Video Editing Prerequisites

Video editing is the technical art of using computer applications to combine, cut and alter video files to create new meaning in their composition. Video editing skills are necessary for anyone hoping to create video content. You might worry that Video Editing will be too hard to learn. This guide will help you understand the best methods for learning Video Editing and what you should study first to make the learning process easier. This way, you’ll be successful however you choose to apply your new skills. 

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. 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 cinematography and photography, video editing is a necessary component of producing video content. It is also a hidden art, as Video Editors strive to make their presence invisible, creating a seamless edit that washes over audiences.

Video Editors use tools like Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro X to create finished video projects by blending different video and sound files. Video Editors 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. Video Editors will work with directors, cinematographers, and producers to dictate a video's pace and movements, and even though their work isn’t always lauded, they represent an essential part of making professional quality video productions. 

Read more about what video editing is and why you should learn it. 

What Can You Do with Video Editing?

Video editing lets creatives make both subtle and significant alterations to video files. They can make minor but meaningful edits to combine multiple clips, alter audio volume, speed up and slow down footage, or correct color and lighting. They can also make significant changes, such as altering backgrounds using a green screen and chroma key software, adding in special effects or music, or removing background obstructions. These kinds of edits will come together to help creatives produce professional quality videos, and learning these skills will open the door to a high-paying and in-demand career field.

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 are making YouTube tutorials, scripted content, Lets Plays, or you want to stream on Twitch or YouTube, learning the basics of video editing can help take your content to the next level.

Is Video Editing Easy to Learn?

Video editing tools are rather simple to learn for novice users who are looking to cut and compile their commercials or simple video content online. However, more advanced editing techniques will be more challenging to learn as they are less about how individual cuts are technically made. Rather, these techniques are concerned with why specific editing choices are made to produce meaning through the juxtaposition of images. Since this is a philosophical and artistic skill rather than a technical one, it is harder to teach and will require students to do more than simply learn how to use a program like Premiere Pro.

What to Know Before Learning Video Editing

While there are no formal prerequisites to learning video editing skills, there are a few things that it would be useful for new students to know before they start their training. These include practical skills like how to use a computer and more theoretical skills like the basics of film editing and other elements of film.

Computer Skills

Since video editing is a kind of computer-aided design, students will want to be sure they are familiar with how to use computers to navigate files, folders, and applications. Video editing training will involve working with many different files at once, so users should be comfortable working with multiple windows, tabs, and files open at once if they want to succeed at their video editing training.

Editing Techniques

Theories of editing are almost as old as film itself, and in the last hundred years, numerous theories and philosophies of editing have been developed. While students who want to learn how to edit videos won’t need an exhaustive film history background, it is important to understand basic ideas such as ensuring continuity between shots and why juxtaposing images represents an important element of professional editing. This background won't be required, but students can ease their video editing education by knowing why certain decisions in the editing process matter.

Other Elements of Film

Likewise, students who want to learn how to edit in professional contexts will want to understand the other elements of film, such as sound, cinematography, and mise-en-scene. Working on professional projects will involve working with other creatives tasked with collaborating to produce a video project, so understanding how other aspects of video production can greatly improve a student’s understanding of editing. Knowing why certain sounds are used, for instance, can help editors understand the mood of a scene, which will let them make more informed decisions with their edits.

Key Insights

• While there are no formal prerequisites for learning video editing techniques, there are a few skills that new students can brush up on to ease their training.
• Video Editors use computer-aided editing applications to combine multiple different video files, so students should be proficient in using computers.
• Since video editing is a technical art form, students may wish to have a working background knowledge of the history and theories of video editing. This won’t be required, but knowing why editing is an important film component can help students better understand the tools available.
• Likewise, knowing how other film elements interact can help novice editors make more informed decisions about how they cut videos.
• Once students feel comfortable with their background knowledge and want to learn video editing techniques, they can receive in-person and live online instruction through Noble Desktop.

Learn Video Editing with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Students interested in the behind-the-scenes aspects of film and video production may wish to learn video editing skills. Video editing is an incredibly important aspect of filmmaking. Anyone who wants to work in the film, television, or online content creation industry should consider learning how to edit videos. Video Editors are in high demand as the marketplace for digitally produced content continues to grow, with trained and experienced video editors commanding an average salary of $80,000.

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 is also getting more and more crowded, meaning that new creators need to set themselves apart. 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. These skills will be relevant as long as you are 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.

Read more about why you should learn video editing.