Are Video Editing Classes Worth It?

Before you start comparing different video editing classes, you’ll want to consider whether or not a video editing class is worth your time and investment. More advanced video editing classes can take weeks of full-time training and cost thousands of dollars, meaning that you shouldn’t decide to take one without considering all of the options. This article aims to help you consider the myriad of factors that will determine whether or not a video editing class is worth it for you.

In short, video editing classes are worth your time and money if you are committed to starting a new career or creating your own content that requires professional editing. Learning these skills in a video editing class is the best way to develop the necessary professional tools and build your demo reel in a structured environment.

Consider the Costs

There is no way to sugar-coat it: taking a video editing class will be expensive, particularly if you want to do it at a professional level. These courses can cost several thousand dollars and while the training is worth it if you are looking to commit to a career in video editing, this will be a serious factor in deciding whether or not to enroll in a class. There are less expensive options, including on-demand classes, free tutorials and shorter classes, but all of these come with their own trade-offs, advantages and disadvantages. Since there are so many different options available, you’ll want to judge what is and isn’t worth the cost when comparing different classes.

Advantages of a Video Editing Class

While they can be expensive and time-consuming, there are many reasons why students prefer guided, live instruction to learn video editing skills.

General Benefits

All live training courses give students the benefit of working with a real instructor who can guide them through difficulties step-by-step and personalize their instruction and feedback to the needs of their students. Students often find that enrolling in a class helps them better understand the material and remain focused in their training. Regardless of the subject that you choose to study, having access to a live instructor and a guided course schedule will help you retain information, overcome difficulties in the learning process and become better equipped to study advanced subjects

Access to Programs and Footage

One of the immediate hurdles to learning video editing is getting the necessary equipment and tools to start experimenting with the process. While it is far easier to get the tools and raw footage than it was when video editing involved the literal cutting of film stock, you still need access to video editing software, like Premiere Pro or Final Cut X, which can cost a decent amount of money to license and you’ll need raw footage to work with. Enrolling in a class is likely to address both these problems, as limited licenses are available for students and the instructor will provide students with the video footage they need to start practicing editing exercises and learning hands-on skills through practical editing tasks. While this might not seem like a major issue, getting access to the necessary equipment can often be the most significant stumbling block for new students looking to learn a skill like video editing

Learning Theory and Practice 

Video editing is as old as film itself, and it is one of the most essential elements of film as an art form. While you obviously do need to learn the tools of the trade to edit videos, if you don’t learn the theories behind editing practices and decisions, you won’t be able to do more than simple cuts and transitions (if that). Video editing classes tend to be taught by experienced and skilled videographers who can provide students with an understanding of why certain cuts and edits are utilized. The ironic thing about being a video editor is that if you do your job, audiences won’t notice your contributions at all, which can be a difficult skill to learn when you are first learning how to edit your videos. This makes taking a video editing class a good place to pick up film theory knowledge without enrolling in a film program.

Personalized Feedback

When undertaking an editing project, even a one-second difference between two cuts can have a world of difference in how a project ends up looking and feeling. This can be almost impossible to parse on your own, especially for new editors who don’t have a background in video and film. Enrolling in an editing class can provide students with personalized feedback on their work from experienced instructors, meaning that you’ll have a set of eyes on your work from someone who understands the subtle cues and decisions that make a successful editing project. This feedback can help you avoid making common and avoidable mistakes early on in your film editing career.

Collaboration and Post-Production Training

With the exception of very small video projects, like TikTok videos, filmmaking will always be a collaborative process that takes multiple creatives to complete. This includes projects with multiple editors working together and the collaboration that editors have with directors, writers, cinematographers, artists and other behind-the-scenes creatives. Enrolling in a video editing class (particularly one taught at a film academy or other specialized training program) will introduce students to the complex nature of the collaborative process of editing, as students will work with their classmates and colleagues to complete real-world projects that mirror the kinds of work that they will need to master in a professional context. 

Building a Portfolio

If you are looking to edit videos in a professional capacity, not only will enrolling a class provide you with job support and practical career training, but the exercises that you complete over the course of your training can become a part of your professional demo reel. The most important part of your job materials as a prospective editor will be a collection of your work that shows potential employers that you are an accomplished and trained editor, which can be hard to produce if you are self-taught. In a classroom setting, you’ll be able to take the work that you have done and further refine it into a professional quality demo reel that will show off the specific kind of editor that you are, helping companies and directors better understand if you are the right fit for their project.

Considerations When Looking at Video Editing Classes

This isn’t to suggest that video editing classes are for everyone and beyond the general considerations that you will want to account for when enrolling in a live training course.

General Considerations

Like virtually all live classes, enrolling in an in-person or online video editing class will require you to follow a relatively set schedule, handle work on your off hours and either commute to and from a training center or work from home without becoming distracted. This can cause issues for students without a fixed schedule or who need to learn a specific set of skills for a project in a short period of time. In a live course, students will be largely committed to learning at the same pace as the class moves, which can be difficult for students who need more assistance or who have some background knowledge of their subject.

Balancing Theory and Practical Skills

One of the challenges in finding the right video editing class, which may not be immediately obvious to beginners, is figuring out what the right balance of technical skills training and film editing theory is right for you. Some students may want to immerse themselves in the long history of film editing as an art and a science and these students won’t really benefit from courses that are focused on teaching students how to edit several projects at once using Premiere Pro quickly. Likewise, a student who wants to learn how to edit clips for their TikTok and YouTube channel probably doesn’t need to spend a day learning about the Kuleshov technique. While it is certainly possible to strike the right balance, it is something to consider when looking into video editing classes.

What Skills Do You Need to Know?

Often, if you aren’t aiming for a professional editing job, but you do want to learn some amount of video editing techniques, you won’t want to spend the money required to learn the in-depth editing skills associated with professional editing projects. If you are interested in learning specific editing skills because you have a short-term project that requires you to make a simple, 5 minute video, it is unlikely that you’ll need to invest in a full video editing class to accomplish your goal. This is equally true if you have some video editing background (such as having taken an introductory training course) and you want to learn specific advanced techniques without having a significant time crunch or needing to cover all of the material that one might in an advanced class.

Is it Worth Enrolling in a Video Editing Class?

Who will find it worthwhile?

Any novice editor looking to turn video editing into a career is likely to find a video editing class worth their time and money. The professional skills development that they receive and the associated job support and practical training are perfect for aspiring professional editors. While the upfront costs may be high, the long-term earning potential offered by this training is more than enough to offset the monetary costs. Plus, if you find that you truly enjoy the art and practice of video editing, you’ll be able to turn your training into a career you love, which is worth a lot in and of itself.

Creatives who hope to expand their knowledge of filmmaking will also want to consider enrolling in a video editing class, especially if it is offered by a film making school or other creative arts academy. This training will ensure that editors have an understanding of all the major pre-production and post-production aspects of filmmaking. These professionals will want to focus on courses that place a greater emphasis on the theory side of film editing, since they are less likely to need to master any individual post-production and more invested in understanding how different creative tasks are brought together to produce a finished video project.

Who might find it worthwhile?

Taking a video editing class might be worthwhile for anyone who wants to consider a creative career but isn’t entirely sure that video editing will be their primary focus. This is especially true of content creators who hope to take advantage of platforms like YouTube and TikTok to expand the reach of their work. These platforms have made it easier than ever to get your content in front of viewers, but it has also made the marketplace more crowded than ever before. This means that you’ll need to make sure that your content looks professional and appeals to a wide audience. You can accomplish this by enrolling in a video course and mastering some of the basic skills needed to make your work look as good as you want it to look.

Taking a video editing class could also be worthwhile for anyone who plans on working in an adjacent field, like digital animation or graphic design. While these professions won’t regularly require you to know how to undertake complex editing projects, you will likely want to know how to make simple edits and revisions to animated gifs, short animations, digital models and things like assets for video games. Taking a few introductory video editing classes (mostly ones focusing on tech skills) can make you a better digital artist and it can help you professionally and creatively (since you’ll have to rely less on other creative professionals to work on complex projects).

Who probably doesn’t need a video editing class?

Hobbyist content creators and amateur video makers probably don’t need to spend the time and money on a video editing class, since they aren’t working on projects that are time-sensitive and can learn the skills at their own pace. This might make the process longer and more challenging, but if you aren’t planning on editing videos professionally, it is unlikely that you’ll benefit all that much from a course (and all of the benefits you gain will be from introductory courses, most likely).

Video editing classes also aren’t likely to help video editors or other digital artists who might have some background in the subject but need to learn a specific skill to accomplish a goal that they are working on at the moment. If you are working on a project and need to learn how to make a cut between three different cameras, you won’t benefit from enrolling in a class that might, eventually, get to the skill you plan on utilizing. These are the times where on-demand lessons and independent research are most likely to benefit you.

Learn Video Editing Skills with Noble Desktop

Regardless of how much time you want to spend learning video editing, Noble Desktop has a course that is built to fit your needs. Students looking for a detailed, professional training program can spend 126 classroom hours learning video editing skills in the Video Editing and Motion Graphics Certificate program. In this course, students with no background in video editing can prepare themselves for a career in the industry in full-time or part-time sessions. Students will learn how to edit complex video content using Premiere Pro, After Effects and Audition, and since this is a career-focused course, students will build an application-quality demo reel to demonstrate their skills as aspiring Video Editors.

Students seeking a more accelerated training program should consider enrolling in a course like the Premiere Pro Bootcamp. Over three days, students will get hands-on experience working with Premiere Pro, and they will learn everything from basic to advanced skills and get a handle on working with Premiere Pro at a professional level. Students will learn how to navigate the user interface and make simple cuts in one or more video files. They will also learn the basics of maintaining continuity, aligning audio and keeping their video project moving smoothly. Then, students will learn how to work with multiple video files, multi-step edits and adding, removing and cleaning audio files.

Finally, students looking for a quick introduction to video editing can enroll in the Premiere Pro in a Day course. This course will give students six hours of hands-on Premiere Pro training to help them become familiar with the interface and the basic process of uploading video files and working with them in the Premiere Pro interface. Students will learn how to clip and merge video files, and they will learn the basic philosophies that go into creating edited video content. This course is a quick introduction to the application for students looking to learn more about the tools and begin experimenting with Premiere Pro.