5 Video Mistakes & How to Fix Them in Post
When you live in a world of “point and shoot” and are trapped most of the time in the auto settings of your camera, there are some errors you will regularly see.
Things like white balance, exposure problems, audio disasters… the list goes on!
Anyway, even though it is terrible practice to work with the idea that you can always “fix it in post,” the reality is that usually, “you can fix it in post!”
Here are some tips on correcting some of those common problems.
All you really need is reasonably well equipped video editing software like Pinnacle Studio.
Video Resolution (Mostly?) Doesn’t Matter
There is a prevalence these days in the world of video editing and just crating videos on general of really pushing the whole resolution thing.
Somehow it is becoming only acceptable if you are doing everything in 2K, 4K or above.
Like most questions of this nature in the world of video there is no single answer that confirms that bigger is better or the opposite.
The key really comes down to the platform upon which the video is going to be viewed amongst other things.
The reality is that the whole 4K thing is more marketing than anything else and that is not to say that there are times when 4K is the best!
Check out the video below for a more complete discussion of the subject.
Filming a Product Commercial with an iPhone
I don’t completely buy into the argument that the quality of your video projects has nothing to do with the quality of your tools.
You usually see that kind of comment or claim made by some guy on YouTube who is shooting with a fully loaded Red Camera, a lighting rig and a purpose built video editing computer!
However there is at least some truth to the sentiment in that it is possible even if your are shooting on a phone that you can improve you results.
Check out the video below for some pro tips on getting the best out of a smart phone video shoot.
How to Build a Successful Video Workflow
I generally add any tutorial I can on the subject of work flows.
Although I guess there is a basic sequence that works best, there are variations within that sequence that may or may not suit you and your projects.
This week Techsmith put up this video which I particularly like because it lays out an overall work flow then guides you towards working out what’s best for you.
What Are Video Thumbnails and Why Do They Matter?
Another good article from the guys at Techsmith on the subject of video thumbnails.
When you upload a video to YouTube they will automatically generate thumbnails you can choose from to be the one for that video.
This is done algorithmically so it is in no way optimized for real results.
The reality is that there are two steps to someone actually watching your video as the result of it appearing in search results.
The first is that the title of the video closely matches what the person was looking for.
The second and just as important, is that there is a thumbnail that the viewer finds appealing or attractive.
The article linked below covers this.
B-Roll 101: 2 Types of B Roll You Need To Know – Filmora X
This is a good basic tutorial on two specific types of b-roll footage you may want to capture and work into your projects.
It also gives a good explanation of what b-roll is so I won’t bore you with me repeating what is already in the video!
Filmora X vs. DaVinci Resolve – An Honest Comparison
You may be at a point where you are trying to choose between these two software products or maybe not!
Either way there are some great tips here on some of the things you should be looking at when it comes to choosing any video editing software.
For all of my own tips on the subject you can check out me full Choosing Video Editing Software Here.
Color Isolation Effect – Filmora Pro
In the introduction to this tutorial they mention that the effect in question is inspired by a similar effect seen in the new series WandaVision.
They also refer to it as the “Leave Color” effect.
The reason they use that term is because it coincides with the naming of the filter being used in Filmora Pro.
The effect is more generally referred to as the color isolation effect or even the Sin City effect due to it being used extensively in Sin City.
As usual you don’t necessarily need to have Filmora Pro to pull off the effect but you will need a video editor with reasonably good color correction tools.
The Character Intro Freeze Effect – CyberLink PowerDirector 19
There is a common technique used in Hollywood that is most closely connected to caper movies like Ocean’s 11 and similar.
It’s that idea of when a new character appears there is either a slow motion sequence or a still frame with text added to introduce that character.
It’s not a new idea and it is certainly not a difficult thing to pull of once you know how.
In the video below you can see how it is done in PowerDirector but as usual, the brand of software is irrelevant.
As long as you understand the technique you can do it in pretty much any decent video editing software.
Creative Video Effects to Try for Your Next Video
Although this is a video put out by the nice people at CyberLink, most of the features they are highlighting are available in other video editing software packages.
It is however a good reminder of the range of tools and effects most of us have at out fingertips these days yet possibly we forget all of them.
They cover Transition Effects, Video Speed, Keyframes, Tracking, Masks, Blending Modes, Chroma Key, Color Effects, LUTs, Lighting Effects, Split Screens.
PowerDirector – Show Multiple Clips on the Screen with Masking
This is just a good demonstration of some of the more advanced features you can use in the Mask Designer in PowerDirector.
A lot of the time the preset options and the preset masks themselves are enough to do the job but there are times when you may want to step in and take full control.
This video shows you how.
Delete Files with “Could Not Find This Item” on Windows 10
This is a neat little trick that applies generally to Windows rather than video editing in particular.
Sometimes you may find that a file or folder appears somewhere on your computer but when you try to open it, Windows tells you that it cannot be found.
This can also happen when you delete something yet the file of folder just won’t go away!
To deal with this just check out the video below but make sure you really want to get rid of that file or folder for good!
The code shown in the video is here:
rd /s “\\?/
Then you add the full file path to the file or folder to the end of that code, press enter, confirm and you are done.
E.g C:\WINDOWS\system32>rd /s “\\?/C:\Users\ExampleUser\Document and the rest of the path
Sync Audio & Video – Easiest Way Ever in Resolve 17
If you are running DaVinci Resolve you may not be aware of this kind of awesome feature you have available.
For the most part you can automatically sync video and audio assets by having Resolve analyze the wav forms available to get a sync.
What you may not realize is that you can actually batch complete this task for all video and audio assets in a folder.
Once completed Resolve will then always load those assets already synced. Cool!
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