Best Video Editing Tips for Beginners in 2021
You’ve filmed a movie or shot a video for a vlog to upload on YouTube, and now it’s time to edit them. Editing videos requires a good mix of both creativity and a little bit of technical knowledge.
In this article, we aim to provide helpful information in editing videos to make it much easier and more productive. Here are Video Editing Tips for Beginners in 2021
Video Editing Tips
Making your first video can give you a feeling of struggle. You probably don’t know where to start what are the skills and techniques needed to be successful.
We consider video editing as an art form, so you can do whatever you want as long as it looks good for you and your audience.
Editing is pretty much difficult, especially when you’re not familiar with the tools you are using. However, learning how to edit video content doesn’t have to be difficult, and we’re here to help you.
Choosing Video Editing Software
Once you’ve decided to start creating videos, picking the right video editing software can be overwhelming. With so many choices out there, you want to make sure you make the right decision.
An important thing to consider when buying video editing software is how easy it is for you to learn and become proficient with it.
You also want the software to include lots of tutorials so you can learn each feature.
Tutorials are even more helpful when they can be easily accessed right in the program.
This way you can learn how to use a feature as you edit, maximizing your learning and editing time. One more thing before you take the plunge and buy your video editing software, make sure it can edit the video outputted from your camera.
This is especially important if you plan to edit video from the newest gadgets like drones, action cameras, and 360 cameras. Video quality and formats are constantly evolving and it can sometimes take time for the software to catch up.
Use a Fast Computer
You can choose whatever computer brand or model you want, as long as it’s fast enough. Make sure you can store huge files and allows you to focus more on editing your video without having to worry about slow rendering.
Invest in a fast computer that allows you to access files and software faster, speed up rendering, loading, and exporting time.
Increasing your computer memory (RAM) can also make it faster to at least 8GB if you’re going to be doing heavy editing projects.
You can check with your preferred editing software what are the recommended specs of your computer for it to run smoothly.
Be Organized and Systematic
No matter how fast your computer system and editing software is, you’ll need to organized things in order to make your life easier.
Organizing your projects and files in folders is a way to improve your workflow. Create an easy to access place for your projects, footage, audio files, images, graphics, and some other stuff you need for your project.
You can also free up your computer memory by saving most of your files on the external hard drive.
Make Use of Keyboard Shortcuts
Most editing programs allow you to use keyboard shortcuts to perform a range of in-app editing functions.
Take time to review, memorize, and sometimes customize the different set of shortcuts for software programs like Adobe Premiere Pro.
If you have extra money, you can purchase an editing keyboard that already has keyboard shortcut icons in them. Usually, these are software-specific so you don’t have to worry about compatibility issues with your editing software.
Color Correction
Color is a major design element that can be controlled to highlight sure-fire themes, provoke specific passions, and determined the attitude or atmosphere of your situation.
Fortunately, today’s video editing software yields us a lot of color editing options that used to be only possible with photos.
Most editors do two things: color improvement, to make sure that the color of your footage is consistent in each scene, and shade evaluating, to give your film a different look. Both are essential when you want most of your places to look as realistic as is possible, or to differentiate certain scenes from others.
Transition Effects
You can add a little of transition effects from your video editing program which gives a sense of animation to your video.
When creating or editing a project using a video editor with transitions, you usually create your slides by adding some clips, images, etc.
These slides are displayed one after the other in your preview screen in what can be called a basic transition.
However, basic transitions make your videos look more bland than simple, lacking in sophistication and creativity. This is where transition effects for videos come in. Video editors use transition effects to make video clips move more creatively from one element to another.
Pick a Good Music
Don’t just focus all your attention on the visuals; it should only be as good as your music.
If you’re creating an adventure vlog, for instance, you’ll want just the right music or instrumentals to make key moments to trigger certain emotions from your audience more effectively.
Joyful concept videos can be easy to overdo it with upbeat songs. It may be very difficult, but learning new things can be fun. You can also have a musical scorer to help you take the guesswork out of it.
Before using any music, remember that the safest option is to get music from a royal free music provider. If you have a YouTube video project, you may be able to find free music and sound effects from YouTube Audio Library.
Add Texts and Graphics
Depending on your film type, you may have to include more text aside from the title, opening/closing billboards, and film credits.
Just keep it simple, with a clean font that doesn’t grab too much attention. Have them dissolve in and out, and see how it works for your film.
Most of the editing software includes text templates; you can try and look at what is the best template with the font of your choice.
You can use texts in the entire video if you need but just keep in mind, don’t overuse it.
Export it to the Web
Once your video is done and ready to be exported, most editors export it at the largest video resolution possible.
This is definitely the way to go if it’s going to be played in cinemas and ultra HD screens, but in today’s generation where video projects are usually marketed online, you should also export smaller, high-quality versions.
Create a file that maintains its high quality without making it too heavy for upload and online viewing. Probably you’re not sure about the recommended export settings when uploading your projects, but here are some settings from popular sites like YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo:
Recommended Upload Encoding Settings
Videos have dominated the web for ages, and now uploading videos is necessary for most individuals especially for video marketers.
Here are the top 3 video hosting sites that most people use. Each site recommends different settings for the best results.
Please note that this info is based on their official website as of January 2021
| Upload Settings |
YouTube |
|
Vimeo |
| Audio Codec | AAC-LC (96 kHz) | AAC | AAC-LC (48kHz) |
| Video Codec | H.264 | H.264 | H.264 |
| Supported Frame Rate | 24, 25, 30, 48, 50, 60 fps | 30fps or below | 23, 24, 25,30, 50, 60 fps |
| Bit Rate on Standard Frame Rate | 35-45 Mbps (4k) | N/A | 50-80 Mbps (8k) |
| 8 Mbps (HD) | N/A | 10-20 Mbps (HD) | |
| Audio Bit Rate (Stereo) | 384 Kbps | N/A | 320 Kbps (Recommended) |
| Maximum Resolution | 2160p (4K) | 720p | 4320p (8K) |
The video editing process allows you to look over everything you shot. During filming it is easy to overlook certain shots you are creating because of how fast-paced a film set is.
The editing process lets you carefully review all the contents you have made, and you can formulate a way to put it all together and make some changes to make it looks great.
A well-edited project will be crisp and flow with great precision. All the creative works you have made will shine through after it has all been edited down to its final form.
Video editing is a process on its own and requires great attention to detail. Always aim to get professional results every time.
