at the piece from an objective angle or else you will restrict your editing choices and possibly sacrifice the quality of the final piece.

2. Tighten your edit

You may have worked hard on those several seconds of clouds, or bizarre color-cycling patterns, or whatever, but the rest of us are going to be bored watching it and may very well click away and watch someone else’s video. Make things happen all the time. Give us a title card on the screen, or come on and talk, or cut to the next thing, but do it quickly. Here’s a guideline: once the content for that part of the video is finished, start counting. If you can count higher than 1 before the next part of the video, edit it down! Exceptions might be a pause for comic or dramatic effect, but don’t pause too long.

3. Make text readable

White or yellow text on a light video doesn’t do it; select a contrasting color. Take advantage of whatever features your software might have, such as outline or drop-shadow, to make it stand out from the background. And if it’s going on YouTube, remember that they’ll compress the bejeezus out of your video so make the text sufficiently large, too.

4. Experiment

Now that pretty much all editing is done on non-linear editing systems like Final Cut Pro and Avid, editors are free to try new things and they should. For example, when I edit in Final Cut I will often come up with an idea that might completely redo the whole sequence I have been working on. In this case, I will just copy the original sequence and then I have a saved version and I am free to hack up the new sequence and see where I end up.

5. Don’t Be Afraid To Cut

This ties into the first two tips. If something does not work in your sequence, get rid of it. I can think of countless examples when there was a bad take or line that made me cringe and I did not think it was possible to get rid of it. Once I took the leap of faith and cut that out, creativity took control of the rest and made the sequence work. You will feel better as an editor and the final product will be greatly improved if you cut the things that don’t work no matter how attached you may be to them (see tip #1).

6. Cut out the “fillers.”

These are words like “uh,” “um,” and “you know.” Sure, there’ll be a little jump-cut in your video, but that’s not as distracting as those filler words. Your video will go faster, and you’ll sound smarter, too. You can do very quick crossfades instead of jump-cuts if they bother you. Oh, and drop the volume if you cough or clear your throat. We don’t want to listen to that.

7. Share Rough Cuts

It is crucial to step away from the work and allow someone else to look at it. Whether this is your producer or your buddy, either way you get a fresh perspective. Often you will work on a project for so long that you don’t know which way is up and an outsiders perspective helps you notice things you may have missed. A second opinion also gives you a better idea of where you are in the overall process.

8. Attention to Detail

Every frame counts. When you watch a sequence and something doesn’t seem right or it doesn’t quite fit, moving or cutting a clip a couple frames here and there often makes a world of difference. This also applies to the content within the clip. You should try and pay attention to everything going on in the frame because it affects the viewing experience whether or not the audience notices it at first.

There are some specially good effects will improve your video editing, Just enjoy your video editing!