Video editing can be a pretty time-consuming process but with the right strategies and tools you can significantly reduce your editing time without compromising quality.
To put it bluntly editing can be a lot of faffing around and become a little tedious due to the inherent repetitive nature of the activity.
Whether you’re aiming to be a content creator, a professional editor or just operate as a hobbyist there are some quite simple things you can do to make the entire experience faster and more enjoyable.
Build a Favorites Library
One of the best ways to speed up your editing process is maintaining a well-organized library of frequently used elements.
Think of this as your editing toolkit – a centralized collection of your go-to resources that you can quickly access whenever needed.
It doesn’t matter which video editing software program you are using; you will have the ability to create custom folders in the library section of the program for this purpose.
In fact, most editing software has something like this built into the default structure anyway.
These folders are where you store commonly used assets such as transitions, title templates, sound effects, and background music.
Organize these elements into clearly labeled subfolders for easy navigation as you are engaged in the editing process.
It may seem a little counter intuitive at first but as you build that store of regularly used assets you will begin to work faster and faster as you spend less time looking for things.
Remember that a “favorites” folder can apply not just to things like images, clips, audio or transitions.
It can be used for filter and effects presets, adjustment layers, other effects and a whole range of things.
Leverage Proxy Files for Smoother Editing
Working with high-resolution footage can strain your system’s resources leading to frustrating lags and slower performance.
This doesn’t just apply to 4K or 6K footage.
Even high definition at 1080p is still placing stress on your system especially when you start to do things like color correct, apply overlays, picture-in-picture, masking or even customized transitions.
All of those actions require enormous recalculations of the footage on the fly by your computer and open the door to sudden failures or crashes.
The solution? Proxy files – lower-resolution versions of your original footage that you can use during the editing process.
Editing with these lighter proxy files will allow you to maintain smoother playback and responsiveness making the entire process more enjoyable.
All software these days can create and work with proxy files and will automatically switch back to the original high-resolution files for final export.
If you’re working with older footage that needs quality enhancement deal with that footage separately before you add it to a project.
That way you don’t bog down or complicate your editing workflow while at the same time keeping the pressure off your system.
Keep Moving Forward
A common pitfall that slows down many editors is the tendency to repeatedly watch finished segments.
While it’s natural to want to review your work, constant rewatching can significantly impact your editing efficiency.
Implement a system for marking completed sections with clear labels or notes.
This visual organization helps you stay focused on unfinished segments and resist the urge to revisit completed work.
The workflow the pro’s usually use is that they start off with a broad overview of the project adding all assets in a general sense to the point where everything is in place.
They then drill down into individual sequences completing them one by one until they are mostly in shape.
Finally, they do a complete run through of the project attending to fine tuning and polishing as they go.
Save the final review for when the entire project is complete, allowing you to maintain momentum throughout the editing process.
Use Keyboard Shortcuts
Mastering keyboard shortcuts is like learning a new language that helps you communicate with your editing software more efficiently.
Focus on learning 5-7 essential shortcuts that align with your most frequent actions, such as making cuts, adjusting clip lengths or applying commonly used transitions.
Most editing software allows you to customize shortcuts to match your workflow and will have access to a “keyboard map” where you can see what the default shortcuts are and how to can tailor them to your own preferences.
Invest time in setting up these personalized shortcuts and don’t just automatically accept the defaults.
Make them fit your workflow and what you feel comfortable with.
Remember that while there will be an initial learning curve that makes you feel you are slowing down, the long-term time savings will be substantial.
Even simple shortcuts like the left/right arrows for playback control can significantly speed up your review process.
The Power of Templates
Templates are your secret weapon for maintaining consistency while reducing repetitive setup time however, there are two types of templates that we are talking about here.
The first type of templates are those that come packaged with whatever software you are using to editing your videos.
Generally, these will be complete project templates that have pre-designed titles, openers and end sequences.
To be honest many of these are kind of cheesy and will make you project look a little amateurish.
However, within those collections you may find some good ones or at least some that you can customize to your own taste.
The second type of templates are the ones that you create and save for elements that appear in multiple projects.
These can be created for intros and outros, lower-third graphics, title sequences, transition combinations or even color grading presets.
Label these templates descriptively (e.g., “Vlog Title Intro 1” or “Interview Lower Third – Clean”) to make them easily identifiable and as mentioned earlier, save them to a favorites folder in your library for fast access.
When you start a new project, you can quickly drop in these pre-made elements on to the project timeline rather than recreating them from scratch and go from there.
Optimize Your Technical Setup
Ultimately the speed and smoothness of your editing experience will to a large degree come down to technical limitations.
Once you have implemented some or all of the strategies already mentioned and have had some practice, chances are you will be pushing that computer to its limits!
This brings us to the software you use and that isn’t as straightforward as it seems.
You have to choose editing software that matches your skill level, offers comprehensive tutorials and community support and can run smoothly on your system.
These days most consumer level programs are pretty good at utilizing the power of both your CPU and GPU in the editing process and going up to a fully pro editor may not give you the results you may expect.
Remember that Pro level editors are designed for… well Pros! The assumption is that they will be running on some kind of a beast-mode computer at all times.
Lighter alternatives like Filmora, PowerDirector or Movavi can provide smooth performance and are specifically designed for use on older systems or those with less computing power.
Either way regular system maintenance is crucial to give yourself the best chance.
Clear unnecessary files and programs especially after you have completed a project making sure that proxies that were created at the time are cleaned up.
Look within you program for the location of “render files.” These are temporary files created by most video editing software to enable smooth playback while you are working.
Very often these are buried deep in your system and can build up quite quickly.
If your system has a mechanical hard drive rather than an SSD check in the Windows settings to see if it needs to be defragmented.
Don’t endlessly defrag just for the sake of it as that just places unnecessary stress on the drive for no real advantage.
Keep your editing software updated and lower preview resolution during editing.
Back up your work and associated files to an external drive to reduce system stress. Try not to think of your computer as a storage device.
The less clutter on your drives the easier and faster the system can find and work with what you want.
Many video editing programs these days have a feature that allows you to safely pack up an entire project into a single folder for storage so there is nothing you need to keep on your computer.
Remember, the fastest editing setup isn’t necessarily the most expensive – it’s the one optimized for your specific needs and workflow.
Discover more from The DIY Video Editor
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Leave a Reply