How do I edit video as a complete beginner?

Video editing looks like software skill and is actually a sequence of decisions. Any editor will do the job; what beginners lack is an order of operations, so they polish material they later delete.

What you'll need

• A computer with enough free storage for the footage
• An editing application
• Headphones (optional)

Step by step

1. Get the footage off the camera and back it up.One folder per project, copied rather than moved, and a second copy somewhere else before you delete anything from the card. Video files are large and a project lost halfway through is demoralising.
2. Watch everything once, taking notes.Note the timecode of anything usable and anything that must be in the finished piece. This is the only pass where you see the material as a whole, and it is what makes the edit fast.
3. Choose an editor and stop shopping.The free editors bundled with both major desktop platforms, and the free tier of the main professional applications, are all far more capable than a first project needs. The differences matter at a level you have not reached. Pick one and learn it.
4. Build a rough assembly.Drag the usable clips onto the timeline in order, roughly trimmed. Do not fine-tune anything. The point is to see the shape and length of the piece, and to find out what is missing while you can still film it.
5. Cut it down hard.Almost every first edit is twice as long as it should be. Remove anything that repeats, anything that explains what the picture already shows, and every pause. A four-minute piece that says something beats a nine-minute one that says the same thing.
6. Tighten each cut.Trim the start and end of every clip so the action begins immediately. Cut on movement where you can, because the eye is distracted at that moment and the join is invisible.
7. Use cutaways to hide joins.When you need to remove a section from the middle of someone talking, cover the join with a shot of something else — hands, the room, the thing being described. This is why coverage is shot.
8. Fix the audio next.Level the clips so speech is consistent, apply gentle noise reduction if there is hiss, and use room tone to fill gaps. Add music at a level well below the voice, and duck it under speech. Audio problems are more noticeable than picture problems.
9. Colour correct, then grade.First make every clip match — white balance and brightness consistent across the piece. Then apply any look you want, to all of it. Doing this before the cut is locked means redoing it.
10. Add titles last and keep them simple.A plain readable font, on screen long enough to read twice, positioned away from the edges. Transitions other than a straight cut should be rare — a cross dissolve to signal time passing, and very little else.
11. Export to the right settings.Match the project's resolution and frame rate, use the platform's recommended settings if it has them, and keep a full-quality master file as well as the compressed version you share.

Tips

• Learn three keyboard shortcuts on day one — play/pause, cut at the playhead, and undo. They account for most of the work.
• Edit with headphones. Laptop speakers hide both problems and music levels that are far too loud.
• Watch the finished piece the next day before publishing. Everything that is too long becomes obvious with a night's distance.

Common mistakes

• Polishing before the cut is settled — Colour grading, titles and sound design applied to clips that later get deleted is wasted work, and it makes people reluctant to cut material they have already invested in.
• Using lots of transitions — Spins, wipes and page turns date instantly and draw attention to the edit rather than the content. Professional editing is almost entirely straight cuts.
• Working directly from the memory card — Playback stutters, the card can be removed accidentally, and the project breaks when the files move. Copy to a drive and back it up first.

If it doesn't work

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