Creative & Effective Video Editing Techniques Every Video Editor Should know

This is the most basic edit of them all – a direct cut between shots, where the next shot immediately begins where the first one ends.  But basic doesn’t always mean uncreative! Hard, jarring cuts can add big drama, like seeing a location on a map and then cutting to a huge landscape or imposing cliff side. A hard cut can also be humorous, such as cutting from a character saying he’ll never do something under any circumstances, and then cutting immediately to him doing just that! 

Films commonly employ cross-fades or cross-dissolves when the filmmakers want to slowly transition from one shot to the next, symbolizing time passage or some kind of change, such as a night shot slowly dissolving into to the next morning.

VEGAS makes this kind of transition easy. Just slide one clip into another on the timeline, and VEGAS automatically sets up a cross-dissolve, with no need to drag “handles” out on either side of the cut.

Editors have used J-cuts and L-cuts for many decades to add visual interest and even tension to a dialogue scene. Instead of cutting between characters as they say their lines, stay on a character while the other starts talking (J-cut) or cut away to see the other character before the first character is finished speaking (L-cut). These cuts get their names from how the footage appears on the video editing timeline – starting a character’s dialogue and then cutting to the next shot resembles a J, and cutting away from a character before they’re finished speaking resembles an L.

With VEGAS software, it’s easy to cut and drag a clip’s audio and video separately, making these kinds of cuts a snap.

Cutting on action is a classic way to make cuts between two very different shots seem nearly invisible. If you follow a character walking down a hallway and then reaching for a door to open, cutting directly into the next room to see the door opening and character walking in seems natural, and the audience barely even notices the cut.

Video isn’t just about pictures; it’s also about sound, and effective editing can come from cuts synchronized with music beats or other sound cues.

VEGAS software makes it easy to synch a cut to a musical note or a sound effect by displaying the waveforms of your sound down to an incredible level of detail. You can zoom in on your waveform to an unparalleled level and find the exact bit of sound you want to synch your cut to.

Cutaways are effective ways to cover jump cuts or use separate takes in a seemingly continuous shot. As the name implies, you “cut away” from the main action to an insert or another object of interest, such as an approaching car. Not only can this technique make it easier to connect different takes or sections of clips where you’ve removed some frames, it can also be used, for example, to raise tension – by cutting to a ticking clock as characters race against time.