Editing to a video creator is like planting a chef. The content falls flat on its face when the presentation fails to impress the viewer or the customer. Fret not if you are a beginner at creating quality videos, as these professional editing tips and techniques will take you a long way. With the aid of innumerable applications at your disposal, you can achieve elevated results and dodge typical pitfalls.
Bearing a few simple tips in mind can enable you to furnish your video with eye-catching edits that have a high chance of making an impression on your audience. Read on to become a pro at the art of video editing.
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Opt For A Suitable Software
Thorough preparation is half the battle won. Getting your hands on the best tools available eases your burden a great deal. The internet offers countless applications from which you can make a choice. While the limitless options provide you with an abundant choice, it also makes it tough to settle down with one.
However, going with popular options like Adobe, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Final Cut Pro is a great idea if you are a quick learner. While these professional options are complex to understand and use, they eliminate the limitations of their simplified counterparts like Premiere Elements and iMovie. You can pick an editor that suits your preferences by applying the trial and error method.
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Cut The Chase
The primary challenge your video must stand up to is to retain the interest of your audience throughout its duration. The fast-moving lives and short-lived attention span of people have given rise to short videos and brief written content. We all have heard of Inshorts and TikTok that furnish crisp written and audio-visual content respectively to their audience.
By simply cutting out on any unnecessary and extrinsic portion of your video, you can improve the flow, reduce the duration, and have a better chance at holding on to your viewer’s attention.
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Avoid A Monotonous Speaker
Having a blabbermouth go on and on will chase your viewers away. Avoid a static speaker, and make sure to cut to other visuals to bring diversity into your video. A great way to incorporate relevant visuals is to illustrate what you are talking about in the background. It not only improves the pace of the action but also intrigues your audience to continue watching.
In the case of an interview, cutting away from the person talking to another individual who gives a significant non-verbal reaction can add to your video’s appeal.
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Pay Attention To Color!
Color correction and color grading are two color editing processes that play a vital role in creating an appealing video. While color correction provides a sense of consistency to your graphics, color grading brings in an eye-catching look to your video. Different angle shots with varying lighting conditions, when put together, lead to an exasperating result. In such cases, color correction through brightness and contrast adjustments saves the day.
However, you can further enhance your video by experimenting with color grading options, giving your video a colder or warmer tone.
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Audio-visual Synchronization Is Key
Another pro tip that will elevate your video is to add quality audio to the visuals. A good soundtrack is noticeable yet not distracting at the same time. A rookie mistake most newcomers make is failure to synchronize the cuts and transitions with the background music. With the aid of a suitable online video editor, add markers to the peaks of the music in your video where cuts do not seem unpleasant. Adding transitions to ideal points facilitates a smooth, professional flow in your video.
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Ditch Static Cuts
An additional point of consideration is steering clear of sudden irksome cuts on the action of the videos. Bringing together two camera angles can be a tricky job. Mid-action shifts are an efficient way to put together different angle shots. A cut from one angle to another when things are static may not be pleasant for the viewer and disturb the visual flow. An easy alternative is to start with a wide-angle and quickly cut to a close-up. This ensures a pleasant viewing experience for your audience.
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Stabilize Your Audio
A video with steeply fluctuating audio will drive away its audience. This is a matter of primary concern, especially in videos incorporating several clips. Imbalance in the audio levels of these clips can lead to an unpleasant viewing experience. Making sure the speech in your video is not overpowered by the music is another factor to be mindful of. A feasible option is to lower the music volume while a person speaks.
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Don’t Forget The Rights!
A common mistake among video editors and creators is using copyrighted music in their videos. Social networking sites are becoming increasingly strict in this aspect. Videos that use music without appropriate rights are immediately taken down. Thus, checking your rights requires due consideration as you do not want your handwork going down the drain for a mistake as silly as this.
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Prioritize Your Story
The placement of your shots and the choice of your effects and transitions should all have the sole objective of delivering a complete and wholesome story. Your wise choices can have your message put across to the audience with clarity. Documentaries, short films, product-selling, and political interviews, all videos tell a story. The delivery of this story must be the primary motive of all editing techniques employed in the video-making process.
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Have Your Own Back(Up)
The worst nightmares of a video editor come to life when he fails to save his work, owing to a number of reasons. Unprecedented power cuts, app crashes, drive troubles, and other distractions can lead to such circumstances. An auto-save feature in your online video editor is a lifesaver!
Another wise step one should take is creating multiple backups. This way, if one copy is lost, a different copy saves you from losing all your work. Thus, disaster management requires due consideration.
Conclusion
The task of editing a video is undoubtedly complex, but I don’t have cold feet yet. With a plethora of editing tools at your disposal, your job is significantly simplified. A multitude of techniques and tools available online ease the process and enhance the result. All your efforts bear fruit when the final product is breathtakingly brilliant.
The satisfaction of creating a top-tier video is unparalleled. With these tips and techniques put to practice, you are close to becoming a pro editor in no time.
