My Beginner’s Guide to Video Editing
Where do you think most editing choices are made? When you’re sitting at your laptop, with your editing software open?
Well, actually, no.
Most of your editing choices are made when you’re filming. So in this video I’m going to outline some of the basic creative principles that form a solid foundation on which to build your edit.
This article is for you if you’re just starting out making videos and find the process of editing a bit overwhelming. Don’t worry, we all felt like that at the start.
1. Logical process
When you’re video editing, like most other creative tasks, using a logical process will save you a lot of time. So my first tip is, start with broad strokes.
If you ever had an art lesson at school, you might remember being set a drawing task. Say, a bowl of fruit or something. And you or your friend would start drawing the fruit, very carefully, trying to get that orange exactly right, before moving on to the apple.
Only to find that by the time you got to the bananas, your bowl was either a tiny object in the corner of the paper, or so big it now doesn’t fit. Really, you’d have been better off sketching out the whole bowl of fruit first, just roughly. Then start to refine things more and more.
The same goes for editing. Don’t start grading and tweaking the audio before you have the whole edit in place. This is one of the most common mistakes beginners make when video editing. We start working on the fine tuning way too early.
So a logical process would be something like this:
- Gather all the material, shots and audio
- Go through each shot, logging them. Change the names to like scene 1, take 1, take 2 etc. This will save you lots of time finding relevant clips later
- You can also make notes on each shot. Again, this saves time later (depending on how big your project is)
So you can see we already have 3 steps, before you’ve even placed one clip on the timeline to start video editing.
- The next step is a rough assembly. This means creating a whole video or film from beginning to end, but without getting too bogged down in the detail. Just lay it out quite quickly. You can come back later for fine tuning.
- Once you are happy with the rough assembly, you can start to adjust the edit. Maybe add a few frames here, take a few frames from there, switch out a shot and replace it with a different one.
- Once you are happy with the overall cut, you can start to work on the other aspects. Like colour grading, sound design, VFX work and so on. These things are the icing on the cake, so don’t be tempted to work on them too soon.
This is just a guide to give you an idea of what I mean, because everyone develops their own workflow. But, in general terms, starting with broader strokes and slowly refining the work makes the most sense and saves time in the long run.
And, like I say, this is the same for writing a screenplay or composing music.
2. Don’t try to run before you can walk
With anything to do with filmmaking, it’s good to take your learning process step by step. You know the saying, “don’t try to run before you can walk”.
So my second tip is not to try to understand too much in one go. Like trying to run before you can walk, if you try to practice too many skills at once, you’re likely to fall over.
But hey, falling over is part of learning. So don’t get stressed about making mistakes either. Everyone makes mistakes, even the top pros.
Having said that, just because you don’t know everything doesn’t mean you can’t start making films. I shot my first feature film with only limited technical knowledge. At the time, I didn’t even know what an f stop is. But my film still got into a major German festival where it was shown alongside films shot for millions.
In fact, I deliberately didn’t try to master every technical aspect of filmmaking. Because I knew I would never make my film. So I kept it simple and focused on the story, the acting and lighting and framing, using my little HV30 camcorder.
3. Keep it simple
This follows from tip number 1: keep it simple. When you are learning video editing, keep it simple and try to get familiar with the basics of editing before you dive into more advanced features.
Another thing to remember is that as solo filmmakers we are taking on a multitude of jobs, like camera operator, editor and colour grader. And each one of these jobs can take a lifetime to master, let alone one person trying to master all of them.
You know, there’s an Oscar awarded for editing every year. And the winner has most likely dedicated their career to the art of editing.
But since high quality cameras and editing software became available to millions, it’s easy to expect to master all these complex skills.
So don’t beat yourself up if you’re not a top level cinematographer, editor and colour grader all at the same time. That’s asking quite a bit of anyone.
Again, when I made my feature film, I was the writer, cinematographer, editor, producer, art department, prop master, almost everything except acting. So I knew I had to keep each task as simple as possible or I would have been totally unable to complete the movie.
4. You can’t edit what you don’t have
When I first decided I wanted to be a film director, I didn’t really have much idea of what a director did. Well, I guessed a director basically told his crew what to do. But aside from that I had no real idea and, for that reason, I found the idea of directing a big crew totally terrifying.
But as I made some steps into the industry, I was told that a film director’s main job is to make sure the editor has everything they need to cut the whole movie together.
When I shot Third Contact, at first I shot way more footage than I needed. This was because, as an inexperienced director and editor, I didn’t really know what I needed. So I shot everything I could think of. Establishing shots, wide shots, close ups, inserts, aerial shots… everything.
I didn’t want to find myself sitting down to edit and discover bits missing. Having too many shots is better than not enough, if you have time to capture them.
The downside of this was that editing took longer. Because I now had so many choices, as a newbie editor it was very overwhelming.
But this is why I say 90% of your editing choices are made when shooting. You can only edit with the footage you have available to you. What you shoot and how you shoot it defines how you edit in many ways.
5. It’s like learning a musical instrument
Like learning a musical instrument, you get better at shooting and editing the more you practice. But I say shooting and editing together because you need to develop those skills together.
Just to reminisce once more, we shot Third Contact over a year, scene by scene, location by location. This meant I could start editing what I had between shooting. So each time I edited what we had, I learned a huge amount. Not just about editing, but about shooting too.
As I was video editing, I was happy with some shots but annoyed with others. Sometimes I would find the best take by the actor, only to discover that I did something silly, like move the camera in the middle of the take. And I would curse myself for such stupid camera work.
But as that year went on, I got better and better at shooting. The more I captured shots and then tried to edit them into scenes, the more skilled I got as a director.
By the end of filming, I could put a scene together in my head pretty quickly. This meant I could shoot much less footage, and filming and editing became much quicker. Less shots, less time shooting and less time trying to make sense of it in the edit.
So, with a year of practice, I got much more efficient as a filmmaker. I have to say, it’s a real buzz when you put a sequence of shots together in your mind and it cuts together exactly as you imagined.
6. Plan ahead?
When I first started making films, I used storyboards and shot lists. Most likely, you will get the advice to plan ahead. And this will ensure you’re not missing vital shots when you come to edit.
However, I shot Third Contact with just the screenplay with some notes in the margins. I preferred to work around the actors and the location. This is in large part down to the needs of low budget filming.
I found that – with practice – I could work quicker by being more adaptable. Because I might imagine a shot when sketching a storyboard and then that shot turned out to be hard to capture in reality. And when you have a set plan, it’s harder to be flexible. If a planned shot doesn’t work out, I found myself off balance for the rest of the shots.
But that’s just me. Most people prefer to make shot lists and storyboards before filming. I would certainly recommend trying the pre-planned method first.
7. Practice to gain experience
One thing I would say is that, as a beginner, it’s actually quite hard to plan ahead, anyway. Without experience, how can we know what we need and how to capture it?
So your shot list and storyboard can sometimes turn out more like a list of wishful thinking.
Then again, if you turn up for filming without a clue what shots you need, that can end up as a mess too. And let me tell you, I went through many of those experiences when I first started out.
So what’s the solution? I’ll go back to my previous tip: keep it simple.
I remember seeing one of Martin Scorsese’s first short films, that he made at film school in 1967. Just one guy shaving and cutting himself, in a surreal way. It’s called The Big Shave and it’s on YouTube so check it out (unless you don’t like the sight of fake blood).
That’s not to say Martin Scorsese was a beginner at this point. He actually shot his first feature film the same year. However, I definitely recommend you try out some simple shooting and editing exercises before you advance to more complex projects.
This is something I shot for my daily smartphone filmmaking exercises video. Andrea was cooking, so I jumped up and started grabbing some shots. It literally took me 5 minutes.
I’m not saying this is a masterpiece or anything. But it shows you how easy it is to practice filmmaking now. 5 minutes shooting and 20 minutes editing and I had a short film about cooking.
8. Consistent Video Editing Style
One Hollywood mogul once said people go to the movies to worry. In other words, to worry that the characters in the story can overcome their struggles.
And really, your aim when video editing is this: to create a feeling in your audience.
This is something that’s pretty hard to learn from a YouTube video or even attending film school. But one important factor in achieving this goal is creating a consistent style.
Now, when it comes to style, editing is just one part of the job. But the style of your video dictates the emotions felt by the audience. If your audience doesn’t feel anything while watching, that’s the single biggest reason they’ll switch off – and then click someone else’s video.
So you can create the most brilliant, technically perfect work. But, without something happening in the video that moves us, it will be pretty painful for anyone to watch for more than 20 seconds.
So what do you want your watchers to feel? Do you want them to feel the joy of travelling? Or the fear of monsters? Those movies would have very different styles. Different shot styles, different editing styles, different colour design and different audio.
Which brings me onto my next tip:
9. The sound of music
Audio has a very powerful effect on the moving image. As a festival director, I get to watch a lot of films. And sometimes a very good film is ruined by poor music selection or bad audio quality.
How you use music when video editing can vary too. If I’m editing a quiet dialogue scene, I will only add music at the end. But if I’m editing something with a visual rhythm, like a montage, it makes sense to start with the music.
For example, if you’re editing a travel video and you want a sequence of fast cuts showing off some spectacular scenery, lay down the music first. Now edit the cuts in time to the music.
I often use the visual representation of the audio to see where the beats are. Then I line up the cuts with the beat and this makes the cuts much more dramatic.
The use of audio also has a huge impact on the power of the edit. An obvious use of this is when editing a fight scene and adding a punch sound effect. Without that sound effect, the punch is much less dramatic.
Remember what I said about your audience feeling something? And sound, in the form of music or effects, makes a huge difference to how your audience feels about your video.
Because the reality is that fist fights are not too noisy. But as the sound designer for Fight Club once said, what you’re trying to do is give the audience the feeling of a punch. And in some movies, like martial arts movies, this is taken to an almost absurd level of exaggeration.
10. Take a step back
Have you ever watched a painter painting and they’re focusing intensely on the details of some leaves in a tree, or something? And then they step back to get a sense of the painting as a whole.
It’s good to do that with editing too. After you’ve worked on something for a long time, your mind gets tired. To get some perspective, take a break.
If it’s a long video, like a narrative film, take a few days or even a few weeks break. Show the edit to trusted friends and colleagues to get some fresh eyes on it.
Also, if you’re getting frustrated with it and it’s not working how you want it to work, again – take a break. Don’t keep pushing and pushing when you’re not being productive. You will save time in the long run by letting your eyes and mind have a rest.
Also, try not to beat yourself up if the edit isn’t like you wished. Video editing is a highly skilled task and, as I say, some filmmakers dedicate their entire careers to it. Take a break, come back refreshed, be patient – editing fluency will come over time.
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