There is no other step in the filmmaking journey quite as transformative as video editing. Beginners often learn how to edit their videos very quickly, but some of them get really stuck, never going past the basic skills. They start out excited and eager to dive in but, after a while, get overwhelmed by the sheer number of options, effects and styles they need to learn. The end product then suffers with confusing, messy, boring, or over-stylized videos as a result.
The first most common problem is too much going on with effects and transitions. Beginners tend to use a whole lot of effects and transitions, and although it initially seems like a cool idea, it turns out to be a real distraction. There should be no more zoom in, zoom out, or color filter transitions than actually necessary to tell the story in the video. Using too many effects, color filters or zooms on top of every single shot, is distracting from what is going on and does not make the editing appear seamless and cinematic. In fact, it is quite the opposite. As we saw in this article, most professional editing is a very minimalist and subtle art, and should be used to enhance the story, rather than show off all the tricks that the editor knows. If you treat editing as a spice, too much can be ruinous.
Another huge stumbling block for new editors is bad pacing. A beginner editor may not use enough clips so that some clips run on too long (or leave too few clips which makes the video too short) so that the audience gets bored, loses interest and does not continue to watch the video. Good editing is all about the timing, the rhythm. A shot has to last long enough to communicate the point or emotion, but not longer than that. The rhythm of the edit is affected by the choice of music, how narration is paced, how much time you take to let the scene breathe on its own. Learning how to feel and to read timing is the most important skill for video editors to master.
A second mistake is lack of structure. This happens frequently when a new editor simply strings clips together without a beginning, middle or end to give a story structure, or without any sense of pacing to keep the viewer entertained. Just like in written work, or even in the simplest short stories, each video should have an overarching direction and an idea of how it is going to be told. In the absence of some structure, viewers will soon become bored and leave, regardless of how beautiful or entertaining your video clips are. The use of storyboards and scripts, and thinking about the flow of the edit at the start of the edit process (instead of as a last minute add-on), will save you lots of time and give you a much higher quality product to show.
Audio can also be neglected by video editing newcomers. They can pay such strict attention to their visuals, that they ignore audio. But, as we have learned, a video needs both visuals and sound. If your audio is bad, the video will suffer. If the background noise in one clip is different to that in another, or if your voiceover is much quieter than your background music, your videos will appear unprofessional and amateurish. In order to edit your videos to an expert level, you need to learn how to use audio effectively and to know how you are going to use it (and make sure the sound is high quality) as part of the whole editing process. Make sure you have clear voiceovers, good background sounds and that the music you have chosen fits well with the scene and visuals. Sometimes all it takes is an adjustment to the audio level, a fade in and fade out to improve a poorly recorded soundbite so you need to get your head around this, otherwise it can be the difference between your video coming together successfully and not.
A fifth error is inconsistent coloring and exposure. Inexperienced editors are apt to mix clips with different lighting conditions, different color grades or different levels of exposure. This makes your video feel disjointed and cheap. Your video should have a consistent and deliberate color style. You want your video to look seamless, professional and polished. In order to do this you need to learn how to match white balance between clips, or how to color grade your shots to give your video a consistent color grade. This might mean correcting overexposed shots, or ensuring skin tones look accurate and not burnt out. Small adjustments to color and exposure can have a massive difference to the look and feel of your edited film.
Last of all, there is a failure to review. When beginners create videos, they often do not stop to think about what they have done. Many people are so keen to finish the task at hand that they do not take a step back to critically view what they have made. But editing is something that you will become good at the more you practice and learn from your mistakes and successes. By watching back the video you have just made and reviewing what you have done in terms of pacing, color and visual style, transitions, etc., you can start to make little changes and improve them for the next time. By being critical of your own work in the process of editing your film you will be much more likely to see improvement than if you just churn out videos as fast as possible.
What this article boils down to is that video editing should be simple with intent. You do not need every effect in existence, or every fancy transition or fancy trick you have ever heard of to edit your videos to a professional standard. You just need simple, clear, structured, well paced clips that come together and form a seamless final product. Start with how you want the story to be told, how the story is going to be paced, and use sound, effects and visual elements and transitions in a subtle way to help enhance that. When you edit videos with a clear end in mind and an understanding of what you are trying to do, and you use the tools and effects at your disposal in a subtle manner (and not just as a result of playing around to see what they look like), you will notice a huge improvement in your work immediately. And remember, small differences in pacing, audio or color can really make your videos stand out from the crowd. Remember that video editing is not about showing off what you can do. It is about making the viewer feel, think and be captivated from start to finish.