You’ve filmed a YouTube video, movie, or shot a music video, and now it’s time for the other half of the battle: the post-processing stage. In this article, I aim to help you make the video editing process much easier and more productive by providing a few helpful tips, & techniques.

1. Choose the Right Software

The first step in improving your video editing process is to choose the right software for you and your work. They normally offer everything you need to perform standard video edits, but you may prefer one over others for their usability, digital interface, and features. Top favorites include After Effects, Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro, and DaVinci Resolve, which offers a free and comprehensive Lite version.

2. Use a Fast Computer

You can choose whatever computer brand or model you want, as long as it’s fast enough for you to store huge files and allows you to focus more on your editing work without having to worry about slow rendering.

It definitely helps to invest in a faster storage drive (SSD) that will allow you to access your files and software faster, as well as speed up your rendering, loading, and export times.

3. Watch Video Editing Tutorials

Youtube, blogs, and educational websites are full of useful tutorials for creating great video content. Most of the tutorials you’ll find out there are free, which makes them even more accessible.

4. Get the Project Files

When following along with a tutorial, many new video editors prefer to use the same project files as the instructors in the tutorial. This will help you learn the steps correctly, because your work will look exactly the same as the sample from the demo. Many tutorials allow you to download their project files for this exact reason.

5. Obey the 321 Rule

Just like woodworkers learn from the start to measure twice and cut once, video editors using any program should practice the 321 rule. Keep three copies of everything you create, in at least two different places, with one of those places physically separated from your other locations.

6. Edit for a Story

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.

7. Maintain an Efficient Workflow

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.

8. Color Correct Your Clips

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.

9. Select Good Music

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 more effective.

10. Add Text and Graphics

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.

11. Export Web Versions

Once your video is done and ready to be exported, the natural tendency of most editors is to export it at the largest video resolution possible. This is definitely the way to go if it’s going to be played in cinemas and ultra HD screens. But in today’s generation where video projects are usually marketed online and on social media, you should also export smaller, high-quality versions for easier playback.

Kenneth Omalla – Video Editor at Kent Photography (Wizzykent00@gmail.com)