This research is supported by you, our readers, through our independently chosen links, which earn us a commission with no extra cost to you. Learn More.

Video editing is the process of piecing together image shots, video clips and sounds to create the desired result in a video. Video editing can be applied to all forms of video productions, for movies, short films, documentaries, interviews, YouTube videos, social media posts, and so on. Video editing can be used to structure and present information relating to the video being made. This means how a movie is edited varies from that of YouTube videos, interviews, video ads, and so on. The purpose of each video determines what the editing process would look like.

Why is video editing necessary?

A major question people tend to ask themselves is, “why do I need to edit my videos?” Video editing is vital for spotting errors within any video. Video editing is also important because it is key to blending images and sounds to help the audience feel emotionally connected to the storytelling portrayed by the video. Video editors can also significantly improve the quality of a video during post-production.

Stages involved in video editing

Video editing isn’t as straight-forward as a lot of people think it is; as it requires quite an amount of expertise for perfection purposes. For this reason there are usually a number of stages of video editing and some of these include:

  • Organization and synchronization

The first thing a video editor needs to do is to organize his intended contents and find a way to synchronize the work that is to be edited. This ensures the editing processes are much more easily carried out. Video editors can get to do this with their preferred video editing software, like Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere pro.

  • Stringout

The stringout is basically a bird’s eye view of the whole work to be edited (1). In simpler terms, it gives you a view of the whole video at once. This helps the user to see it all at once and to know what their options are.

  • Rough cut

This can be said to be the first draft of the work being edited. It is like a work in progress version of what the final cut would look like.

  • Fine cut

Unlike the rough cut, the fine cut is aimed at finalizing the edits on each of the numerous rough cuts. This is the stage of video editing where the project has taken a shape and the storyline can be easily followed.

  • Color correction

The color correction stage is one where the editor works on the video frames to ensure that all color hues and tones are displayed as the exact colors they should be. The aim here is to ensure viewers see the exact color the naked eye would see in real life, as the same color on screen.

  • Finalize edit

This is also known as the finishing. It is the last step in video editing and it is basically like proofreading a written work. It helps check for gaps, visual errors, bad transitions as well as color correction.

F. A. Q

Video editing does not necessarily have a time frame. It however depends on the amount of detail that you want in the finalized edits.

The difficulty that a lot of people ascribe to video editing actually depends on one’s level of expertise and the amount of detail involved in such a video.

Conclusion

A beginner in video editing definitely needs to have an in-depth idea of what video editing is. Without doubt, this article has done justice to the ever burning question: what is video editing? and has given a sneak peek into the reasons why video editing is important as well as the stages involved in video editing.

References:

  1. Edit publication. (n.d.) Stringouts. Workflow – Frame.io Guide. Retrieved from https://workflow.frame.io/guide/stringouts