Are Video Editing Bootcamps Worth It?

If you are interested in learning video editing skills, whether for professional aspirations or to create your own video content, there are a number of different paths you can choose to take. Students may be unsure whether they want to enroll in bootcamp or take another route to learn how to edit videos. This article aims to provide prospective students with an understanding of how bootcamps differ from other methods of learning video editing skills.

What is Video Editing?

Video editing is the art of cutting and arranging video clips in order to tell a coherent story or communicate a message. Video editing is one of the most important parts of the video production process since it is where the disconnected shots are brought together to form a cohesive whole. Skilled Video Editors will have a tremendous impact on the finished product and are responsible for ensuring that the video editing project's end result looks the way the team intended and conveys its message effectively.

What Can You Do With Video Editing?

Video editing is a very technical process that still rewards creative individuals with the opportunity to create interesting and compelling productions. Video Editors will handle the large editing decisions that impact how a video project flows in its final release, and they will handle the small details to ensure that things like continuity and shot placement are maintained throughout the final product. Video Editors are, therefore, essential for every video production project and can find work in virtually every field (though they are most commonly associated with the film and television industry).

Learning video editing can also be productive if you hope to make your own video content. As more and more platforms emerge for creatives to publish their content and get noticed, the field is becoming increasingly crowded. If you want your content to stand out, you’ll want to ensure that it looks professionally edited and cleaned up from the moment it is released. By learning video editing skills, you can take your content creation to the next level and help build your brand early on in the process.

Why Learn Video Editing in a Bootcamp?

When looking to learn video editing, you’ll want to consider all of the advantages and disadvantages offered by a bootcamp and compare those advantages to those offered by other training methods. Bootcamps have the advantage of centralizing career-focused training in an immersive and accelerated environment. While they are more intensive than self-paced classes or shorter training seminars, they can often be completed in a matter of weeks or months rather than years. Finally, since these are career-focused programs, students are far more likely to benefit from the career services offered by bootcamp providers.

Bootcamps Compared to College

Most professional Video Editors start their careers in film school, enrolling in a film production, video editing or arts program. These degree programs cover a huge range of subjects, ranging from common editing techniques to the history of film editing. They also include supplemental courses in either general requirement classes or areas of concentration. Most of these programs will see students producing their own short films and receive years of hands-on experience as creatives and technical editors.

In terms of immersive, long-term education, college is hard to beat, but a wide range of obstacles can prevent students from going down this route. The most immediate concern is the time and cost of getting a film degree. Many programs are four-year or even six-year programs, costing upwards of a hundred thousand dollars a year. This is likely to be less than viable for many students, particularly those eyeing a career change. College courses also have fairly restrictive scheduling opportunities, even if classes are available online, and most top college film programs are rather selective, making it difficult to even get your foot in the door of many programs.

Bootcamps, on the other hand, offer students the opportunity to get an immersive training experience without the cost and time commitment of a college degree program. While you will likely spend less time learning theory and history, you will make up for that with accelerated hands-on practice using applications like Premiere Pro and After Effects. Bootcamps are still pricey, but a professional skills bootcamp can cost only 5-10% of a single semester of a high-end film program, making them much more affordable. In addition, many bootcamps are offered in flexible or part-time instruction modalities, giving students more options for how and when they will take their classes (and making them ideal for students who can’t take multiple years off of work to learn a new skill).

The main drawback to bootcamps (as compared to college degree programs) is that because they are accelerated, students will get less hands-on training and less focus on specific aspects of the editing process (you may spend a day rather than three weeks on continuity editing). This can require students to do more work outside of the classroom to bring their demo reel in line with the work being produced in a college setting. That said, students enrolled in bootcamps still receive significant hands-on experience and guidance from professional instructors. At the end of the day, bootcamps are a far better option for students who can’t dedicate the time and money required to earn a college degree in video editing.

Bootcamps Compared to Self-Paced Courses

On the other end of the spectrum, students might consider enrolling in a self-paced course, such as an on-demand program or a SkillShare-style lecture series. These programs are built with busy students in mind, and they aim to provide them with the kind of basic training that they need to become self-reliant in their editing skills. These courses also provide students with the flexibility they need to learn at their own pace since these courses are not taught by live instructors. This means that students who have erratic schedules, inconsistent obligations or other impediments to regular classroom attendance can still learn to edit videos.

These courses also tend to be more cost-effective than bootcamps, with many services charging users a subscription fee to access a library of courses. This comes with some noteworthy drawbacks. Since these classes don’t have live instructors, students won’t be able to ask questions or receive feedback on their work, which is especially vital when looking at the technical process of video editing. Sometimes, an edit can be off by a matter of frames, and it takes a skilled eye to notice this kind of thing. When this is the case, students may be unable to notice these issues independently. In addition, if a student finds a concept to be difficult or challenging, they may find it difficult to find accurate or up-to-date information. Finally, with a bootcamp, you can be assured that the material you are learning is up to date and accurate, while even very reputable self-paced courses might not be up to date on the latest versions of important software.

While self-paced classes are great for students who lack other training options, they tend to be far more cursory than bootcamps, and you won’t get the kinds of directed hands-on training you would receive in a formal classroom setting. It can be very easy to fall behind in a self-paced class, and since there is less time and monetary commitment, students are more likely to abandon their work entirely. These classes are a good compromise for students who need to learn over time and can’t commit to a bootcamp, but if you are looking to build a new career and find work in video editing, you’ll likely need a lot more practical, hands-on training.

Bootcamps Compared to Free Training Options

Finally, students may want to consider looking at free video editing training programs. Most of these take the form of short videos covering single topics, and they are often available through either platforms like YouTube or the website of first-party app developers (so, Adobe will provide videos on how to perform basic functions in Premiere Pro). These videos and training articles offer a good way to ease into the use of video editing software and a good option for students just looking to experiment on their own.

The drawback to these courses is that they can only take you so far. While they are excellent for easing into a new program and learning what tools do and how they function, they aren’t particularly good for teaching techniques or giving hands-on experience (you might learn how to clip two video files together, but you won’t know why it is done in specific ways). In addition, these courses won’t help students learn advanced techniques that will be necessary for professional work. This means they are good for hobbyists looking to create their own content, but anyone looking to make a career out of video editing will benefit from a more advanced training program. 

If you want to learn about the history and theory of video and film editing, numerous free essays, commentaries and videos are available, particularly on YouTube. While most of these are produced by amateurs or individuals with minimal film editing experience, they are great ways to introduce yourself to the language and theory of video editing before you enroll in a more advanced bootcamp.

Learn Video Editing Skills with Noble Desktop

If you are looking for an immersive video editing training program, Noble Desktop offers a range of options to help students master the technical art of video editing. Students looking to start a new career as Video Editors may want to consider enrolling in the Video Editing and Motion Graphics Certificate program. In this class, students will get hands-on, career-focused training in Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects, giving them a handle on all of the major aspects of video post-production. Students will learn how to make simple and advanced edits, work with multiple video files and streams at once and how to add sound effects, ADR and digital graphic assets to their completed project. This is a career-focused certificate program, meaning students will receive live instruction (in-person or online), and the course aims to prepare them for a future career in video production. Students will receive one-on-one career mentorship assistance; any students who take the course can take it again for free within one year.

Students who are looking for a more introductory course can enroll in the Premiere Pro Bootcamp and learn how to use Adobe Premiere Pro, one of the most commonly used commercially available video editing applications. In this class, students will get hands-on experience working with the editing software and learn everything from cutting together video files on the Premiere Pro dashboard to creating complex, multi-reel workspaces that allow them to edit multiple video files seamlessly. This course provides students with enough of an introduction to the application that they can feel comfortable working on their own projects, but students with professional aspirations are encouraged to seek advanced training from Noble Desktop.