One of the first realizations you will have about video editing is that it can be slow and laborious. There really is no getting around that but of course when you have finished and produced the final video file it all seems worth it.
The key to reducing the mind numbing effects of video editing lies in your ability to be organized. Vast amounts of time and effort can be saved by doing a little work before you get started.
Before you even begin shooting have a plan. This can range from having a completed script and a shot list on a storyboard down to at least having some clue as to how you want the finished product to look like or even be about! You can also take a look here for a summary of some good video shooting tips that additionally help in staying organized and on track.
The main point here is to always shoot your footage with editing and the final result in mind.
If you haven’t already now would a good time to create an outline of your video and the story you will be telling. Use this as a constant reference as you edit. This will help you to stay focused on what you are doing and where you are within the process as you go along. It prevents you from drifting off from your intended story line or message.
The second point of organization is that of getting your video clips, audio clips, music, images or whatever into the various libraries of your video editing software. Do this before you even begin to edit and get everything named with easily recognizable file titles so you can quickly find what you are looking for.
Using your shot list or rough outline, go through all your video assets to eliminate the junk you will not be using. There is nothing that will suck the time out of your life and take the fun out of editing more than having to constantly scroll though a gazillion useless video clips to find the one you want.
Once you have all if that organized you can begin editing. When you first open your video editing software make sure you have set the project properties of the project to suit the video file format you are using. This will save time and confusion at the end of the process when rendering to a new file.
Most modern video editing programs these days are already laid out in a manner to follow the most effective work-flow for video editing and generally you are best to follow it.
First comes the video file editing itself which is simply a matter of adding clips to the time-line in sequence according to your plan for the video (You have a plan right?)
At this stage it is best to get everything roughly added to the time-line with each individual clip trimmed to approximately where you want it.
Next you can add (or not add) transitions between those clips for scene changes and cuts. Remember that a transition is going to absorb a second or so of the clip so get this done now otherwise the timing of audio will get thrown out if you add them later. Just keep in mind that a transition is designed to further the story, not to BE the story.
Now you can add audio to the time-line and begin tweaking everything to sync correctly and do what you want it to do. There is no getting around the finicky nature of this part of the process. You will have to shave a second here, add a second there, shift this forward on the time-line and move that back a little until you have it right… that’s editing!
Once the entire project is playing exactly how you want it you can add titles and again most modern video editing software has good titling capabilities to make this very simple.
Finally you will have to render your project to a completed file. Remember that until this point all your editing decisions have been “virtual” and your original files remain completely untouched.
In rendering all you have to do is to decide what format you want the final output to be in and let the software do the rest. The format itself will depend on whether you want to make a DVD, a Blu-ray disc, upload to YouTube or attach it to an email and send it to friends.
The range of possibilities here is huge so it is well worth doing a little research to find the best options for your project and writing them down somewhere for reference.
As a final note the best video editing software will also offer an audio “Normalization” feature at this point which you can use to get consistent audio levels for throughout the video you have produced. This is particularly handy if you have sourced audio from different places.
Of course this is not all there is to video editing by a long shot but if you at least get started using these tips and try to keep learning and practicing the whole process gets to be fun and a great outlet for your creative juices!
Go crazy!
