10 Video Editing Tips EVERY Editor Should Know!

Summary

In this informative video, Steve from Learn Online Video shares 10 essential video editing tips for enhancing the visual appeal and storytelling of your footage. From organizing assets to creative speed ramps and the Ken Burns effect, the tutorial covers a range of techniques including sound effects, music integration, and transitions. It also highlights the use of J and L cuts, templates, jump cuts, and the importance of music editing. Sponsored by Epidemic Sound for music and sound effects, the video is a comprehensive guide for editors seeking to improve their craft.

Takeaways

• 😀 Editing is essential for enhancing the look of your footage, allowing for creative transitions, sound effects, color grading, and stylization.
• 📂 Organizing your footage and assets is crucial for efficiency, regardless of the project size, and can be tailored to individual workflow preferences.
• 🔄 Speed ramps are used to gradually accelerate or decelerate a clip, creating a smoother transition to focal points and enhancing viewer engagement.
• 📷 The Ken Burns effect adds dynamism to static shots by zooming in during the edit, guiding the viewer's eye and drawing them into the scene.
• 🎵 Sound effects can significantly elevate the production value of footage, making mundane actions more interesting and engaging.
• 🎶 Music has a profound impact on setting the mood and atmosphere of a video, influencing audience perception and storytelling.
• 🔄 Transitions are techniques used to move the audience from one shot to another, with various styles available to serve different storytelling purposes.
• ⏯ J cuts and L cuts are audio techniques used in film and TV to join clips together, creating a seamless audio flow before or after the visual change.
• 📑 Templates and presets offer a time-saving shortcut in video editing, providing pre-built effects and elements that can be easily customized.
• 🕺 The jump cut is a technique to add pace by cutting out unnecessary visuals and audio, making the video more engaging and dynamic.
• ⏸ Knowing how to shorten music tracks is an important skill for editors, allowing for the creation of concise versions that fit the video's narrative and platform requirements.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video presented by Steve?

The main focus of the video is to provide 10 video editing tips that every editor should know to improve the look and storytelling of their footage.

Why is organizing footage and assets important in video editing?

Organizing footage and assets is crucial for an efficient workflow, making it easy to find and work with all the necessary elements for a project.

What is a speed ramp and how can it be used in video editing?

A speed ramp is a technique where a clip's speed is gradually increased or decreased instead of an abrupt change, used to reach focal points faster or to add a creative touch to a scene.

How can motion blur be added in post-production to make speed ramps look more natural?

Motion blur can be added in post-production by using specific effects that simulate the blur created by fast camera movements, making the speed ramp appear more realistic.

What is the Ken Burns effect and how does it enhance a static shot?

The Ken Burns effect is a technique where you zoom into a static shot during editing, bringing it to life by guiding the viewer's eye and drawing them into the scene.

What role do sound effects play in video editing and how can they be used?

Sound effects can enhance a video by adding drama, creating transitions, or making ordinary actions more interesting, thus increasing the production value and audience engagement.

How does music impact the mood and storytelling of a video?

Music sets the atmosphere, changes the mood, and influences audience reactions, helping to tell a better story and evoke specific emotions.

What are transitions in video editing and why are they important?

Transitions are techniques used to move the audience from one shot to another. They are important for storytelling and can be simple or creative, depending on the context.

What are j cuts and l cuts, and how are they used in video editing?

J cuts and l cuts are audio techniques used to join two clips together. A j cut plays the audio of the second clip before it appears on screen, while an l cut carries the audio of the first clip into the second.

Why are templates and presets useful in video editing?

Templates and presets are useful as they save time and effort by providing pre-made effects, logos, openers, and color grading options that can be easily customized and added to a project.

What is a jump cut and how does it add pace to a video?

A jump cut is a technique where you cut out the boring parts of visuals and audio, making the action appear to leap forward in time, thus adding more pace and keeping the video interesting.

How can an editor shorten a music track to fit a video sequence?

An editor can manually shorten a music track by cutting it to the desired length and ensuring it ends with the natural conclusion of the track, even if the video sequence is shorter.

Outlines

00:00

🎬 Essential Video Editing Tips

This paragraph introduces the video's purpose: to provide 10 essential video editing tips for enhancing the visual appeal and storytelling of footage. The speaker, Steve from Learn Online Video, emphasizes the importance of editing in creating transitions, adding sound effects, color grading, and stylizing footage. The video is sponsored by Epidemic Sound, which provides the music and sound effects used. The first tip discussed is organizing footage and assets for efficient editing workflow.

05:02

🛠️ Creative Editing Techniques

This section covers advanced editing techniques like speed ramps, which involve gradually speeding up or slowing down a clip for creative effect, and the Ken Burns effect, which adds zoom to static shots to make them more dynamic. The speaker also addresses the importance of motion blur for realism and demonstrates how to add it. Sound effects are highlighted as a way to enhance storytelling and viewer engagement, with a recommendation to maintain a sound effects archive for quick access. The paragraph concludes with a mention of the search capabilities and variety of sound effect categories available on Epidemic Sound.

10:04

🎵 The Power of Music and Sound Effects

The role of music in video editing is explored, explaining how it can set the mood, create atmosphere, and influence audience perception. The speaker suggests having a diverse music archive for different editing needs and praises Epidemic Sound for its extensive library and ease of use. The impact of music on a scene is illustrated by contrasting the same clip with different music tracks, showing how it can drastically change the narrative. The paragraph also touches on the benefits of a free trial and a discount offer for Epidemic Sound's annual personal plan.

✂️ Transitions and Audio Techniques

This paragraph discusses various types of video transitions, such as straight cuts and cross dissolves, and encourages viewers to experiment with them for creative storytelling. J-cuts and L-cuts are introduced as professional techniques used in TV shows and films to join clips using audio, with examples provided to illustrate their effect. The importance of using these audio techniques to enhance the narrative and keep the audience engaged is emphasized.

🚀 Boosting Efficiency with Templates and Jump Cuts

The use of templates and presets in video editing is presented as a time-saving strategy that can elevate the production quality of videos. Examples include pre-built logos, openers, lower thirds, and color grading LUTs. The paragraph also introduces jump cuts as a method for adding pace by eliminating unnecessary visuals and audio, providing examples to demonstrate how they can make a video more engaging and dynamic.

⏰ Editing Music to Fit Your Sequence

The final tip focuses on the skill of shortening music tracks to fit the length of a video sequence, particularly for platforms like Instagram. The speaker explains a manual method for creating a shortened version of a track that ends naturally, using Adobe Premiere Pro's remix feature as an alternative. The importance of ending a sequence or video with the conclusion of the track for a polished result is highlighted, and viewers are encouraged to explore more about video editing and sound design through the provided resources.

Keywords

💡Editing

Editing is the process of selecting and combining raw footage into a coherent sequence for a film or video. In the context of the video, editing is crucial for improving the look of footage, creating transitions, adding sound effects, color grading, and stylizing the content. The script mentions various editing techniques such as speed ramps and the Ken Burns effect, which are used to enhance the storytelling and visual appeal of the video.

💡Transitions

Transitions in video editing refer to the techniques used to move the viewer's eye from one shot to another. They can be as simple as a straight cut or more complex, like a cross dissolve, which blends two shots together. The script emphasizes the importance of meaningful transitions that serve a storytelling purpose, illustrating this with examples such as a basic cut and a cross dissolve to represent the passing of time.

💡Speed Ramps

Speed ramps are a video editing technique where a clip's speed is gradually increased or decreased rather than changing abruptly. The script uses the example of a drone shot of Paris to demonstrate how a speed ramp can help reach the focal point of a scene more quickly, thus maintaining viewer engagement and adding a dynamic element to the footage.

💡Motion Blur

Motion blur is a visual effect that occurs when an object in motion is captured in a still image or video, creating a sense of speed and smoothness. In the script, it is mentioned that adding motion blur to speed ramps can make the rapid movement of a camera more natural-looking, enhancing the realism of the footage.

💡Ken Burns Effect

The Ken Burns effect is a video editing technique where a still image is zoomed and panned to give the illusion of movement. The script describes how this effect can bring a static shot to life, guiding the viewer's eye and drawing them into the scene, thus adding dynamism to what would otherwise be a static and less engaging shot.

💡Sound Effects

Sound effects are audio elements added in post-production to enhance the mood, atmosphere, or narrative of a video. The script highlights the versatility of sound effects, such as using a whoosh to transition between clips or to add drama, and emphasizes the importance of having an archive of sound effects for quick access during the editing process.

💡Music

Music in video editing plays a significant role in setting the tone, mood, and atmosphere of a scene. The script illustrates how different music tracks can drastically change the perception of a scene, such as turning a serene running scene into one of horror or suspense, and underscores the importance of having a diverse music archive for various editing needs.

💡J Cuts and L Cuts

J cuts and L cuts are audio editing techniques used to join two clips together in a way that the audio from one clip leads into or extends beyond the visual change. The script provides examples of both, explaining how a J cut can make the audience hear the action of the second clip before seeing it, while an L cut allows the audio from the first clip to continue into the second, enhancing the storytelling.

💡Templates and Presets

Templates and presets in video editing are pre-made elements such as logos, openers, lower thirds, and color grading LUTs that can be used to save time and achieve a professional look. The script suggests using these as a 'cheat code' for editing, allowing editors to quickly implement professional effects without starting from scratch.

💡Jump Cut

A jump cut is an editing technique where two shots of the same subject are cut together in a way that skips over the intervening action, creating a noticeable jump in time. The script uses jump cuts as a method to add pace to the video by cutting out unnecessary visuals and audio, making the content more engaging and dynamic.

💡Shortening Music

Shortening music in video editing involves creating a version of a track that fits the length of the video sequence, ideally ending with the conclusion of the track. The script demonstrates a manual method of doing this by cutting and rearranging parts of a track to ensure it aligns with the end of the video sequence, which is important for maintaining the integrity of the music while fitting the video's needs.

Highlights

Importance of video editing for enhancing footage aesthetics.

10 essential video editing tips for every editor.

Sponsored by Epidemic Sound for music and sound effects.

Organizing footage and assets for efficient editing workflow.

Using speed ramps to create dynamic transitions in clips.

Adding motion blur for a natural look in sped-up footage.

The Ken Burns effect to enliven static shots with zoom.

Utilizing sound effects to enhance storytelling and engagement.

The impact of music on setting the mood and atmosphere of a video.

Editing music to fit the narrative and pacing of a video.

Basic transitions for moving between shots in a video.

J cuts and L cuts for smooth audio transitions between clips.

Templates and presets for time-saving video editing.

Jump cuts to add pace by eliminating unnecessary visuals and audio.

Shortening music tracks to fit video length while maintaining the song's conclusion.

The necessity of mastering video editing basics and continuous learning.

Additional resources and video content for further learning in video editing and sound design.

Transcripts

if you're looking to improve the look of

your footage then learning how to edit

is crucial the edit is where you can

create transitions add sound effects

color grade and stylize your footage so

in this video i'm going to give you 10

video editing tips that every editor

should know

it's coming up

hey everyone steve here from learn

online video and today i'm going to be

showing you how you can make your

footage stand out i'm going to show you

how you can make your films and videos

look much more interesting and i'm going

to be showing you how to do all of this

in the edit this is where the magic

happens i've got a variety of different

clips on my timeline and i'm going to

use these to show you just what

difference adding each of these tips can

make to your footage today's video is

sponsored by epidemic sound this is

where i'm going to be getting all of my

music and sound effects for today's

video okay let's get the most boring tip

out of the way first so we can move on

to things that are a little bit more

exciting and creative and the first one

is organizing your footage and assets

now it doesn't matter whether you're

working on a youtube video or a big

hollywood feature film always organize

your footage and assets so that

everything is easy to find and easy to

work with for example when i'm done

shooting everything i need for a project

i'll create a folder on my computer

called in this case 10 video editing

tips every editor should know then in

that folder i'll have a folder for

footage i'll have a folder for music

graphics and anything else i might need

to edit that video how you folder your

footage and assets is completely up to

you just do whatever works best for you

and your workflow and once you've done

this you can then drag all of these

folders into your editing software and

now everything is easy to find and work

with okay moving on to something a

little bit more exciting speed ramps

speed ramps are when you speed up or

slow down part of your clip but rather

than an abrupt speed up or slow down you

gradually accelerate or decelerate take

this drone shot rising up through the

streets of paris to reveal the eiffel

tower for example now this is a great

shot but the problem is it's a little

bit too long what if we want to get to

our focal point a little quicker well

this is where we would use a speed ramp

so i'm going to play my clip and then

stop it where i want the speed ramp to

start about here i'm going to select

shift b and then going to skim forward

to where i want my speed ramp to stop

and press shift b again and i can i

speed this part of the clip up so rather

than it being 100 speed i'm gonna go to

custom and i'm gonna type in 3 000

let's take a look

much better we now get to our focal

point much quicker now we could of

course just cut to our focal point but

that wouldn't be as creative it wouldn't

be as interesting it's these little

editing tricks that really help keep

your audience engaged also if your speed

ramp is looking a little off a little

unnatural then the chances are it's

because it's lacking motion blur usually

when a camera moves quickly it creates

motion blur but don't worry we can fix

this in the edit now this effect didn't

come with my editing software i had to

download and install it but as always

everything i mentioned in this video

will be linked in the description below

now let's take a look at this shot first

without motion blur and then again with

it's subtle but it definitely helps

improve the look of that shot and gives

it a much more natural look the ken

burns effect this is where you zoom into

your footage in the edit let's say

you've got a static shot like this one

here for example it's okay nice framing

but adding the ken burns effect or

zooming into our clip is going to help

bring it to life more it's going to help

guide our viewers eye and draw them into

the scene take this gimbal shot tracking

to the right for example it looks okay

but now let's add a zoom and now we have

this a much more dynamic shot with the

camera tracking right and zooming in all

of the clips in this sequence are static

shots but with the ken burns effect

added we now have this consistent zoom

effect bringing much more focus to each

shot now there are a number of different

ways that you can add this effect some

editing software will have this effect

built in others you might need to do it

manually by adding keyframes the most

important thing here is to experiment

with this technique and use it to pull

your audience in okay number four sound

effects sound effects are a great way to

take your footage to the next level and

the possibilities are endless you could

use a whoosh sound effect to transition

from one clip to another you could use

them to make your shot more dramatic you

could even use them to make something

that would ordinarily be quite boring

like picking up a phone

and make it look and sound much more

interesting also did you notice we

combined techniques there not only did

we use a whoosh sound effect to pick up

the phone but we started with a speed

ramp now as an editor i highly recommend

that you have an archive of sound

effects that you can just dip into

whenever needed this is really going to

help speed up your workflow personally i

get all of my sound effects from

epidemic sound because they have a huge

archive and it's all really easy to find

you can literally just type into the

search bar whatever you're looking for

let's type in rooster and there we go a

selection of rooster sound effects so

the search tool is really good but as

well as this they also have sound

effects albums and this comes in really

useful each one is dedicated to a

different category we've got whoosh

sound effects weather cars ambient and

anything else you could possibly need

also i can access all of these sound

effects from anywhere in the world

because it's all online so be sure to

take advantage of combining sound

effects with your footage because this

will not only help increase the

production value of your footage but

it'll also help keep your audience

engaged okay number five music music has

a huge impact on your footage it creates

an atmosphere it can change the mood it

can change the way an audience reacts to

your film and it can help tell a better

story so having a good understanding of

how to edit music will give you a huge

advantage when it comes to editing video

take this woman running through an array

of beautiful flowers during sunset for

example with happy upbeat music this

shot is positive warm and blissful but

if we change the music and maybe give it

a darker more moodier color grade all of

a sudden this woman could be running for

her life in a horror movie

again just like with sound effects it's

really important as an editor that

you've always got a good archive of

music that you can dip into whenever

needed for this i'm going to head back

to epidemic sound because not only do

they have a really good sound effects

library but they also have a huge

archive of music again all really easy

to find everything from cinematic hip

hop rock electro beats plus they release

new tracks every single week so i'm

going to download two completely

different tracks go back to my timeline

and now we have this scientist with

inspirational music this shot seems

positive like he's close to finding a

cure

but with darker more sinister music he's

an evil villain planning to take over

the world

or take this woman walking her luggage

through the airport this could be an

inspirational travel video or if we add

some rock music this could be the

opening shot of our lead character in a

short film

music will change the mood and the feel

of your footage so take advantage of it

if you'd like to try epidemic sound for

free then they're offering a free 30-day

trial to anyone that uses the link in my

description plus they're also offering a

massive 50 off an annual personal plan

so a huge saving for any of you looking

for music and sound effects links will

be in the description below okay number

six transitions put simply transitions

take the audience from one shot to

another the most basic version of this

is a straight cut like this we've gone

from a shot of me in the studio to a

shot of a man running with his dog now

we could just cut to the next shot like

this that's not too bad works okay or if

we wanted to represent say the passing

of time we could add a cross dissolve

now these two shots blend and dissolve

into each other taking us from one shot

to another these are just a couple of

examples of some very basic transitions

but feel free to get as advanced or as

creative as you like again some editing

programs will have built-in transitions

some you might need to download or buy

the most important thing with

transitions is that you make them

meaningful transitions are usually only

used when they serve a storytelling

purpose but when first starting out feel

free to experiment and get creative okay

tip number seven j cuts and l cuts j

cuts and l cuts are used all the time in

tv shows and feature films and they're a

way of joining two clips together using

audio let me show you an example on my

timeline here i have a shot of a mother

and daughter playing peacefully on the

beach when all of a sudden we cut to a

very loud car now what you saw there was

a straight cut between these two clips

but now let's add a j cut this time i'm

going to extend and play clip 2's audio

over clip 1 before clip 2 has even come

on screen this means you hear what's

happening in clip 2 before you see it

like this

the opposite of this would be an l cut

this is when the audio from clip one

carries on to clip two for example

imagine there was a big explosion and

then the audio from that clip carried on

to the next clip

like this l cuts and j cuts are a great

technique to have in your editing

toolbox if you're not using them already

be sure to try okay tip number eight

templates and presets templates and

presets are like having a cheat code for

video editing rather than spend hours

days or weeks of your life building an

effect from scratch use a pre-made

template again some editing software

will come with templates others you

might need to pay for you can get

pre-built logos openers for your videos

lower thirds animated titles color

grading luts these are all customizable

they're going to save you a ton of time

and make your videos look much more

professional templates and presets are

nice and easy to work with usually just

drag and drop i will link some of my

favorites below number nine the jump cut

the jump cut is a great way of adding

more pace to your footage because it

cuts out all the boring visuals and

audio in your videos let me give you an

example let's say i wanted to show you

some of the products in this studio now

i could spend five minutes gathering all

of the products and putting them here on

the table but let's be honest it would

be a little bit boring to watch so

what's the solution the solution is jump

cuts

and just like that we now have all the

products on the table it took less than

five seconds and it was much more

interesting to watch okay let me give

you one more example this time with

audio now imagine you're shooting a

video sat talking to the camera just

like what i am now when all of a sudden

you take a moment to pause

[Music]

now this is going to be incredibly

boring for your audience to watch so

this time i'm going to remove the pause

in this audio and we now have this

when all of a sudden you take a moment

to pause now this is going to be

incredibly boring for your audience to

watch much better the jump cut a

sequential shot that makes it appear so

the action is leaping forward in time

okay tip number 10 shorten music now 99

of the time i'm not using the full track

usually tracks are about three or four

minutes in length and sometimes all i

need is a 60 second version for

instagram so knowing how to shorten a

song is a really important skill to have

as an editor and i'm not just talking

about shortening the track to 60 seconds

no no no i'm talking about creating a 60

second version of that track that ends

with the end of that track now there's

editing software out there that will do

this for you adobe premiere pro has

remix for example but you have to pay

for this and we don't all have the

budget so we're going to go old school

and do it manually okay now on my

timeline here i have a 60 second

sequence but a three minute track so i'm

going to cut the track towards the end

drag the first half of the track back

like this and then move the end of the

track so that it lines up with the end

of my sequence you can then zoom in and

look for beats in the track that line up

like these two here now when we play

this track back it now seamlessly

transitions into the end of the track

like this

[Music]

now the track that you choose will

obviously depend on how easy this is to

do some tracks will be easier than

others but the main takeaway here is to

try and end your sequence or video with

the end of the track now learning the

basics of video editing is pretty

straightforward but it can take years to

master so if you're looking to learn

more about video editing or sound design

then i highly recommend checking out

this video here i also have a ton more

content on this channel around

filmmaking and video production be sure

to check it out but that's it from me

thanks for watching and i will see you

in the next video

[Music]