Filming your video is only half the battle won the other half of the crucial work lies in the post-production stage. This is the time when you put your wizard hat on and create a story to grip the audience. A video editor uses footage, sound and graphics to tell a story.

1. Top 10 killer things every video editor should know when starting out
Filming your video is only half the battle won; the other half of the crucial work lies in
the post-production stage. This is the time when you put your wizard hat on and
create a story to grip the audience. The editing involves multiple major and minor
jobs to communicate the message most effectively.
This is where the video editor comes in.
A video editor uses footage, sound, and graphics to tell a story. A typical day in the
life may include creating treatments and storyboards; developing scripts; producing
and editing videos and photos for multiple platforms, from short-form daily content for
social media platforms to long-form series; and sourcing and/or creating and adding
graphics, animations, special effects, music, sound effects and sound bites.
Skills Needed- H2

2. You'll need to show the following skillset of you are starting out as a video editor
● A keen eye for detail and a critical mind
● Creativity and a passionate interest in film and video editing
● Patience and concentration
● The ability to listen to others and to work well as part of a team
● A high level of self-motivation, commitment, and dedication
● Organizational and time management skills
● The ability to work under pressure and to deadlines
● Communication skills, both written and oral.
Video editing tips for beginners

3. 1. Start before production
The best filmmakers know to take editing considerations seriously before they even
start filming their video. For example, do you need to take any special precautions
while filming, such as using soundproof padding for reducing echo? Selecting the
best camera and microphone for the studio can help you fix half the problems that
you might later encounter during the editing stage.

4. 02. Have a clear vision
Before you get started, you should take a moment to ask yourself some basic
questions about the footage you’re trying to edit. Think about the audience it’s going
to serve and the purpose it’s going to fulfill.
Having a story vision will help you determine basic things like the correct order of
your clips and which parts should receive the most attention, as well as solving
advanced problems like what art style and visual direction you should go with.
03. Use solid hardware

5. Depending on the nature of your project, you will want to invest in good-quality
hardware that doesn’t bottleneck your software. For example, producers should
invest in one of the best computers for video editing with at least 8GB of RAM and
4GB of VRAM if they plan to edit in 4K. For cloud-based editing software, having a
fast internet connection is a must.
04. Choose the right software

6. Based on your budget and skillset, you will want to pick the right video editing tool for
the job. If it’s a very simple edit, think about going with your device operating
system’s default video editor, such as Windows Video Editor or Apple iMovie. These
tools aren’t good for advanced editing, but they should suffice if all you need is to cut,
transform, and enhance.
For more advanced needs, consider something mid-range and beginner-friendly like
Adobe Spark or Wondershare Filmora. If you’re really confident about your video
editing skills, you can go with Adobe Premiere Pro or Apple Final Cut Pro X.
It’s also worth considering the price of the software you are about to buy. Unless you
are editing for professional reasons, a basic editing tool (or even a free one) should
be enough for your needs. Consider investing in a professional video editing suite
only when you need advanced effects and have a professional budget.
05. Memorise keyboard shortcuts

7. Take some time to memorize the most frequently used keyboard shortcuts that you
will be using within your video editing software. It may seem like extra work, but it will
actually save you a lot of time down the line.
A few examples for Adobe Premiere Pro include pressing V to bring out the
Selection Tool and Z for the Zoom Tool, Ctrl+Alt+N to create a New Project, and
Ctrl+I for Import. Other popular applications, like Apple Final Cut Pro X, DaVinci
Resolve, and Media Composer, all have their own keyboard shortcuts worth learning.
6. Edit for a Story

8. One of the most important takeaways from this article is to remember your creative
goal: to tell a great story. Go beyond the basics—cutting away extraneous footage
and correcting the order of your clips—and take the opportunity to make your film
aesthetically pleasing and dramatically compelling so as to evoke the right emotions
and effectively impart your intended message. Use your practical and technical
knowledge in achieving this instead of just adding a bunch of effects to impress your
viewers.
You can simply follow the storyboard used during filming, but there may be times
when the director—or you if you have the liberty to call the shots—will decide to
make on-the-spot changes to the predetermined flow, scene transitions, effects, and
other editing elements for the sake of improving the story.
7. Maintain an Efficient Workflow

9. Even with a super-fast computer system and editing software, you’ll also need to be
systematic and organized in order to become a more efficient editor. One way to
improve your workflow is to organize your projects and files in folders that you can
use again and again. Create homes for your projects, footage, audio files, images,
and graphics, in which you can also create more subsections and folders.
Another way that you can work faster is to use external hard drives for storing your
footage, so you can free up more computer memory. We recommend that you
choose hard drives that can be connected via USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt to enable
faster file transfers. Also, consider allocating your RAM to be able to use more of it
for editing and getting a gaming mouse that allows you to set specific editing
functions for its buttons.
8. Color Correct Your Clips

10. Color is a major design element that can be manipulated to highlight certain subjects,
evoke specific emotions, and set the mood or atmosphere of your scene. Fortunately,
today’s video editing programs give us a lot of color editing options that used to be
only possible with photos.
Most editors do two things: color correction, to make sure that the colors of your
footage are consistent in each scene, and color grading, to give your film a different
look. Both are essential when you want most of your scenes to look as realistic as
possible, or to differentiate certain scenes from others, such as when you use
presets like sepia and monochrome on “flashback” scenes.
9. Select Good Music

11. Don’t just focus on the visuals; it should only be as good as your music. If you’re
creating a drama film, for instance, you’ll want just the right song or instrumentals to
make key moments (where you want to trigger certain emotions from your audience)
more effective. Cheerful comedies can be a little forgiving, but it can also be easy to
overdo it with upbeat songs. It can be difficult if you’re doing it on your own, so
having a musical scorer can help take the guesswork out of it.
But before you even think of using just any music, remember that the safest option is
to get music from a royalty-free music provider. You may be able to find free music,
but the best audio usually comes at a price. If you’re doing a professional project,
music is usually included in the production budget.
10. Add Text and Graphics

12. Depending on your film type, you may have to include more text aside from the title,
opening/closing billboards (for broadcasting), and film credits. You’ll usually want to
keep it simple, with a clean and white sans-serif font that doesn’t grab too much
attention. Have them dissolve in and out, and see how it works for your film.
But if you need to add flashy graphics, you can create them using your editing
software. Adobe After Effects is a popular choice for creating some of the best
motion graphics. If you’ve yet to learn how to make your own by hand, you can
always get impressive ready-made.
Editors need to constantly coordinate their work with directors and executive
producers to understand the narrative of the films.
Are You Planning To Include Video Content In Your Business?
Only experts can do it the right way. Reach out to the Vaak Creatives team to
strategically plan the right and goal-oriented videos for your business today and be
with the best.