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 that 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 now speed this part of the clip up. So rather than it being 100% speed, I’m going to go to custom and I’m going to 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, and 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 mention 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 viewer’s 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, 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.
