Media Toolkit: Editing

Editing video 

  

If you’re new to editing videos, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and sink in the rabbit hole of endless information, conflicting tips, many different software applications to choose from and how to choose what is right for you. To provide you with a ground to build up from and a little clarity, editing in its most pure form is like creating a sentence – at least that’s how I like to imagine it. A complete video is a sentence consisting of different words in a sequence that are of different sound, length, meaning etc. There is a beginning and an end and a direction of gaze (from left to right) to understand the words in the sequence they are organized within. 

Editing software uses an interface that is similar to the appearance of English and many other languages – shots (the three separate clips/segments of video you can see in the timeline) are the metaphorical words. They are separated by cuts (=spaces) and together make up a complete video (=sentence). How we arrange the shots/clips determines the feel of the video and delivery of its message – just like how our choice of words and intonation can completely change the meaning of a sentence.  

  

 

  

            At its core, every sentence consists of words and spaces, just like every video consists of different video format files organized together and separated with cuts. That is the essence of editing and, if you are making a video whose editing you want to be unnoticeable, then learning how to work with these two things is enough (the right format, how long shots should be, nuances with cutting, software). If this is the case, keep on reading! However, if some background music, maybe titles, captions, or interesting transitions are what you’re set on, skip ahead to ‘more complex video editing’’. 

  

• basic video editing 

  

To start off, when you start a new editing project in whichever software you choose, you will often be asked to decide the video’s format. MP4 and MOV are the most widely-used ones, so the platform you will be uploading your video to will likely be familiar with them. Then, set the resolution to 1920x1080 pixels (HD).  

Now, onto the editing itself – depending on the application you’re using, if you will only be cutting and putting clips in order or even just trimming one large clip, it will be pretty straightforward and easy to grasp. Most editing programs work by the same principles and similar interfaces, so once you understand the basics of how to work with one, you’ll also be able to work with others with minor differences. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be picky when choosing a software.  

As a small but important warning, there are two main things to consider when choosing an editing software: price and safety. Many editing programs advertise themselves as free but after you have downloaded them, they ask for payment. So, if you want to minimize expenses, a free cloud-based software can seem like a solution to not pay anything – but, as the saying goes, when something is free on the Internet, you are the product. For instance, the editing tool CapCut is well-known amongst young people because it's popular for editing TikToks and also owned by Bytedance (which is the owner of TikTok). Sadly unsurprisingly, it has been sued Links to an external site. for privacy violations such as data gathering on its free cloud-based version. So – always evaluate why a certain product might be free, especially cloud-based tools that you put your personal information and videos into.  

 

Here are 5 editing programs of our selection that are free, safe and accommodating for beginners: 

 

1. Kdenlive Links to an external site. - available on Windows, Linux and macOS; 

1. OpenShot Links to an external site. – available on Windows, Linux and macOS; 

1. Shotcut Links to an external site. – available on Windows, Linux and macOS; 

1. iMovie – automatically downloaded on iOs and macOs; 

1. DaVinci Resolve Links to an external site. – available on Windows, Linux and macOS. 

 

• more complex video editing 

  

            If basic editing does not seem enough for you and you are ready to learn about titles, captions, background music and transitions, then hello! An overachiever, I see. 

  

Just kidding.  

  

            Implementing all these extra effects is super fun and can make a lot of difference in your video, for example, in adding to your content information-wise and also helping to structure it. Titles are great to put at the start of the video to announce the topic under discussion, also for separating different sub-topics with a corresponding title before the new sub-topic starts and, at the end, for references, a ‘’thank you for your attention’’ or, really, anything you wish. Captions are good to use if you are translating or using subtitles, or maybe have something to add to the spoken text of the video – like more in-depth information that has to be presented at the same time. These two effects are helpful content-wise. 

  

If you’re recording your video in Panopto, here’s a tutorial on how to add ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) captions to your video: https://support.panopto.com/s/article/ASR-Generated-Captions Links to an external site. 

  

Form-wise, background music and transitions can be the cherries on top of an already great video (if handled tastefully). In terms of music –make sure it is not too loud and does not interfere with the actual content. When there is no one speaking, the music can be turned up a bit louder and then turned down again when the audio of the video is important. However, keep an eye on the music for it not to be too jarring, suddenly going from soft to deafening (a function called ‘’audio fade in/fade out’’ can be used for this purpose) – to see how to do this in editing, use information the internet has to offer. Also, the wider the audience of your future video, the more important it is to use royalty-free music to avoid copyright claims. pixabay.com and bensound.com are two examples of the many sites offering copyright free music. Talking about transitions, feel free to explore for yourself what you like and what fits your video. At the start of the video, a ‘’fade in’’ or ‘’fade to color’’ is often used and at the end, a ‘’fade out’’ or ‘’fade to black’’ is a standard (also often used in films), but do whatever feels good to you.  

It is so fun to customize your video’s form that, in my experience, one can sometimes get over-enthusiastic – which is fine if you’re making a silly tacky video for your friends, but there is a more serious goal, you might want to tread carefully. If you’re not sure – ask for feedback! Ask yourself and others if the video’s form is not grabbing attention away from the video’s content and if every editing choice and cool effect is there with a reason. Asking for feedback in any kind of situation can only lead to improvement, so don’t hesitate to do it in this case too. 

  

Here is an article featuring some tips for editing: https://devideomakers.nl/video-bewerken-5-videos-waarvan-je-beter-gaat-monteren/ Links to an external site. (in Dutch) 

Here is a video discussing some more complicated cuts for you overachievers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv3Hmf2Dxlo Links to an external site. (in English) 

 

Summarizing the video – the 9 cuts everybody should know are: 

1. The basic cut – simply putting one shot next to another in the timeline; 

 

1. The jump cut – cutting out parts of a shot and putting the trimmed seperated parts together again, used to show the passage of time and sometimes for comedic effect;
2. 

 

1. The J-cut – not to be confused with the jump cut, the J-cut is a way of creating a sound bridge, dragging the second shot's audio into the end of the first shot to lead into the next scene/make the transition between different audio less jarring; 

1. The L-cut – the opposite of the J-cut, dragging the first shot's audio into the start of the second shot; extremely useful for conversation scenes (makes them dynamic and interesting to watch, great for showing the other person's reaction ''real-time''; 

a nice short video about j-cuts and L-cuts Links to an external site.

1. Cutting on action – cutting in the middle of an action (if a person opens a door, cut when they have it halfway opened and have a new shot from a different perspective continuing the action, opening the door fully), also makes mundane actions dynamic; 

1. Parallel editing – cross-cutting between usually 2 different shots to create the feeling these two stories are unfolding at the same time and suspense (very common in action films – cutting between shots of a person in danger and shots of someone running to save them); 

1. The cutaway – any kind of cutting away from the main shot in which the action is taking place to, for example, show another person's reaction, to show the environment or to make a transition smoother; 

1. The montage – a collection of different shots put together revolving around one theme usually to condense time or show the passage of time and/or the process taking place (for example, a collection of different shots showing a person get ready for a date or training for the Olympics); 

1. The match cut – melding of two different environments to create a seamless, smooth cut and create a significant connection between the two environments (for example, cutting from a shot of spilled paint on the floor to a shot of blood of a similar shape on the floor).