Although it is easier and more convenient than ever to record videos nowadays, editing them can still be quite daunting. In recent years video editors have become more user-friendly, but editing videos effectively still requires quite a bit of experience.
In a nutshell you should expect to face a learning curve when you edit videos, but as you begin to do so you’ll find that things start to fall into place. To help ease yourself into video editing more quickly, there are a few mistakes in particular that you should try to avoid:
• Cutting Together Videos with Noticeably Different Frame Rates
The frame rate of a video is the number of frames contained in each second, and the higher it is the smoother and more fluid the video will appear. As you start to edit together videos however, you should try to make sure you use videos with similar frame rates.
To put it simply if the frame rate of the videos that you’re using is noticeably different, it will look jarring. That is why if you’re using footage shot separately you should go over the videos beforehand and make sure that their frame rates are similar.
Ideally it would be best to keep this in mind when recording video footage, so that you always use the same frame rate from that point.
• Ignoring the Audio
Beginners often tend to be so focused on editing the video and fixing any issues that may be present that they forget about the audio that accompanies it. The result is often a pristine-looking video, with uneven audio that may not match it properly or sounds unclear.
Never forget that your audio is just as much a part of the overall video, and needs to be treated as such during editing. That means that you should try to tidy up the audio quality and make sure that it syncs up with the video.
• Using Jump Cuts Indiscriminately
Jump cuts are basically a type of cut that ‘jump’ forward in time within the same clip or one that looks visually similar. Because of that similarity the subject in the clip may appear to ‘jump’, which can be very jarring for viewers.
Nowadays jump cuts are enjoying a resurgence in popularity as a tool to remove unwanted parts from videos. However if used indiscriminately they can make a video look unappealing or even unwatchable.
Considering that it is important that you understand jump cuts, and when they can be used. In most cases you can ‘mask’ the cut more effectively by using a quick cutaway to a different clip before returning to the original – and the video will be a lot smoother if you do.
• Colors that Don’t Match After Correction or Grading
One of the most important aspects of editing videos involves correcting the color settings. While it can be tricky, video editors have simplified it over the years and some such as Movavi Video Editor have automated features that make it easier.
However the common mistake that is often made is to make sure the colors in clips that are being cut together match after color correction or grading. If the colors don’t look similar the clips will look uneven and that will disrupt the flow of the video.
Normally color grading is carried out after color correction, in order to ensure all the video footage has a similar look in terms of its colors.
As you can see most of these mistakes can be avoided, and simply being aware of them should make it that much easier to dodge them. Not only will that make the learning curve involved in video editing a little less steep, but it will also improve the resulting videos right off the bat.
At the end of the day the more time you spend editing videos and trying out various techniques, the better you’ll get at it. It is very much a case of practice makes perfect, and by avoiding the mistakes listed above you should be able to ensure that you don’t misstep too badly. If you keep at it you should be able to comfortably edit videos before too long.
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