21 Best Video Editing Tips For Beginners

Video editing helps you create a compelling story.

With well-edited content, you can improve the overall quality of your clips and make your videos stand out.

If you are looking for some video editing tips to get you started, I have compiled a list of the 21 best editing tricks for beginners.

I have shared both pre-production and post-video guides to cover all the essential areas.

What Is Video Editing And What Are The Best Tips For Beginners

Video editing involves combining, refining, and manipulating raw clips to make a polished or new sequence. 

This process helps editors create a series of scenes and build an engaging story for the audience.

Basic Techniques Of Video Editing;

• Trimming, arranging, and cutting.
• Transitions and effects.
• Color grading.
• Texts and graphics.
• Sound editing.

The above are core video editing techniques, but the process involves tons of other things beginner editors often overlook. 

With this guide, you can learn the basic steps and some productivity quick tips to optimize your time.

Let’s explore the list.

1. Familiarize Yourself With Basic Editing

The first step to learning any new skill is familiarizing yourself with editing terminologies and industry standards. 

Using editing software isn’t hard. With a bit of daily practice, you can eventually get the hang of it. However, understanding its practical application is the key to becoming an excellent video editor.

How to Familiarize Yourself With Basic Editing?

Find learning resources. 

You can get budget-friendly editing courses on Udemy, SkillShare, and Coursera.

YouTube is an excellent place to find helpful tutorials as well. Some channels you can explore are Justin Odisho, Peter McKinnon, and The Guy Edits.

For tips and tricks, join communities. Plenty of communities are out there brimming with helpful content. Software companies like Adobe also host communities for beginners. 

2. Pick User-friendly Software

As an emerging video editor, start with basic video apps to master the fundamentals.

Beginner-friendly software typically shares essential features to give you time to adjust to editing timelines. This would help you build a base for more professional applications.

How To Pick Software For Video Editing?

Explore the Popular Platforms. 

Adobe Premiere is the industry standard. Seasoned editors use this software for professional editing. 

Final Cut Pro is also an excellent choice. 

As a start, try to find more user-friendly apps like iMovie and ClipChamp to get the basics first. You can even try Canva as your first editing app.

3. Take Time Exploring The App

After you have picked the software, explore its interface, timeline feature, and basic editing elements such as framing, cutting, trimming, audio levels, etc.

Remember, video editing is time-consuming. Your software shouldn’t make the process more challenging. The best way to ensure it doesn’t happen is to take time to understand the essential editing techniques.

What To Look For In A Video Editing Software?

Ease of use and fewer features.

A feature-rich dashboard view may sound appealing, but at this stage, it would only overwhelm you.

If you, however, still want to explore intermediate or complex apps, you can try both Adobe Premiere and Davinci Resolve. It’s a matter of personal choice. 

Adobe is a bit costly, but Davinci Resolve is free to use and offers both basic and advanced features to learn and grow your skills.

4. Plan Your Project

Once you have explored the essential editing features, it’s time to undertake a test project.

Draft a rough sketch of your plan, organize your clips for easy accessibility, and find scripts to add text.

You can use storyboard software or printed templates to visualize, and get test scripts from free websites like SimplyScripts. 

If you are on a tight budget, no worries, go for any free drawing app like Krita to create storyboards.

What Editing Projects Are Ideal For Beginners?

Vlogs are best for beginners. They are easy to record and require basic editing. 

Video Montage is another project you can take to practice your skills. Here’s a video tutorial for Montage.

5. Focus On Composition

Video composition is the process of arranging subjects and objects in a way that the visuals look aesthetically pleasing to the eye. It’s one of the core elements of editing and makes even a basic video appealing.

Nike and Apple’s ads are good examples. They attract attention with visually balanced clips.

What Type of Composition Is Best For Videos?

You can apply various composition techniques to enhance the user’s experience. Some tactics you can try are Rule Of Third, Symmetry, and Asymmetry, Depth perception, and leading lines.

Check out the tutorial on video composition to find out more about the above compositions.

6. Use Templates

Templates are excellent time-savers. 

They are preset to add a professional touch to your videos with one click.

You can use templates to color-correct your videos, compose texts, add audio, and apply backgrounds.

What Type of Templates Can You Get Online?

Each software offers its own templates. For example, Canva here provides free and paid video templates with effects.

If you go for more complex software like Adobe, you’ll get professional presets and cinematic effects.

7. Apply Transitions

Transitions play an important role in video editing. They help integrate multiple clips smoothly and add a professional touch.

They are also excellent narrators. For example, you can stage past and present narrations together with faded effects.

What Types Of Transition Settings Can You Apply?

Every transition feature creates a unique effect. 

You can use sharp cuts to show multiple scenes in a single setting. And for the opening and ending, you can apply the faded effect.

Other elements such as spins, flashes, and overlays create a more dramatic effect.

8. Learn Color Correction

Color correction involves adjusting the exposure and contrast to make the clips and images look well-balanced.

You can combine shots at different times and even out temperature differences with color correction. 

How To Color Correct A Clip?

Editing software offers multiple color correction settings. You can fine-tune the colors with white balance, brightness, contrast, and saturation.

Some apps also provide additional tools like curves and histograms to make custom adjustments. Check your settings to see the available tools.

9. Use Color Grading To Add Mood

Color grading and color correction involve almost the same tools, but both techniques serve different purposes.

With color correction, you essentially balance the scene to get natural colors. 

Color grading, on the other hand, is used to create a specific mood. Notice how some movies have a greenish tint? It’s called a cinematic effect. You can get the exact look with color grading.

How To Use Color Grading In Video Editing?

Color grading can be done with several tools. You can try temperature settings, hue curves, color wheel, and tones.

LUTs are also best for beginners. They are preset–or templates–of widely used color grading. 

Do keep in mind that you might not find them in every software. So it’s best to learn the technique from scratch.

10. Try Filters And Backgrounds

Filters are the basic effects. They are one-click solutions designed to help beginners stylize their videos. 

Background serves the same purpose. They call attention to the main subject you want to highlight.

Filters are ideal for social media content, while backgrounds are great for YouTube videos and personal projects.

Where To Find Filters And Background?

Most video editing apps come equipped with basic filters, but for graphics backgrounds, you might have to look outside. 

Some websites you can explore for backgrounds and filters are Videezy, Flixier, and Pexels.

11. Add Watermarks

Watermarks not only protect your assets but also convert you into a brand. 

By adding watermarks to your videos, you can promote your services while keeping anyone from copying your work.

How To Create Watermarks?

You can create your watermark with a combination of different fonts. Use Bold fonts for your name and small fonts to provide other details. 

You can also design a logo. Use Canva, Illustrator, or Photoshop to create watermarks.

12. Practice Typography

Typography in video editing refers to the composition of text. You can convey your message and direct the viewer’s eye with well-placed text and font choices.

Take the above example. Venom’s font matches the video theme, and its size and color make it prominent. You’ll also notice, the text clips are placed separately to ensure they don’t distract viewers.

What Fonts Are Best For Videos?

Your choice of fonts depends on your video theme. 

I recommend studying the popular examples. You can learn a lot by observing others’ work.

13. Apply Special Effects

Special effects are advanced video editing techniques that add a touch of drama to the scenes. 

With a simple manipulation of motion, color, and text, you can break monotony in your videos and make a dull scene engaging.

What Types of Tools Are Used For Special Effects? 

You can use transitions, video speed, motion graphics, and artificial lighting to add special effects.

14. Create a Draft In Layers

Layers are individual tracks that are applied over your video to keep the edits separate. With layers, you can add multiple elements to your clip while keeping the original footage intact.

They are excellent organization tools that allow you the flexibility to make quick changes to your projects and even revamp the entire video.

What Are Different Types of Layers In Video Editing?

You can create video layers, audio layers, text layers, special effect layers, and background layers. With each layer, you can add a level of complexity, making your videos stand out.

Adobe is popular for its timelines and layers. As you gain experience with beginner software, you’ll find it easier to use Adobe’s layers and timelines.

In the above image, I added a blur layer. You can see layers in the timeline.

15. Study File Settings

File formatting is the creation of digital files for various publishing platforms. Understanding the file settings, such as resolution, frame rate, and audio, would help you tailor your video file or different platforms.

For example, a 4K file offers high-quality visuals but might be too heavy for social media. YouTube videos require only 1920 x 1080 pixels and 30fps (frame per rate), while videos covering sports events need a higher fps to deliver a smooth motion. 

There are also multiple file formats designed for web, TV, and social media. Here’s a good article to study the basics of video files and their uses.

What Type Of Formats Are Suitable For Video Editing?

Many. I suggest starting with common formats before diving into more complex settings. 

Set MP4 settings for your test sequence and 16:9 to get the widescreen size. When exporting, pick 2k resolution and 30fps. 

If you are on Canva, you don’t have to worry about settings. Canva has preset file settings.

16. Optimize Your Audio 

Basic audio settings are almost the same in every professional video editing software. But knowing how to use them to balance your audio tracks makes you the best editor. 

For example. With a simple fade-in and out effect, you can adjust the audio of your background music and dialogues. 

What Are the Best Audio Tips For Beginners?

There are a few things you can do to improve your audio editing skills. Trim your audio to sync it with your video, and use noise cancelation apps to remove background noise.

For narrative clips, use the fade-in and out tool, as explained above.

Check out this video to learn audio editing in Adobe Premiere. 

For DaVinci users, this content might be helpful.

17. Take Advantage Of Sound Effects

Video editors often overlay subtle sound effects to the audio tracks to set a particular atmosphere or add intensity or a realistic touch–like rain or, footsteps.

We call them Foley in editing. Take advantage of free Foley sounds to improve the viewer experience.

Where To Get Sound Effects?

If you have good audio equipment, you can record the sounds yourself. For those with a tight budget, Pixabey offers free Foley effects.

18. Utilize Productivity Tools

Video editing takes a lot of time and effort. 

While you pick up speed with practice, you’ll still have trouble optimizing your time without incorporating some productivity hacks into your daily routine.

How To Improve Work Productivity?

Learn keyword shortcuts. Trust me, they save you a considerable amount of time, specifically as you’ve started video editing on professional software.

Another good product tip is to save templates for reuse–specifically brand content. You can save text, graphics, and overlay templates and apply them to multiple videos.

19. Optimize Your Video For Different Devices

Majority watch videos on their smartphones. 

Keep that in mind while editing to adjust your settings accordingly.

For example, putting large texts might work on large screens, but may appear odd on small screens. By adding safe margins, you can save your video elements from getting cropped.

How To Optimize Your Video For Different Devices?

Preview your videos on your smartphone and tablet before finalizing your edits.

It’s an obvious advice, but sometimes we miss the obvious.

Both basic and professional video editing apps typically have multiple view options. Make sure to check that option in your software.

20. Keep a Backup

One of the crucial lessons every video editor learns early on is to continuously save your work and keep a file backup.

Your software can crash at times. 

Your Laptop is vulnerable to tech errors too. 

To prevent data loss, save your files and create a backup.

Where To Keep A Backup?

The ideal place to keep your backup is on an external hard drive. It’s handy and supports large files.

21. Learn And Collaborate

Video editing software companies periodically release new features to stay ahead of the competition. 

With each update, there’s always something new to try, and professional editors take full advantage of it.

Stay up to date to ensure you know all the trending tricks and tips for video editing.  It will help you break your comfort zone and learn new skills.

How To Keep Your Skills Updated?

Suggesting a software update at this stage might make you feel overwhelmed. So, the alternate way to continuously polish your skills is by following top influencers.

You can also collaborate with others and learn from their experience.

Conclusion

Today, a wide range of content is available on the internet for beginners. You can easily learn how to use professional apps and find helpful tips and tricks to improve your skills.

The purpose of this article is to narrow down the information for you. These 21 video editing tips are best for beginners, offering targeted information to help them get started.

Check out the links I provided in this article, and start editing your videos the right way. Good luck!