9 Apps and Tools That Make It Easier As A Video Creator
As I have spent more and more time over the past few years shooting and editing videos a few things have become obvious to me.
First is that previously repetitive tasks that weren’t too much of a problem have become increasingly a royal pain in the butt!
With some of these the thrill has definitely gone!
The other thing that has become a pain is that with more projects on the burner it has become way too easy for me to lose track of things especially specific steps within projects.
Although if I am totally honest here I have to admit even completely forgetting entire projects!
In the video below you can see some great tools for helping you out with video editing but a few of them I have specific experience with so I will mention them here.
The first is Notion.
This is a project organization tool that is free to use and you would have to be managing some pretty complex stuff to ever need the pro version.
I use the program just about exactly as you will see in the video below and it saves me both time and embarrassment for tracking projects and tasks within projects.
The second is Monitor Plus which I use for shooting static videos.
I use a Sony ZV-E10 for my shooting on a tripod and by hooking up Monitor Plus I can control the camera on my Samsung Galaxy Tab.
This means I don’t have to keep tapping the camera to start and stop takes so any chance of messing up the shot because I accidently hit the wrong part of the camera or tripod is removed.
I also use DaVinci Resolve for my rough cuts and color correction then export to a more user friendly program for final touches.
Obviously DaVinci has the best color controls around so that a no-brainer but I also use it because of the waveform display.
I cut most of my videos based on the dialogue and I need to get those cuts very tight for fast pacing.
The DaVinci waveform display can be expanded and it very clear so you can find the end and beginnings of the audio very easily.
How To Edit Videos (Video Editing For Beginners – Complete Guide!)
I particularly like the video tutorials from the guys at Primal Video for a few reasons.
Mainly it is because they are engaged in a steady production process at high quality and clearly know what they are doing.
However that doesn’t always equate to good tutorials!
It’s one thing to know how to do it and entirely another to know how to explain it clearly to others… who don’t know how to do it.
Workflows vary from person to person but in this video they give a pretty solid set of basics to start off with.
What’s New in Filmora 13.6: AI Object Remover, Smart Search and More
OK so two things to cover here!
First up there is another tutorial video somewhere around here using DaVinci Resolve showing how to place text behind something in a video.
In that entry I point out that this is a pretty complicated process in DaVinci unless you are running the full “Studio” version.
The reason for that is the automatic tracker that allows a mask to “follow” a selected object on the screen.
I also mention if I was doing the same thing I would use PowerDirector or Filmora because at a third of the price they have this feature.
In the video below you can see it in action being used to actually remove an object and clone the surrounding area.
The other point is that also somewhere around this week’s Friday Roundup I refer to Filmora version 13.5.5 as being the latest… not so!
On Wednesday they moved it up to 13.5.6!
New Curved Text Effect in Filmora 13. Tutorial For Beginners
One of the updates that was added to Filmora 13.5.5 was the introduction of curved text.
To be honest I actually think that Filmora is the only consumer level video editor that offers this.
Anyway in the video below you can see how it works and how you can add it to one of your own projects.
Sound Design in a YouTube Video – Video-Editing Tutorial for Beginners
So everyone is supposed to know that the most important part of video is audio.
If you didn’t actually know that then consider this your wake up call.
Mediocre video with good sound will survive OK.
Good video with bad sound will be rejected out of hand… no questions, no arguments.
At a minimum you need to at least be delivering reasonable quality audio in your videos but that’s not the end of it.
You can take things even higher if you learn a little about sound design and how to achieve it.
YouTube FAQs: AI Video Editing – PowerDirector
Here are some frequently asked questions answered from the guys at CyberLink PowerDirector.
They do these fairly regularly and this weeks Q&A is directed more towards the A.I. features in PowerDirector and A.I. in general.
How to Correctly use️ A/B Thumbnail Test on YouTube
OK so a few weeks back now YouTube announced the addition of A/B testing for thumbnails on YouTube Channels for videos.
Actually it is really A/B/C testing because you can add three alternate thumbnails for any video you upload.
Simply put, YouTube rotates the two or three thumbnails and when a clear winner emerges it uses that thumbnail as the “one true thumbnail” from there on out.
There has been some negativity (Yes! Negativity on the internet… shocking I know!) surrounding this new feature because later YouTube came out to say that the winner was being decided by watch-time rather than click-through rate.
To be honest the click-through rate is actually a more accurate judge of the thumbnail itself so I have to agree with that point.
Having said that let’s face it. It’s a tool that can still be used and if used correctly just adds to the data you can use to boost your channel.
3 Ways to Put TEXT BEHIND Moving Objects in DaVinci Resolve 19 – Free & Studio Versions
People sometimes ask me why I use a couple of different types of software to complete my video editing of a project.
For example I always use DaVinci Resolve for color correction and for fine cutting when the cuts are heavily dependant on the dialogue.
However once I have done that I export to something like Filmora or PowerDirector to finish the job off.
The main reason for that is that DaVinci is extreme overkill for the complexity of the projects I am usually working on.
Resolve is designed to allow for staggeringly complex projects at the Hollywood blockbuster level so my little YouTube videos are not really part of that picture!
Oftentimes DaVinci makes simple tasks more complex than they need to be from my perspective but obviously not from Mr. Hollywood movie editors perspective.
In the video below you can see the simple task of placing text behind an object and how in Resolve it becomes a saga in itself!
The same action in Filmora, PowerDirector or even Movavi is pretty much a drag’n’drop process!
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