Video Production: How to Edit Your Video

Editing is a very crucial aspect of video production. The quality of your editing is at least as important as the quality of your lighting and sound. Some would say it's even more important.

Fortunately, editing has always been my forte. However, I notice a lot of people on the web who seem to have given up on editing entirely. The end result is that they have created a boring, tedious video which nobody can stand to watch for more than a few seconds.

Edit Method

Today video is edited either by a tape to tape method, or on the computer. Beta to beta is the best choice for tape editing, as it is the most accurate and produces the highest quality video.

However, editing on the computer is by far the easier choice. However, if you don't have powerful software, you will often end up with low quality audio and video that is only suitable for streaming on the web. If the web is your intended audience, this is fine. However, if you ever begin producing video for television or the big screen, you will need to get a better software solution, such as Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro. However, keep in mind that a highly experienced editor could make a professional looking video with Windows Movie Maker. A video edited in expensive software like Final Cut Pro by an inexperienced videographer will still look amateurish.

When you're capturing your video on the computer, think of your intended audience. If you need to keep your file size small due to size restrictions, then you will need to digitize the video in a way that keeps the size small. However, if you're wanting to edit your video to make a DVD with the highest possible picture and sound quality, digitize in a way that reduces picture and sound quality loss. However, keep in mind your file sizes will be huge when you digitize in this manner. You may want to clear some deadwood off your hard drive before you get started.

Edit Length

Our society is presently suffering from a serious deficit in attention span. You have to keep this in mind when editing your video. If your segments get to be too long, and there isn't a lot happening in the video, you'll begin to lose your audience's interest.