7.1 Introduction
As you follow along with these course modules, you are learning the steps to launch a successful vlog. The previous module discussed the secrets of filming great video. Following these steps prepares your raw video for editing and the techniques you use either make editing a cumbersome chore, or a breeze to complete.
If you are a serious vlogger, you will do best to schedule vlogs for regular upload. Spending a lot of time on editing will slow you down and possibly delay posting your vlog. Viewers accustomed to a regular schedule will lose interest almost immediately if you miss an episode. Unless you are a famous vlogger, it is up to you to be the best you can to keep and grow your viewer base
Equipment depends on your budget, filming depends on your choices for lighting, set design, topic, audio source,
you as the commentator, and whether you film inside or outside. These points together make up your best shot at a first try video clip that needs little editing. If you find your editing includes a lot of corrective methods for lighting, audio, and shakiness, you will leave yourself with little time to do creative editing: adding special effects, transitions, text additions, voice-overs, and more.
Here you will be presented with how to get the most out of video editing software, techniques for Mac and PC platforms, and the fun and professional enhancements video editing allows you to add to your video.
7.2 Clip, Snip and Primp
It is not hard to edit your video and create an end result that looks like you paid a Hollywood film producer to create your masterpiece. Some of the most successful vloggers use their laptop and the free movie software that comes with it.
For example
A PC with Windows provides Movie Maker and a MAC with OS supplies iMovie software. These are free to use and often providing you with powerful tools once you master the operations of the software. As you begin, most of your video editing will be trial and error, and many people loath the idea of taking hours to learn thoroughly the steps and possibilities of their software. At times, this is a good way to learn. But studying the more advanced methods of editing and becoming familiar with the methods gives you freedom to concentrate on your creativity and enhancements.
Fantastic video clips on your vlog will draw the most visitors, and online video for marketing and communication is not the future; it's here! Editing for your vlog also entails taking the video you have shot and narrowing it down to a short clip versus the longer length of your total footage. We discussed the length of a vlog in Module Five. Two possibilities are longer, instruction vlogs like a yoga class that is expected to last almost an hour and the more common vlog, which should not exceed 10 minutes. Remember the attention span of your audience; like yourself, it is usually short-lived.
If you run into a snag with editing your video, the ultimate resource is Google. Our current internet environment includes countless websites with unlimited information on vlog video editing. Learn what you can first and leave an internet search for the snags you may run into.
Fact
Quality video does very well to engage visitors to your vlog. If a picture paints 1,000 words, then one minute of video is worth 1.8 million!
Source:Theguardian.com
Mac or PC Software?
Remember, Module Four taught you that software for both Mac and PC is equally powerful, regardless of it being free or costly. Your video editing software will be based on the type of computer you own. There is no need to go out and purchase an iMac for video editing or delve into the world of PC software by purchasing a Windows desktop or laptop.
This module will further discuss video editing software uses for both platforms and get more detailed than Module Four was. It is not possible to cover the gamut of choices that exist, but what you learn here will give you a basis for your final decision on choice of editing programs.
First, the Technique
Before we review the video editing software, the choice of techniques must be discussed, so you know what software will work for you. From special effects to adding text, or changing and cropping scenes, video editing offers many enhancements for your vlog content. When editing your video, try to keep the edits classy: edit for a professional look and avoid too many features and transitions.
Prepare to edit by knowing what you want the end result to accomplish. This goal dictates the edits you make, the audio quality or levels, any special effects, or the proper length of the video.Whatever video editing you do, be sure it reflects the content of your vlog leaving you with a video your viewers will want to watch. There are endless vlogs on the internet, YouTube and Facebook being the big hitters, but that allows for bad videos when vloggers just shoot and upload. When a video is done poorly, your viewers with leave and may never return to your vlog. Now, where do you start?
7.3 The Preliminary Look Over
It is your baby—that raw footage with goofs and gags, even though they may not be appropriate for your content.
But you created it. It was born by your design. Just like an author who writes anything from an article to a full- length novel, no one likes to be edited, clipped, and polished. It is a brutal attack on your creation and close to being an insult.
The First Cut
Well, get brutal on your video. Import your digital footage from your smartphone or camera into your computer and take a first look. You will laugh and frown at mistakes: this is the first step to editing. The simplest way to import your video on a PC is to use Movie Maker and on a Mac to use iMovie. These light- weight video editors are fast and basic.
You can get a good look at the initial video and make cuts of any sections you really don't need. Always save the new footage under a new file name, leaving the original video intact. You may regret your edits and need to start over with the entire video footage. Scenes likely to get deleted or clipped are false starts, common when beginning a video, bloopers, banter in between the restarts, and a shaky shot. Occasionally, you will get a laugh, when you have to delete scenes of the common footage showing the camera toppling from its perch and landing with a jolt.
Once you have made all the cuts you want and have a pretty good length of video footage, save your video in a format best suited for additional editing in more sophisticated software. The structure of a video file is encoded because of the large size of video files. Videos produce a lot of information that is compressed into a 'container' file. Formats for videos are optimised for initial capture of the video and for editing.
Three types of container files are an AVI, MP4, and MOV.
These are also the best formats for sharing via upload to the internet. Video formats best for editing includes many variables based on your platform or software. Years ago, AVI files were best for editing. The resulting files were short of unmanageable in size until the MPEG2 format got introduced. It took a few years for programmers to work the bugs out for handling these files, but the MPEG2 format today is easier to work with. MPEG2 files are better when exporting to a DVD playable format.
The format you export your video to is normally dictated or suggested by your editing software. I find staying with the 'standard settings' to be the safest way to go. If you are an expert video editor, use the format you know will work best.
Storyboarding
Writers dread the word 'outline,' shuddering at the thought of creating one for their written work. There are alternatives to outlines such like mind-mapping: a system similar to a flowchart used in business, but you draw illustrations instead of using shapes.
Storyboarding is either done before you shoot the video or after in the form of a quick sketch, a rough outline on note paper, or simply the idea you have in your mind. After the cutting and clipping, it is time to consider your storyboard for your vlog video.
Now that you saved your file in a file format for editing, you can play it back within the software, or locate the folder you saved it in and click on it to play. Watch the entire clip first, taking note of mistakes, clips that are out of order, areas that need editing for lighting, audio, or stability, and spots you may want to add text over the video or transitional titles.
Once you have all these notes taken down, you are ready to edit. Remember, going into a video edit without a storyboard or idea of what you want for the final result, will waste time during editing. Good time management is essential for the schedule flow of your vlog.
Activity 1
Estimated time: 20 - 30 minutes
Film some footage either with your smartphone or video camera. Review the instructions for your device to import the video into your computer. (This activity applies to either a PC or Mac)
Once you have your video file on your computer, launch the system's default video editing program. Choose open file on your menu or import file, navigate to the folder where your video is saved and click on it. Notice the format your imported file ended up being saved in and watch to see if the software had to convert it once you opened the file. Now, take a look at the file, playing it from start to finish. Make note of areas that may need editing or clipping. Think of ways you would like to improve the lighting or hue, add titles, or add music. Save this file for use in Activity 2.
7.4 Now For the Fine Tuning and Creativity
You have your video and it is close to the perfect length.The bloopers are edited out and you know where you want to enhance or correct the content. It helps to create a methodology to your routine when you edit video. This streamlines the process to the point you feel so comfortable with it, you can cut out a lot of editing time.
The Smoothing
If you cut and trimmed scenes that didn't work, you now have rough transitions from one scene to the next.
There are several techniques to create smooth transitions with a seamless move from one clip to another.
A cutaway is an easy way to make your clips look natural.
If you have footage of yourself doing a product review, and you cut out a blooper right in the middle of your demonstration, you can add a few frames with an image of the actual product. Choose a pause in your speaking before and after the mistake and insert the image frames in that section. There may be little room for the speaking part to be natural sounding, but this works well when you don't have a good buffer.
All video editing software has the ability to add transitions. Ranging from fades to animations, the use of proper transitions will create a smooth bridge from one clip to another. The best transitions are simple: too many vloggers make the mistake of using the myriad of animations available in their editing software resulting in twirling circles, cut outs, and more gaudy effects. Use the 'same' transition throughout your video unless a particular cut lends itself to a unique transition.
Animated transitions create their own smooth transition by overlapping the first clip on top of the next clip. It disguises the actual change in action. This type of cut is best added over a time frame of no more than half a second referred to as a 'soft cut.' This cut is practically naked to the eye of the viewer. A standard transition among editing software developers is the fade to black or fade to white, which are commonly used at the beginning and end of a video. Done correctly, they give your video an elegant look. When choosing either the fade to black or fade to white for the start or end of your video, set the transition to be longer. A length of two to five seconds is best.
Fades like this are used in a video only when a passage of time is indicated. If you move from an inside shot to an outside shot, fade to black or fade to white works well. Other situations would be a recipe or product demonstration where it takes time to cook something or wait for a product to do its thing. You can decide on the length of the transition based on your personal preference.
You Light Up My Life...
Although you may have done the best job creating proper lighting, 'life happens'. That brilliant sunlight ended up obscured by clouds you never saw coming. The bulb blew out on one of your lights indoors—during an important scene. Or the lighting you chose caused a yellow or another undesirable hue to your entire video.
This is where video editing software a cut above Movie Maker or iMovie comes in. Although both products that are included with your PC or Mac have these capabilities, the quality may not be as good as with advanced software. Choosing to lighten up a scene darkened by instant cloud cover means using video editing software to select the particular section of video and use the option for modifying the lighting or colour. These options are fairly user- friendly when using menu based editing programs.
There are many free versions of software, but while these free programs may do even more than 'paid for' products, they are not always user-friendly. Choose the lighting option to brighten or darken, keeping in mind you want to match the before and after scenes closely where the sun shone bright. The same goes for colour hues and saturation. If lighting changed and the overall colourisation changed, use the hue function to match the colouring the best you can. These corrections are a bit timely. Find video editing software you like and stick with it. Practice makes good time management.
What Did You Say?
Your video may have been interrupted outside by a gust of wind or a passing emergency vehicle. If you are not talking during these distractions, you can choose the section affected and modify the audio to lessen its impact. Grab the section where the audio needs to be quieted and use the option to change the volume level. Like the lighting edits, you want to lessen the audio so that it doesn't cause a jump from your voice being loud to a whisper. This edit will take a few passes to get the proper level.
If the audio is during a time when you are talking, your video editing software may not have enough options. Advanced products do have some audio mixing capabilities, but you can export your audio to a separate file and edit in a program dedicated to audio mixing. Removing certain frequencies will help eliminate sounds under your voice and some software has an option to highlight and enhance voice signals only. This procedure involves a much higher skill level than what is included in the video editing software. You may have to 'realign' the video and audio once you bring the sound back into your video.
Activity 2
Estimated time: 30 - 60 minutes
Take your video clip from Activity 1 and evaluate where you want to adjust lighting, colour, or audio. Also, note where transitions need to be smoothed out. Use your video editing software to make these changes, saving after each change. Video files are quite large and depending on the capabilities of your computer, you may crash the software and end up losing your changes. It is a very frustrating loss.
After you make each change, replay the video with the adjustment applied. Most software has preview options for this. Your changes will likely require 'do-overs' until you get it where you want it. Much of this is based on proper video editing and a portion of it will be your creative side enhancing the video.
Save a final video file in an MPEG2 format or AVI and compare the size of each file. Familiarising yourself with the file sizes helps you understand file formats for video. Watch your first video editing accomplishment to see what you need to improve on.
7.5 The Bells and Whistles
You have the clips taken out, the transitions added, the lighting and audio corrected, and the proper length.
Now you can add the intro, ending, possible text, and music.
Introduction Titles and Ending Titles
If you include a cheerful welcome to each of your videos, you may not need an opening title. In fact, you can videotape and edit a standard welcoming clip and save it to insert at the beginning of all your vlog videos. The same is true for endings. If your vlog changes to a different topic or format, create a new introduction and closing to work with the subject.
The included video editing software with your operating system and free or paid software all contain automated menu items to insert opening titles and closing credits. They are great for a standard text title and credits at the end. A Google search for 'free beginning and ending video clips' allows you to choose from pre-recorded openings such as numerical countdowns and welcome messages. Endings are also pre-packaged for use to finish your video.
Opening information may include the vlog title, author, and presenter, or credits to sponsors or companies who volunteered their products for review. You can create a copyright statement and date filmed. Ending information normally has less important details such as a disclaimer for use, a notification for the viewer to ask permission before sharing the vlog on another website, and your contact information. If you have a branding or logo associated with your vlog account, use it at the beginning and the end. The best opening and closings are made by you—the vlogger. But packaged ones are adequate if you are not feeling creative at the time.
Adding Text to Scenes
At times, you may want to add a funny caption or a resource like a website address or contact information other than your opening and closing text. Most software allows the text to be placed on its own background frames or directly on top of a scene.
The best way to introduce the text is with a subtle, short transition. Fading in and out, or scrolling up or down the screen work well. If you get over enthusiastic about the text animations, much like the video animations, you can verge on an amateurish look. Be sparse with your text and text transitions. Let your speaking, background design, and actions do the explaining.
Fact
Using a 10-second clip of copy written music in your vlog video is not classified as fair use in the UK. While the US has a fair use clause allowing up to 30 seconds of copy written music, the UK copyrights do not allow any length of music without permission from the copyright holder.
Source: Blog.mediamusicnow.co.uk
Background and Foreground Music
Music can enhance your vlog video or ruin its quality. A yoga video is appealing when there is a subtle soundtrack in the background playing relaxation music. The video is not interrupted and with the proper levels, the instructor's vocal instructions are heard clearly. Almost all video editing software allows you to insert music or other audio clips. The key is finding the proper balance when the audio is used for background ambiance.
You may want to add music to a short section of your video where there is no speaking; only views of a location or item. Music added here can transition from the background to the foreground by adjusting the levels at the proper frame. If the video contained no previous music, using fade in and fade out controls make the introduction to foreground music natural and appealing.
Keep in mind the copyright laws of each country. Breaching this restriction either puts you at risk for hefty fines or will cause YouTube to block your video.
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