This preference remains the same whether we’re interacting with friends and family, browsing products or services to invest in, or simply scrolling social media for something to engage with. A Hubspot report determined that 93% of marketers using video stated it was an integral part of their marketing strategies, while Mark Zuckerberg’s recent Metaverse video included compelling statements on how the use of video is becoming the norm, due to its much more immersive and easy to absorb format in comparison with text.
The catch? Raw videos, without any effects, are becoming slowly phased out. We’re now used to the mainstream (albeit amateur) forms of video editing software such as those implemented throughout TikTok and Instagram. These ever-increasingly popular apps have infiltrated the video scene, and what it means to edit videos entirely.
While the social media side of ‘video editing’ focuses more on facial enhancing filters and the comedic, well timed input of vocals or sound, it’s safe to say that the more professional business world requires a bit more refining when it comes to editing your videos. The same applies to those who work with videos for a living, such as online gaming streamers or Youtubers – raw, unedited videos just don’t cut it any more, when there’s tons of media with attention-grabbing visual impact out there to watch instead.
Due to this, businesses, online personalities, influencers, and even just those wishing to interact more with their communities, are now aiming to perfect their videography skills. So, we’ve put together this Innovationly guide to videography editing tips and tricks for beginners! Here are 10 easy videography tips you can use to revolutionise the way you create and share videos online.
First things first, which types of easy to use software are available out there? This is the most in-depth tip we’ll cover, as there are just so many options. Then we’ll move on to the more concise tips that will help you refine your approach to videography.
- Find the Best Videography Editing Programs for Beginners
The ultimate tip for videography editing is to find your favourite software first. Finding the ideal videography editing software that works for you can be a trial and error process, and everyone has their individual preferences.
Free Videography Editing Tools
Often, videography editing software comes pre-downloaded or included with your computer’s operating system. If you’re just looking to play around and experiment with combining videos and transitions, try a free option to explore your skills to start with.
- Apple’s iMovie comes free when you buy any Mac, and is ideal for those shooting on iPhones, iPads, and other Apple products.
- Lightworks is free for the non-pro version, and provides the ability to edit videos but without the air-brushing and more complicated dynamics involved with video colouring and similar, more in-depth tools.
- Lumen5 is free when you’re sticking to 480p quality videos, and it’s primarily used to turn blog content into snazzy, visualised social media-ready videos that capture people’s attention as they scroll.
Paid Videography Editing Tools
If you’re willing to invest in videography software, these programs might be the ones for you. It’s worth investing if you’re using videography skills to edit content that you use professionally, since the quality and scope of opportunities regarding paid for videography editing software are simply better. They do take a bit of learning to grasp completely, but once you’ve dedicated the time towards their intricate tools, you can essentially edit anything to perfection.
We’ve ranked these paid for videography editing software by taking into account their ease of use, the range of tools available, and their overall popularity.
- Premiere Pro
This is Adobe’s answer to videography editing software, and designed for use on both Windows and Mac devices. As we already know, they are the international standard for many creative industries when it comes to their other programs for dedicated artists. Photoshop, Lightroom, InDesign and Illustrator are practically synonymous with the world of digital creatives. Premiere Pro is no different; used by videographers and video professionals all over the world.
You can download a free trial of Premiere Pro direct from Adobe, to test out these upcoming videography tips. Or, it’s included in the entire collection of Creative Cloud apps available for £49.94 per month. Premiere Pro is ideal for combining video clips together seamlessly with transitional effects to create content, adding and editing video audio, and finalising professional video content that’s polished to perfection.
- Final Cut Pro X
This is for Mac users who wish to make cinematic videos that are both dynamic and immersive. Final Cut Pro X can be used across Apple devices, complete with easy to sync ‘magnetic timeline’ tools and the ability to pull together sweeping motion graphics and effects in 2D and 3D.
- After Effects
Another member of the Adobe Creative Cloud collection of apps, After Effects is also available for a 7-day trial or for a monthly subscription of £19.97 on its own. After Effects is designed to focus more on animation, motion graphics, movement-based layering options and making title sequencing easier. Both After Effects and Premiere Pro are intertwined in real-time if you use the two, much like how the other Adobe apps sync up too.
2. Make Content That Captures Attention
In a world where everyone is competing to be seen, heard or watched, making the most of videography is a great skill to have under your belt. In creative immersive content, the main thing you’ll need to do is to capture the audience’s attention to begin with. If you don’t manage to do this, they won’t pause to watch your video anyway – and the rest of your videography skills will be rendered useless. You can create an amazing article or blog post brimming with engaging content, but if nobody reads it – what’s the point? The same goes for video.
As with many situations in life, first impressions matter. You probably know the statistic that people make a pretty solid judgement of the people they first meet within 7 seconds, while Princeton studies debated that this actually only takes 1/10th of a second! Online, it’s natural that these judgemental instincts will speed up. Everything is instantaneous, and while they’re not essentially judging you as a person (unless you’re the focal point of the video) – they’re judging whether your content is compelling enough for them to stay and watch it.
This does depend on personal factors, as well as the quality of your video. The trick to securing your viewer’s interest is to understand the viewer and your demographic from the start. Whether you’re a Youtuber or a marketer, these statistics are available through many research routes and even automatic analysis tools such as Google Analytics.
3. Focus on the Narrative, Tell a Story
Due to their dynamic nature, videos take the viewer through a timeline of sequences that offer great potential in conveying a story, rather than just a disconnected stream of videos and audio. Storylines and plots keep the viewer engaged with what you’re putting out there, and this isn’t just the case for movies – it relates to branding messages, video product content, advertisements, interviews and even tutorials and educational videos.
Video perhaps isn’t the best media to use if you have no interest in coming up with timelines that aim to keep the viewer intrigued by your content. It’s all too easy for them to disengage and click that little cross button in the corner!
4. Ensure Videos Flow Seamlessly
As with many videography editing situations, you’ll likely need to combine many clips into one. This tip relates to the idea of both transitional tools and the storytelling aspect, as it can be completely jarring to watch if a video switches from one scene with a certain ambiance, to a completely unrelated scene where the atmosphere has altered completely. This links into the cruciality of utilising colour correction tools, which we’ll mention later on in tip #9.
Keep everything flowing smoothly, and your viewers will be naturally guided through the story you’ve set out for them. Making videos easy to watch and follow is a key videography technique that can take years to refine, but it’s a must.
5. Find Inspiration from Other Videographers
In perfecting your techniques such as video flow and storytelling know-how, it’s vital that you keep up with what other creators are doing and seek inspiration from them. There might end up being a cool new editing technique you completely miss out on, and then the trend is gone. As with any industry, videographers are continuously refining their styles to fit in with (or stand out amongst) what’s popular.
6. Concentrate on Perfecting Audio
While video is inherently visual, let’s not forget about audio. The ability to merge the two offers an amazing range of opportunities when it comes to creating imaginative content that compels the viewer to watch more of your creations, comment on social media videos, or even purchase a product from your brand. Video is more connective and immersive, and you can utilise tech surrounding visuals and audio to strike that perfect balance in crafting the ambiance you’re going for.
With audio, you’ve got to focus on that balance between speech and music in the background. In the first instance, speech is most important, so you should get that part absolutely spot on before configuring the volume of the background music.
7. Make it Dynamic: Include Graphics or Text
Not only should videos include that engaging videography content that flows and transitions seamlessly, but you should incorporate graphics and text in most cases too. For example, if you’re creating a tutorial and wishing to transition between steps you need to explain, a graphic slide that outlines what the next stage of the tutorial is can be an informative way to switch scenes.
8. Learn and Use Keyboard Shortcuts
Video editing is no quick fix. It can take hours upon hours, even multiple days of solid concentration, to edit even just a short 20-minute video. So, learning shortcuts that will help speed up your productivity in video editing is a must for many who don’t have that time to play around.
They just make life so much easier. That’s why most of the video editing software we’ve mentioned above have incorporated keyboard shortcuts into their tools and apps.
9. Play Around with Colour Editing and Corrections
The best video editing software will include comprehensive colour editing options. For example, free software like Lightworks does not include these features, as they solely focus on editing and combining videos.
To capture a complete sense of immersion within entire new environments within video, it’s often essential that you use colour editing tools. Further to this, combining multiple clips that were filmed in varying lighting situations or locations often end up looking a bit off when it comes to colour. Consistency throughout your video is key, as otherwise scenes will look off balance and the viewer might be confused by the switch.
Videography editing software features colour correction and also colour grading options. Corrections are for remaining on point with the consistency of your clips using balancing tools, contrast and brightness scales. You can use these correction-based tools to enhance the flow of videos and create seamless transitions, despite these varying background scenes.
Alongside this, colour grading tools are for editing the entire vibe of a scene. Once your colours have been corrected throughout, you can place filters that have the potential to edit the whole tone and feel of a scene or clip.
10. Keep up with Relevant Content Ideas & News
Our final tip for videography links in with the relevancy of your content. Algorithms throughout social media platforms and the way they prioritise the order of content focus on how relevant your content is deemed to be. For example, on Instagram, we’re deliberately shown content first by those we interact with the most. The same goes for video on many platforms.
This can get tricky, as you’ve got to stay on top of the news in order to release quality video content in time to stay relevant. But it’s all part of staying informed.
If you’re looking to stay updated with the latest info in digital marketing and similar innovations, look to Innovationly. We’re constantly releasing content on the latest news surrounding topics like business, creative marketing, upcoming events, finance and #whatshot across industries.
