HOW TO EDIT VIDEOS LIKE A PROFESSIONAL 9 video editing tips you need to master

A good plan is essential to professional editing.

Any good video tells a story. A story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Plan your story and how you’re going to tell it. You should do this before you ever shoot, in the form of a script, but if you didn’t, now is the time to make a plan.

Plan for consistent use of colors, transitions, titles and fonts, musical cues, sound effects, and everything that goes into a video. Know what your finished video will look like before you start editing.

Media management is one of the keys to professional editing. Efficient editing means keeping your media organized and easy to find.

During the import process, make note of each video element and how you plan to use it. Professional productions keep shot logs during the shoot, so work from that if available. Take note of the takes/shots marked as good and usable during production.

Import what you need and leave what you don’t. Arrange your media into bins – organize media logically by type, by scene, or whatever organization system works best for you and your project.

Organize your footage into a rough edit. Non-linear editors (NLEs) with storyboard functions make rough cuts quick and easy.

Being non-linear, you don’t have to edit your project in sequence from beginning to end. If you decide to work on scenes or sections separately, NLEs offering nested timelines make it easy. A great way to keep your timeline tidy and efficient, you can place your scenes on the main timeline as single media events, but you can still go back into the scene to change things if needed.

Once you have a rough edit in place, start fine edits. Perfect the timing of your scenes, trimming media to get precise cuts. Get into and out of every scene as quickly as you can; make your point and move on. Linger too long, and your audience loses interest.

Effective transitions bring your cuts together smoothly. Most transitions are simple straight cuts and fades or dissolves. For visual interest, you can addanimated transitions like wipes or flashes, but use them sparingly, logically, and consistently. While animated transitions can emphasize important points in your video, avoid making them too flashy or distracting.

Effective use of text and titles can really elevate a video. Plan for consistent and logical use of text, including the types of fonts you use. Every project is different, but flashy or overly colorful fonts can look amateurish.

For text overlays on footage, a slight drop shadow brings the text out and makes it more readable.

Usually the last step, though you may add music or sound cues earlier in the edit to help with timing. Start perfecting audio when you’ve got all your visual elements in place.

Even out your sound levels for consistent volume. Use audio meters. Don’t trust your ears, especially if you’re editing scenes separately – using the meters is the only way to know for sure that you have consistent levels. Normal dialogue ranges from about -20 to -12 dB. Once you have your dialogue set, making the rest of your sound consistent is easier.

Clean up unwanted sounds like breaths or stutters, and use crossfades between sound clips to smooth out the transitions between them. Always fade into and out of your sound.

Apply audio tools like EQ to remove hiss and other problems. Many sound problems like echo or high background noise can’t be easily fixed, so make sure to record clean, strong audio so you don’t have to try to fix it in post.

Now add music and sound effects, keeping their volume consistent within a well-mixed sound field.

Add visual effects like compositing or CGI elements after finishing the steps above so you don’t create extra work. Adding VFX at this step also assists the next step, adding sound.