Video Editing Certifications and Certificates

If you’re looking for a way to demonstrate your skills in Video Editing, you might feel overwhelmed by how many different certifications and certificate programs are available. If that’s the case, you likely also have a lot of questions, like whether or not certification is truly essential for video editing careers. In addition, you may also be wondering how to go about becoming certified, or what kind of training is necessary to successfully earn a certification.

This article aims to answer these questions so you can efficiently choose the right path toward your Video Editing dreams. Keep reading to find out more.

What is Video Editing?

Video editing is the art of taking multiple different film clips and manipulating them to create a single finished video composition. Before Video Editors get their hands on them, however, camera rolls are often filled with redundant footage, strange popping noises, and odd background activity. If you’ve ever watched a long home video from the pre-smart-phone era and wanted to fall asleep, you know exactly what an unedited video looks like. To create a more polished video with a clear narrative, Video Editors cut together clips, add, remove, and mix sound, digitally alter and remove elements of the film, and add special effects in post-production.

Taking cues from the arts of storytelling and photography, editing seeks to transform video footage into a sequence with a clear arc and message. With audiences’ attention spans growing shorter over time, quality editing is a necessary component of producing video content that sings. However, it’s also a hidden art, as Video Editors typically strive to make their presence invisible, creating a seamless edit that washes over audiences. These professionals are responsible for synching audio and visual elements of the film, ensuring continuity between individual frames and scenes, and cleaning up elements of the film, such as correctly handling green screens or removing ambient sound and replacing it with desired music. 

To make this happen, Video Editors use a combination of skills including digital tools such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, After Effects, and Final Cut Pro X. In addition to knowing their way around software tools, a good Video Editor needs a firm grasp of communication skills, including how audiences generally interpret video components, and how small edits can drastically change the direction of a narrative. These communication skills also come in handy for working with cross-functional teams. For instance, many Video Editors work on teams with directors, cinematographers, and producers, helping to dictate a video's pace and movements.

What Can You Do with Video Editing?

With video editing, creatives can make both subtle and significant alterations to video files, making it possible to communicate messages more powerfully than would be possible through words or pictures. While edits such as combining multiple clips, altering audio volume, adjusting the speed of footage, or correcting color and lighting may feel small, they can have a meaningful impact on a video’s quality overall. While watching a horror movie, for instance, you may feel more unsettled when everything goes quiet, and this edit is fairly simple.

Video Editors can also make significant changes, such as altering backgrounds using a green screen and chroma key software, adding special effects, introducing music, or removing background obstructions. These kinds of edits will come together to produce professional-quality videos that allow stories and messages to flow cohesively without interruption. 

Even though their work isn’t always lauded, Video Editors play a vital role in creating a wide variety of different project types. It’s easy to reduce video editing purely to adjusting live-action video footage, but these versatile skills are just as useful for animation projects. In addition to rearranging animated footage and inserting effects, the most skilled video editors can even develop simple animations called motion graphics for video games. 

Video Editing Careers

Learning these skills will open the door to high-paying and in-demand careers in the video production and film industries. Today’s businesses are more aware than ever that video content not only receives markedly more engagement than image or text advertising but that people also remember the content of videos better. Consequently, Video Editors are a commodity that almost everyone in business today is trying to win over. In addition to working as a Video Editor, video editing skills come in handy in a variety of other lucrative careers, including hardcore filmmaking. 

Learning video editing skills is also useful for creatives hoping to break into the world of content creation themselves. Rather than editing videos for other people, you’ll be able to create and edit your own content, giving your online presence a professional quality that can set your work apart from the competition. Whether you’re making YouTube tutorials, scripted content, Let’s Plays, or you’re interested in live streaming on platforms like Twitch and YouTube, learning the basics of video editing can take your content to the next level.

Video Editing Industries

With unlimited ways to use video for professional gain, the modern business world has become video-obsessed. For the foreseeable future, Video Editors will continue to grow in relevance as more and more industries begin to harness video content for marketing, creative, and training purposes. Professionals with video editing skills are in the highest demand in the film and entertainment media industries but are increasingly popular components of wedding and event planning, education, and advertising.

​​Film and Entertainment Media

Since Victorians jumped out of their seats while viewing the first motion picture, it’s believed more than 500,000 movies have been made, and more than half of them are available on digital streaming platforms today. With audiences perpetually hungry for more, the TV and film industry shows no signs of slowing down. Video Editors can lead fulfilling cinema careers by working with big companies like Warner Brothers and Walt Disney, or pursue creative expression through smaller video production agencies such as Lemonlight and Bottle Rocket Media. 

In addition to participating in the entertainment industry through the lens of filmmaking, Video Editors play an essential function in the video game industry, working side-by-side with Animators, Game Designers, Motion Graphics Designers, and Sound Designers. Many Video Editors enjoy exciting creative jobs at game development companies such as Ubisoft, Nintendo, and Epic Games. 

Videography

Outside of entertainment Video Editing also plays a crucial role in helping people capture priceless memories. While many people still opt for traditional photography, more and more people are looking for talented Videographers.

Education

Though most frequently equated with entertainment, video content can be a transformative educational force thanks to its power to solidify ideas in students’ minds 95% more effectively than traditional tools like reading. Video content is especially helpful for teaching young children and people battling executive dysfunction due to ADHD or autism. Consequently, video content is becoming more popular in classrooms of all ages. In the United States alone, there are nearly 100,000 public schools, and almost 6,000 colleges and universities that need polished video content that only trained editors can create. In addition to working directly with educational institutions, many Video Editors work on educational projects published on digital channels like YouTube. 

Marketing and Social Media Influencing

Because of their hit success rate in the world of marketing, millions of sponsored videos go live each day on high-traffic channels like TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, and YouTube. In addition to editing these, Video Editors generate plenty of mainstream video advertisements that play in the interim between TV scenes and interrupt long YouTube videos. In addition to working directly with small businesses, people with video editing skills can find lucrative work worldwide through digital marketing agencies, social media marketing companies, and marketing tech start-ups.

Video Editing Jobs And Salaries

The number of industries you can end up working in as a Video Editor is endless, but regardless of which one you land in, you have three chief career types to choose from involving video editing. The first and most obvious path involves becoming a traditional Video Editor who manipulates raw video footage for clients. An alternative category that offers more room for generative creativity is that of motion graphics and animation. You also have the option to explore design management through roles that take charge of curating a video’s overarching atmosphere.

Workers in each of these career categories benefit from comfortable wages and reasonable job security. Even though job openings for most professions remain relatively similar over time, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) calculates a 15% rise in job openings for Film and Video Editors between 2021 and 2031. If their calculations are correct, that’s more than 9,400 new job openings per year, which is astonishing when compared to traditional creative careers such as those of Painters and Sculptors. 

While the average salary for video production specialists varies from country to country, most workers living in the United States earn about $64,000. While this statistic is only several $3,000 more than the U.S. national average for all career types, video production workers have plenty of potential to increase their salaries even more by building experience and skills. 

As the marketplace for digitally produced content continues to grow, Video Editors are in especially high demand, with the most experienced workers commanding salaries up to $91,000 per year. Meanwhile, 2D and 3D Animators in the U.S. normally earn between $55,000 and $86,000, while Motion Graphics Designers with more extensive training earn up to $111,000. For taking the reins on video production projects, Video Managers earn salaries ranging between $68,000 and $105,000. However, it’s Design Directors who earn the big bucks, sometimes pocketing upwards of $204,000 for managing large-scale creative projects. 

Explore more video editing salaries by visiting Noble Desktop, where you can also learn more about different career paths for people with video editing skills. 

Is Video Editing the Right Path for Me?

If you’re the sort of person who loves watching “making-of” documentaries or who’s otherwise fascinated by the behind-the-scenes aspects of film and video production, there’s a good chance you’d fall in love with video editing if you tried it. While not often talked about in classic behind-the-scenes videos, video editing is one of the most important aspects of filmmaking. In general, anyone who wants to work in film, television, or the online content creation industry should consider learning how to edit videos. 

For students with creative aspirations, learning video editing skills is a great way to break into online video production, whether creatively or professionally. As the marketplace for amateur video production continues to expand, it’s also getting increasingly crowded, meaning that new creators need more advanced skills if they want to set themselves apart. Not only will learning video editing skills can help your up-and-coming content channel produce professional quality videos without needing to bring on an editor full-time, video editing gives you more tools to add humor and personality to your content. 

If you’re a business owner or entrepreneur who’s wondering if learning video editing could help your business venture, you’re ahead of the game. Because video content will bring more attention to your business than basic social media posts, static ads, and written content, high-quality videos allow you to tap into new customers who might not otherwise notice your business. 

These skills will be relevant as long as you’re making video content, so up-and-coming content creators, small business owners looking to produce their video advertisements, and Social Media Marketers looking to produce content for their clients all benefit from learning video editing techniques.

Should I Get Certified in Video Editing?

If you’re wondering whether it’s possible to thrive as a professional Video Editor without earning an official certification, the answer is a resounding yes. However, despite not being an absolute necessity, certifications are well worth the investment for anyone looking to chart a professional career in the industry. In particular, you’ll find that certifications can save you a great deal of wasted time on the job market. Although the most important part of your application will be a strong demo reel of sample edits to convince prospective employers that you’re the right person for the job, becoming video editing certified can set you apart from other job candidates by signaling to employers that you’ve gone above and beyond when it comes to training and experience. 

However, if you’re an amateur video editor studying the skill as a way to enhance your personal creative projects, earning a certification won’t provide many benefits beyond challenging you. 

Certifications vs. Certificates: What’s the Difference?

For novice Video Editors, it can be confusing to learn that there are multiple ways to establish yourself as a skilled Video Editor, particularly when you discover that certificates and certifications are actually two different things. Both serve professionals by offering a way to show employers their experience, but since they use different methods to determine who qualifies for an award, hiring managers typically view certifications and certificates in vastly different lights. 

Certifications in video editing are awarded to students who pass a proctored skills exam demonstrating their proficiency as an advanced video editor capable of producing professional quality videos. In addition to certifications that cover the broader spectrum of video editing skills, there are also focused certifications that cover skills relating only to one specific software program such as Adobe Premiere Pro. Because your test score acts like concrete evidence of your skill level, these awards can be thought of as official proof of your video editing expertise. Many certifications also expire after a set time, requiring students to retake updated versions of their exams to stay up-to-snuff on the latest practices in the industry.

Additionally, not just any organization can award you a certification, so it’s important to pay close attention when signing up for a test. If you have prior video editing experience, you might wish to consider taking one of the certification exams offered by organizations like LAFilm or the New York Film Academy. If you wish to demonstrate proficiency in a specific editing tool, you can become certified through organizations like Adobe Certified Professional or Apple. Because certifications are only provided by select organizations approved by the wider video editing industry, they’re highly respected by the professional community. The major downside for novices is that these exams expect testees to be fully trained in video editing before taking the exam.

On the other side of the spectrum, certificates don’t require testing at all and are more widely available. Certificates are akin to diplomas in that they’re awarded to students who complete training courses. These awards are more expensive and time-consuming to obtain than certifications but are more about skills training than skills demonstration. In addition, certificates do not tend to expire, and you get to keep the skills forever. However, because certificates don’t require you to prove your ability and can be awarded by any educational program, they aren’t taken as seriously as certifications by hiring managers.

Should I Get A Certificate Or A Certification?

If learning the difference between certificates and certifications left you uncertain which step should come next in your career path, you’re not alone. To help ease your decision-making process, first consider your current aspirations. Are your goals more aligned with the benefits of one award than the other? For instance, if you’re brand-new to video editing and still need to expand your skill set, participating in a certificate course is a great way to see your goal through. 

Alternatively, say you’re an experienced editor who’s looking for more compelling ways to communicate your proficiency to employers, or an entry-level worker who’s ready to ask for a promotion. In these scenarios, earning a certification can act like a ladder you climb to the top of your career. After demonstrating your understanding of advanced video editing skills in an exam setting, your job applications will level up a notch, giving you access to the best jobs on the market. During the hiring process, it’s not uncommon for hiring managers to search precisely for applicants who are certified in a specific area (for instance, applicants who have earned an Adobe After Effects Certification).

In addition to mulling over your career ambitions, it’s also worth evaluating where your strengths and deficiencies lie. For example, even if you eventually want to score a senior video editing role available only to those with certifications, you may not be ready to dive straight into certification testing yet. Since most video editing certifications don’t include training before the test, undertaking the right training beforehand is essential to earning a passing score. Through certificate-granting courses, however, you should have no trouble learning the skills you need to ace your exam. As a plus, you’ll also be gaining relevant experience and portfolio content to add to your job application. 

There’s a flip side to this coin as well, however, in that you also want to avoid wasting time and money re-learning skills you’re already competent at. If you already have plenty of experience with the skills and tools included in your test, you can definitely become certified without redundant training.

How to Get Certified in Video Editing

Which strategy is best suited to helping you become professionally certified will depend on whether you need significant video editing instruction. While a decorated Video Editor with years of working experience under their belt may not need much training to pass a certification exam, a novice may need to start completely from scratch. Before you make any important decisions, you’ll want to assess your situation to determine whether you’re fully prepared to take your exam. 

If you’re not ready yet, there’s nothing wrong with that. All it means is that you’ll have a few extra steps in your journey toward certification. Look over the information included in your target exam and find a certificate training course that teaches those skills. Sign yourself up, and before you know it, you’ll be ready to take your exam.

Once you feel confident in your ability to respond to any question the test throws at you, you can schedule your test through an industry-recognized organization. Keep reading for recommendations on video editing certifications that can boost your career. 

Am I Ready to Take A Certification Exam?

Self-assessment can be difficult, especially when it comes to your professional aptitude. If uncertainty is making it near impossible for you to move forward in your career, there are several boxes you can check that may help you determine whether certification should be your next move. 

You may be ready to sit down for a certification exam already if you:

• Have substantive film editing experience from prior training.
• Have already worked in a video editing job.
• You can look through the recommended study information for the exam you want to take and feel confident giving answers. 
• You have practical experience with the skills included on the test, rather than just theoretical knowledge of them. 

Some signs that you may need to review skills or attend a bootcamp include: 

• You don’t have practical experience with one or more skills included in your exam. 
• You don’t recognize some concepts and information in the recommended study guide.
• You’ve only studied the skills included at a theoretical level. 

How Long Will It Take to Become Certified?

Your journey to becoming certified will be unique to you and will be determined by a variety of factors. These influences may include financial barriers, disabilities, your past video editing experience, and the rate at which you learn. 

Once you sit down to take your video editing certificate exam, most tests take less than an hour to complete. Consequently, if you’re already fully trained and ready to check some boxes, getting certified may not take you much time at all. 

However, if you need training, your time to certification will vary depending on your choice of program, along with whether you choose to attend class full-time or part-time. If your goal is to get certified as quickly as possible, there are plenty of video editing bootcamps out there that can provide you with thorough training in under a week. That said, the most comprehensive courses often take several months to complete. 

Another common factor that may impact how long it takes you to earn your certification includes how much time you need to spend working beforehand to fund your study. In addition, some students find taking more time off essential to maintaining health and wellness amid chronic illness or disability. While neither of these factors will necessarily prevent you from becoming video editing certified, they can sometimes make the road up the mountain a bit steeper and longer. 

How Hard Is It to Become Video Editing Certified?

One of the coolest things about earning certifications is that you can choose your difficulty level. Because there’s an immense diversity of different video editing certificates to choose from, the types of skills you’ll need to learn for each test vary broadly. In addition, you may end up needing to learn larger quantities of information for some certificates, leading to a heavier workload. 

Many certificates emphasize one or two software programs, allowing you to focus on just one topic. Depending on your choice of focus, these certificates may cover programs like Premiere Pro, After Effects, Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve Studio, Avid Media Composer, and Photoshop. Meanwhile, other certificates are designed to test your comprehensive understanding of all things video editing and will require you to understand how to use multiple software tools together. 

A good rule of thumb to remember when trying to gauge difficulty is that certificates that cover more material are more difficult, while certificates that only explore a few skills are easier. All that said, when you have training from a certificate granting bootcamp, any certificate is within reach.

Keep in mind, however, that there are certainly additional factors that may contribute to how difficult your certification experience ends up being. For instance, having a disability that makes it harder for your brain to process information quickly may mean that you have to work a little harder than other people to get the same results. Similarly, factors like financial hardship may require you to spend more time working outside of class. Nonetheless, if video editing is something you’re truly passionate about, these challenges can become motivational pillars that push you forward into a long and successful career. 

Top Certifications & Certificates for Video Editing

Video editing has come a long way since the early days of black-and-white moving pictures, and as a result, there’s a lot more to learn if you want to stay ahead of the game in today’s competitive job market. Trying to learn software skills by yourself is at best confusing and at worst, can leave you with significant gaps in your skill set. However, attending a certificate course will ensure you have a great experience developing every video editing skill you need to succeed in a professional job down the line. 

If you’re worried about how you’ll manage to attend a training program while staying on top of your other life responsibilities, rest assured that there are many different styles of courses for different lifestyles. In addition to full-time learning, you can opt for part-time programs that give you more wiggle room in your schedule. While many students still enjoy attending traditional in-person courses for that face-to-face magic, you may be surprised to learn that most courses are also available in a live online format that allows class discussions to take place in real-time. 

After building your working knowledge through hands-on experience in a certificate-granting course, you can enhance your career by receiving a certificate or two. 

Noble Desktop, Video Editing Certificate

If you’re someone who’s looking for a comprehensive training program that will see you through your whole career, consider enrolling in Noble’s Video Editing Certificate program. Along with providing you with hands-on experience, this course will give you the software skills and communication training necessary to enter into new careers as Video and Audio Editors. In addition, you’ll receive a certificate of completion for each software skill you master, giving you one more credential to add to your resume. Depending on your personal learning preferences and where you live you may even have the option to select between taking this course in-person (NYC residents) and live online.

Rather than learning video editing solely through lecture-style class meetings, you’ll engage with the topic through multiple channels. In addition to participating in classroom discussions and learning through review, you’ll have many chances to connect one-on-one with your expert mentor who can offer individualized career advice, provide constructive criticism on your portfolio, and even help you understand confusing skills. 

Moreover, the course’s hands-on learning assignments will give you the chance to put your newfound knowledge into practice while working in harmony with a team of peers. In the process, you’ll gain real-life video editing experience and generate plenty of content for your video editing portfolio, further strengthening your chances on the job market.

Noble Desktop, Motion Graphics Certificate

Want to expand your knowledge to include video editing as well as animation and motion graphics design? Fortunately, Noble Desktop has a Motion Graphics Certificate that’s just as dedicated to 3D modeling as it is to video editing. Just as with Noble’s other courses, this class comes in an interactive virtual format that provides high-quality skills training without inconveniences like commuting or navigating through bogged-down parking lots to get to class. However, if you’re a New Yorker who loves to socialize in-person, nobody will stop you from joining the in-person version of this class that’s exclusive to NYC residents. 

Dive into animation by creating animations in experiential learning lessons built to familiarize you with software tools like Photoshop, After Effects, and Cinema 4D. Moreover, these assignments will help you fill out your portfolio with stunning motion graphics and 3D models that will impress any hiring manager. Meanwhile, other assignments will help you build your video editing experience from the roots up. As you work with Premiere Pro to rearrange video footage, adjust speed and color, and insert sounds like music and voiceover, you’ll become a competitive job candidate who can back up a portfolio with legitimate skills.

Throughout your time in the course, you’ll also receive additional advice and support in one-on-one meetings with your expert mentor. To help you along your journey to career success, you’ll also have full access to Noble Desktop’s career support team. For up to six months after you graduate, this squad of cheerleaders will be there to help you write great resumes, polish your portfolio, and practice interview skills. 

NextGen Bootcamp, Video Editing And Animation Summer Program

If you thought professional video editing and animation training was just for adults, think again. NextGen Bootcamp is committed to providing high school students with quality career training through a live online classroom. This isn’t just a watered-down video editing class for hobbyists. It offers comprehensive training on both Premiere Pro and After Effects, two of the most essential software tools in the video production industry. 

During the summer, teens who aren’t interested in going to college can learn marketable skills that can help secure a job after graduation. With guidance from an expert, you’ll work hands-on with Premiere Pro to learn video editing skills such as how to remove green screens or change the speed of your footage. In assignments focused on After Effects, you’ll learn a variety of foundational animation skills. 

Centro de Estudios de Innovación, Video Editing, Motion Graphics, And Postproduction Course

Looking to learn video production skills in Spanish? Centro de Estudios de Innovación (CEI) offers a comprehensive bootcamp covering both video editing and motion graphics skills. Depending on your location and preference, you can choose between participating in class through CEI’s live online platform or attending in-person at one of their three Spain campuses. 

No matter whichever class style you choose, you’ll receive an expert-led education that includes both theory and hands-on skills training. During practical assignments, you’ll learn how to use After Effects, Cinema 4D, Premiere, and Photoshop, to create cinema-style videos. After completing this course, you’ll be ready to earn several official Adobe certifications. 

headTrix, Inc., After Effects Bootcamp

Get ready to get animated with headTrix’s thorough After Effects Bootcamp, where even beginners can learn how to produce motion graphics. In addition to animation skills, you’ll learn plenty of advanced video editing skills that will come in handy for a diverse variety of projects. To make After Effects education accessible for all, this course is conveniently offered in a virtual format and requires no former video production experience. 

Before learning animation, you’ll cover everything After Effects has to offer when it comes to video editing, from color correcting to changing your frame rate and syncing sound effects with visuals. From there, you’ll complete practical assignments designed to teach you 3D modeling.

LearnQuest, Mastering Final Cut Pro

If you’re a Mac user who wants to make the most of Apple’s video editing capabilities, Mastering Final Cut Pro in LearnQuest’s online course is a great place to start. Their flexible training allows you to study software skills on your own time, meaning that you don’t need to quit your job or radically adjust your schedule to become a pro video editor. Whatever your background, you can succeed in this course––even if you have no previous experience with video production or English isn’t your first language. To give as many people the chance to learn video editing as possible, this course provides subtitles in over 20 languages including Arabic, Vietnamese, Kazakh, and Hindi. 

Before you can earn your shareable certificate at the end of the course, you’ll complete eight learning modules, starting with terminology and how to maneuver the Final Cut Pro interface. With practice assignments, you’ll learn how to edit audio and videos, including skills like sound mixing, color tuning, and adding effects. What you learn in your practice assignments will be supported by reading lessons and video tutorials designed to provide you with theoretical knowledge. In addition, you’ll be challenged by plenty of review quizzes.