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Edit Video with a Video Editor: 5 Tips

40 Responses (Add) | Monday, December 3rd, 2007 at 10:41pm

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MrBogosity from our live chat room sent in five excellent tips to share with you all about video editing, especially when it comes to YouTube. These are definitely ones you’ll want to pay close attention to. Keep those Top 5’s coming in!

shanedk on YouTube, MrBogosity in the chat room.

Tighten your edit. You may have worked hard on those several seconds of clouds, or bizarre color-cycling patterns, or whatever, but the rest of us are going to be bored watching it and may very well click away and watch someone else’s video. Make things happen all the time. Give us a title card on the screen, or come on and talk, or cut to the next thing, but do it quickly. Here’s a guideline: once the content for that part of the video is finished, start counting. If you can count higher than 1 before the next part of the video, edit it down! Exceptions might be a pause for comic or dramatic effect, but don’t pause too long.

Make text readable. White or yellow text on a light video doesn’t do it; select a contrasting color. Take advantage of whatever features your software might have, such as outline or drop-shadow, to make it stand out from the background. And if it’s going on YouTube, remember that they’ll compress the bejeezus out of your video so make the text sufficiently large, too.

Turn down the music. It gets your voice all muddled. You can keep it at full volume when there’s nothing else to listen to, but turn it down when there’s stuff going on, especially if you’re talking. If you’re accustomed to using a graphic equalizer, then you might want to turn down the levels in the 100-200Hz range and the 4-5kHz range. That’s where most of the important voice stuff happens. If you do that, you shouldn’t have to turn down the overall volume as much and we can more clearly hear both music and voice. You can also boost those same frequencies in your voice track.

Cut out the “fillers.” These are words like “uh,” “um,” and “you know.” Sure, there’ll be a little jump-cut in your video, but that’s not as distracting as those filler words. Your video will go faster, and you’ll sound smarter, too. You can do very quick crossfades instead of jump-cuts if they bother you. Oh, and drop the volume if you cough or clear your throat. We don’t want to listen to that.

Don’t use wipes. Don’t EVER use wipes. Don’t ever, ever, ever, EVER use wipes. Cut or crossfade to the next shot. On rare occasions you can do a dissolve where you use solarization or do some other effect, but use it VERY sparingly and only when it enhances the transition. And NEVER use wipes. And if you ever even THINK about doing a page-curl you should be hunted down and shot.

There you are, advice from a completely self-taught producer and editor. Editing is a lot of work, but it’s very rewarding when you come up with something that’s pretty good, and you start getting great comments. And above all: have fun with it!

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40 Comments

qzpoint | Tips World

December 4th, 2007
at 4:41am

http://live.pirillo.com – MrBogosity from our live chat room sent in five excellent tips to share with you all about video editing, especially when it comes to YouTube. These are definitely ones you’ll want to pay close attention to. … sourcedhere

Digital Media Thoughts - Digital Media News & Views

December 4th, 2007
at 9:59pm

Five Tips for Editing YouTube Videos

Social Media

December 3rd, 2007
at 7:05pm

5 video editing tips At ChrisPirillo.com comesthis advicefrom a self-taught producer and editor: 5 video editing tips. Rule #5: Never use wipes. Ever. December 4 at 12:47 AM in Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | [IMG Bookmark this entry on del.icio.us] |

Spazeboy

January 1st, 2008
at 6:04pm

’ll list the main points of the tips below, but you should click through for the elaboration: Tighten your edit Make text readable Turn down the music Cut out the “fillers” Don’t use wipesThere is plenty more about those tips here. I made some similar points in my guide, emphasizing that shorter is better. Think about the videos you like to watch. For me, if there’s a long drawn out set-up, then the video had better deliver. If you get some good political video of Senator XYZ

Windows Vista Torrent

December 5th, 2007
at 2:17pm

Tech Interviews Wireless Routers ReviewEdit Video with a Video Editor: 5 TipsAnti-Spyware After Christmas Tips Simple Ebay Guide Mac Software Are Computers for Kids? Wireless Gadgets for Photographers Online Shopping Tips and Tricks Christmas Safety

Collide Magazine

December 6th, 2007
at 8:47pm

I Am Legend. Montclair State is requiring undergrads to carry GPS-enabled cell phones for safety/security purposes. I’m sure the youth ministers out there see some applications for this … Here arefive quick tips for video editing(via Social Media). Cinemagogue treats us to a review of Beowulf. NBC News’ Tom Brokaw recently did a short video piece on young Evangelicals, the Emerging Church, and politics (via ThinkChristian).

Social Media

December 4th, 2007
at 9:15am

At ChrisPirillo.com comesthis advicefrom a self-taught producer and editor: 5 video editing tips. Rule #5: Never use wipes. Ever.

Windows Vista Torrent

December 4th, 2007
at 7:59am

Spazeboy

January 1st, 2008
at 10:31pm

It’s been a good long while since I’ve posted any updates to Spazeboy’s Guide to Videoblogging (though after about 6 months, I think it’s aged well), but I wanted to share these five tips thatI picked up from Chris Pirillo’s blog. I’ll list the main points of the tips below, but you should click through for the elaboration: Tighten your edit Make text readable Turn down the music Cut out the “fillers” Don’t use wipes

devandev

December 3rd, 2007
at 1:56pm

802 nice

OtisDaHouseCat

December 3rd, 2007
at 1:58pm

SECOND

2DM

December 3rd, 2007
at 2:02pm

Wow, you guys are soo special to get the 1st or 2nd comment.

I like to edit videos, but it is a pain in the ass sometimes.

pozzar

December 3rd, 2007
at 2:02pm

sweet

VampyreEleven

December 3rd, 2007
at 2:02pm

Mozart’s Ghost… lol

emeek77

December 3rd, 2007
at 2:05pm

if you cut out every single filler word (i.e. uumm,) some people vids woud be so full of jump cuts it wouldnt be watchable..lol

LayzNguyen

December 3rd, 2007
at 7:04pm

Woot woot

clicb4

December 3rd, 2007
at 10:10pm

It can be. I use Vegas for my videos, but I enjoying tinkering with the editing.

pspaddict01

December 4th, 2007
at 1:59am

nice

Xbox360danslayer

December 4th, 2007
at 5:33am

yea nice editing tips, i’m always amused by videos which help others. Btw i’m like the 7th comment or something but i couldn’t care.

6byteme9

December 4th, 2007
at 6:48am

I like your comment about the pi symbol Mozart’s Ghost! LMAO.

travitherabbii

December 4th, 2007
at 1:06am

Really good tips I learn a few things from them.

FTLNewsFeed

December 4th, 2007
at 12:13pm

OMG, I subscibe to shanedk and watch his Bogosity series!! cool!!

rwcabrera

December 4th, 2007
at 1:36pm

I hate to sound like a dummy but I REMEMBER WHEN YOU CRACKED UP ON TV!! i just remembered why you looked familiar! sorry about that i jut couldn’t hold that in..

anyhow, ill use these tips in hopefully a video ill make someday ( i dont have a camera!)

albert

December 4th, 2007
at 8:15am

why are wipes so bad? not to say it should be your default transition but besides your penchant for criticism, whats the reason? ever see star wars?

ultrajumboshrimp

December 4th, 2007
at 6:47pm

at 3:39….
Chris: and if you ever think about doing a page curl, you should be hunt down and shot!
Vista: *ding dong!*

CKyzOnLy

December 4th, 2007
at 9:17pm

guy do you have any real friends? or do you just chat on there all day

XxEmo2DxX

December 4th, 2007
at 9:55pm

lol, good catch :P

GranitW

December 5th, 2007
at 1:14am

I think George Lucas is the only one that still uses wipes in Films.

nickjuly004

December 5th, 2007
at 6:26am

I like editing videos and usually I don’t use too many transitions, well I did on my remembering NBC video since they are old clips and represent a flashback then go to the current time.

MoundOfManure3

December 5th, 2007
at 11:25am

I think those are terrible tips…

KGSProductions

December 5th, 2007
at 1:22pm

wooops! :-D

neelradhakrishnan

December 6th, 2007
at 6:01am

Some good tips…although I’m not so sure on some of the other… a tip from me (novide) is dont try to use complex video editing software unless you know how to…in my expirience it will more than likely fail. Speaking of editing, if anyone would care to watch my BBall video and comment on how to improve editing I’d appreciate it. Peace out!

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