Career as a video editor: Video editing is a journey of these 5 steps

In today’s world where new technology is replacing the old one in a day, there are not many career options left that are exciting and here to stay. However, an individual with excellent video editing skills is sure to have a secured future as the consumption of video content is 1,200% more than the engagement on text and images combined! Ergo, video-editing is sure to remain a prized skill for years to come. And the best part is video editing isn’t complex. Here are a few guidelines that will tell you the basic requirements to become a video editor.

1. Get your tools right

A famous English phrase rightly says — a workman is only as good as his tools. The same goes for video editing skills. So, make sure that your computer has:

Good Processor: A powerful processor with higher core counts (16/18 is fine) will make rendering faster.

Fast storage: Always go for SSD rather than HDD. And if budget allows, choose NVMe SSD over SATA SSD as the former is way faster.

Video card:  Video cards will ensure that you’re able to pay better attention to the minutest of details while editing.

RAM: Get a computer with good RAM (8GB or above is more effective) as this will make caching faster.

2. Go for the right video editing software

Having the right video editing software is a must. The professionals always suggest to not going for a free platform and rather picking a paid one as they offer:

• Greater flexibility

• No branding or (annoying) ads

• Support for when you get stuck

• More editing options

3. Be prepared to achieve perfection

The process of video editing is a challenging task as you need to turn chaos into clarity. Thus, one of the biggest mistakes you can make when editing a video is to not prepare your assets before you start. In the video-editing world, your assets are:-

• Audio files (including your wild track)

• Other visuals

• Documents

• Fonts

• Logos

4. Storyboard is the key

A storyboard is as essential for video-editing as for video shooting. Staying focused on the storyboard during post-production is one of the best things to make your video-editing a masterpiece. You can do it simply by:-

• Checking out what pieces need to go together

• Understanding how to cut the clips

• Finding out where to insert other assets

5. Captions Engages Audience

Analysis by multiple bodies has concluded that captions in a video help in keeping the audience engaged. While it is true that a good video is a combination of both great picture quality and excellent sound, tech-savvy viewers nowadays prefer to watch videos with the sound turned off or read out captions for better clarity. This is precisely why you need to ensure your videos have captions. The crucial findings on captions are:

• Incorporating captions in a video increase views by about 12%.

• Videos that are captioned are viewed 40% more than the uncaptioned ones.

• Adding captions to your videos is no longer an option. You must do it for your video to drive engagement.

• More than 85% of Facebook videos are watched on mute.

Here are some bonus tips that will help you become a pro at video-editing

1. Make use of transitions to tell your story effectively. Rather than jarring your viewers by going to a new frame immediately, use transitions to give them a smooth viewing experience.

2. Speed ramping is not just limited to action sequences. If you have seen a good action movie, then you know how crucial is speed ramping. It is used when something needs to be emphasized in either slow or fast motion. For a marketer, that’s the key ingredient to building brand loyalty and driving sales.

3. When in Doubt, Clear it out. If you are unsure of the final product, do send the video content to a portion of your audience and take feedback. Make amends according to their suggestions.

Like any other aspect of life, practice makes you perfect in video editing as well! Good luck!