Some Video Editing Basics

Before you get into the process of editing that mountain of video you have had slowly piling up it is worth taking the time to figure out just where you are going with your video editing and exactly what it is that video editing software will do for you.

In light of that, on these pages I will cover a few of the basic concepts and functions of editing software so that you can gain a clearer understanding of what video editing entails and what you should be expecting to achieve with your video editing.

Most people tend to think of editing as basically a process of cutting out the stuff that doesn’t look good, like bits where nothing is happening, shaky shots, out of focus stuff and the time you left the camcorder recording accidentally and now have an hour of footage of the bottom of your carry bag!

The general idea here is to cut out the garbage, stitch what’s left together and render it to a new file which is now your finished video with which you intend to mightily impress friends and family.

Sadly it just doesn’t work that way.

Cutting out unwanted stuff from your original footage represents only a fraction of the entire video editing process. Although it could be said that editing in this way is better than no editing at all the only outcome will generally be a reduction in the length of time that your audience feels the pain.

Even though this website is aimed at the hobbyist or video enthusiast… or as some say about me, the video editing tragic, there is much to learn from the way the pro’s do it even if you aren’t actually trying to make a Hollywood special effects blockbuster.

Video editing is actually the process of adding stuff, not taking it away. If you can at least get that mindset before you start, the whole process begins to make much more sense and will give you much better results.