
8 Simple Editing Techniques and Concepts To Make Better Videos
I thought I would kick off this week’s Friday Roundup with a bit of a “back to basics” tutorial.
A lot of the editing tutorials that are kicking around these days seem to be covering a lot of special effects post production type techniques.
That’s all very well but the addition of all of those things relies on an underlying video that ticks all the boxes.
Those boxes are delineated by what we could refer to as “the Basics.”
So here are 8 editing techniques that you should be applying on a regular basis before you start gettin’ all fancy schmancy.
High End vs Mid Range Cameras
Regular readers of the Friday Roundup or visitors to this site will probably be aware that I don’t do camera reviews or very much camera news overall.
I often refer to others on this subject but I personally keep well away from it. I know my limitations!
The camera/camcorder/smartphone for video market has been undergoing significant transformation over the past decade and to be honest I just don’t have the time to keep up with it.
I do have a rather lengthy series of articles at this link Choosing a Camera For Video (https://diyvideoeditor.com/category/choose-video-camera/) if you are interested.
Those articles don’t go into what camera to buy but how to choose one for yourself.
Having said that I do get questions occasionally on the subject of high end versus mid-range cameras.
Basically it is the same question being answered in the video below which is why the specs of a high end camera seem to be the same as a mid-range yet the price is so different.
Mastering Morph Effects in Corel VideoStudio
A while back now Corel decided to focus development of Corel VideoStudio on the things they were good at which was video editing software.
Although they always had a good range of effects and filters they decided to go with third party companies to continue to expand in that area.
That’s why when you use VideoStudio many of the more advanced features are actually accessed by adding effects from the NewBlue and Boris FX range of filters and effects.
The video below is a good example of this in using a third party filter to extend the capabilities of the core program.
Save Time by Using TXT and SRT Files to Add Content to Subtitles
Working inside most video editors in their subtitling area is often a pretty fiddly affair.
Video editors are not really designed with the ability to work with large amounts of text which is understandable given their purpose in presenting video and other assets in a user friendly way.
This is not too much of a problem for titles as they tends to be short but when it comes to subtitling text, things can get a bit out of control.
All subtitling and subtitling modules make use of a file type with a .srt file ending.
They have certain protocols they follow but in reality they are just .txt files.
In the video below you can get an idea of how to manipulate them and add them back into a project without messing everything up!
Smooth Speed Ramping Every Time! – Wondershare Filmora
Speed ramping has been a feature of Filmora since back in the days of Filmora 10 I think but because it hasn’t been promoted much, maybe it’s a feature you have overlooked.
The speed ramping module in Filmora is one of the best around mainly due to the user friendly way it is presented.
You can see it in action in the video below but take note of the little “speed graphs” it uses when you want to set it up.
Very handy.
Every AI Tool in AI Box of Filmora 13
One of my main complaints about the recent addition of so many A.I tools in video editors in general is that many of them seem to be marketing exercises rather than anything you would necessarily use!
As part of my role here in blogging each week on video editing and shooting I have about 7 mainstream video editors loaded onto my long suffering computer!
All of them at some point in the past year or so have updated to include all manner of A.I. tools and capabilities and to be honest, I use very few!
So in the video below Jacky goes through all the current A.I tools in Filmora 13 to let you see if they are actually of any use.
How to Attach Pictures, Videos & More with Movavi’s Motion Tracking
Finally! One feature that I was always surprised was missing from the Movavi Video Editor was motion tracking.
The software has a bunch of A.I. and “smart” features so I was a bit surprised motion tracking was missing.
That all changed a few weeks back with the addition of it to the program.
In the video below you can see the new feature in operation and my own tests have shown it to be as good as anything else on the market at this level.
To be clear though, remember that motion tracking in any software relies on a certain level of contrast between what is being tracked and the background that thing is set against.
Tracking a white balloon in a room where all the walls are white is going to present problems!
Like most motion trackers you may have to go back in and correct under certain circumstances but that beats the hell out of keyframing an entire sequence manually!
Color Shift Your Videos Like a PRO! – DaVinci Resolve
This is a far more approachable tutorial in DaVinci Resolve than the one at the bottom of this week’s post!
In this video Daniel Batal covers the subject of changing the color of objects in a video and that’s fine for what it is.
However along the way you can get a good demonstration of selecting colors, isolating both colors and objects, expanding color selections, masking and motion tracking! It’s good deal at that price!
Advanced Fusion VFX Workshop – Full DaVinci Resolve Compositing Workshop
OK I don’t usually add video tutorials at this level to the Friday Roundup because this one is not for the faint of heart!
However if you have been following along at all with Casey Faris’ recent tutorials on the Fusion Page in Resolve then maybe you might find this… tolerable?
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