With video marketing expanding as fast as it is within the industry there’s desire to know as much as you can about it. Users exposed to video marketing have a greater conversion rate and increased user interaction. In this blog, I will go over post filming video production with an emphasis on the process of video editing. If you'd like to check out some filming tips or how to use videos in your SEM check out our site. Here are some tips I’ll pass along to the next video editor!

Introduction - For real this time

First, a new face calls for an introduction! My name is Mike, and I am in charge of video production here at Red Shark Digital. I’m from Elizabeth City, and I currently attend East Carolina University. I plan to have obtained my BSBA in Marketing by the end of this upcoming semester. I've always been intrigued with content creation whether it was music, my first love, or creating videos for personal projects. Through trial and error and help from online programs, such as lynda.com (a great source for developing creative skills), I was able to come up with some basic tips to share!

Hardware/Software Overview

As a videographer, there are a few things you want out of your system, speed, and reliability. The last thing you want while editing a video is having to wait around while graphics render, or even worse you watch as your project crashes in front of you. Video editing is demanding of your processor, RAM, and your storage drive, so start improving those areas for better performance. For example, 2GB of RAM would be a great place to start, and regarding storage look at Solid State Drives. SSD’s tend to be quicker at retrieving and playback over standard hard-drive.The next thing to consider is your video editing software. Luckily for all you video editors out there, many options are available spanning from professional editing software to the casual enthusiast platform. You can even download mobile video editing apps! I’ve had experience with a couple of different video editing software platforms, and have developed a favorite. That favorite being Adobe Premiere Pro CC. The application is powerful giving you full creative control of your content. The seemingly endless number of effects and customizable aspects all at your fingertips make Premier a top notch professional application. I also enjoy utilizing the Creative Cloud and integrating applications like Photoshop and After Effects into my video editing process. Whatever you go with, it’s important to know your software inside and out. Knowing all the shortcuts within your program will make your process more efficient and allow you to be as creative as you need to be.

My last piece of advice for this section is to focus on your audio output. Acquire some decent monitor headphones or stand alone speakers. Audio plays just as significant of a role as visuals do within a video.

Editing Process

The next thing to consider is the actual process taken to edit videos. The editing process is an area that can vary between individuals, so I’ll provide you an outline of the standard procedures I would take in editing a video.

Staying organized is critical for video editing. When I receive clips from a client my first step is to take inventory of these clips, I rename and organize clips into folders. This habit will save you time knowing you will be able to reference a video by name instead of scrubbing through previews later on. Not only is this the organization step, but this is the step to see what you will be working with. This part of the process is the time to start generating ideas to implement later on.

Next, determine the message and direction of your video. Who is your audience?What do you want to portray? What actions do you want the audience to make? Once you have that figured out, it’s time to evaluate your content to see what you have and what you might need. You may need extra footage or even gather stock footage. There are plenty of great sites that provide royalty free stock footage. Check out Video Blocks or Video Hive!Along with the direction, determine the duration of your video. The length of your video can be difficult to decide with platform requirements and content you wish to include. However, there does seem to be a few general rules to follow from my personal experience. If your video is focusing on being shared or used for social media purposes, it’s better to use a shorter length. Primarily between 30 seconds to a minute. If you are planning on using your video in a documentary style to explain your business, the duration of the video can range a little longer between a minute to 5 minutes. There is also the world of micro videos that consist of videos 15 seconds and shorter. These can be promotional videos or videos used to direct an audience over to your website.

Now that you have all your content and a direction, it's time to throw it together. I know, it’s exciting! This step is where your project starts to take form. At this stage don’t be afraid to start trimming and throwing clips onto the project timeline. Your project at this point is a rough draft, and it provides an opportunity for you to see what you're working with. From experience, It’s easy to have a creative block when staring at a blank project timeline. Don’t worry about misplacing organizations of clips just yet. You can organize those later when you have what you want. It may be one of those situations where the end product looks completely different than what you originally intended it to look like.

Once you have your clips in order, it’s time to spice up your work a little bit. Add titles, images, and some graphic animation. Many video-editing programs offer a title feature within the program. I use After Effects, another part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud, which provides me the ability to create visual effects and logo animation. I’d advise using an application to use motion graphics within your video. It will take your video to the professional level! Go check out some of our examples of title animation in our gallery.

Next, it’s time to turn that rough draft into a work of art! Start by doing some basic correction, like adjusting the exposure. You can then move on to doing the advanced color correction and adding visual filters. Once the clips are looking how you want, it’s now time to make them sound like you want.

Like I mentioned before, audio plays a large part in determining whether the video will be a hit or not. Using your monitoring devices, listen and eliminate unwanted background noise. There’s nothing more distracting than ruffling papers in the background while someone is performing an interview. It’s also good to monitor for any low-frequency hums. These are sounds that can be hard to pick up through standard computer speakers and may require headphones to detect.

The final step is to add your transitions and add music. Nothing makes a video smoother than using silky transitions. Be intentional and consistent in your transitions though. A video with different transitions can be overwhelming and detract from what they are meant to be doing.

Lastly, add music. I may be biased, but the music makes everything better! It’s especially true when it comes to video. Music does a great job of tying everything together and covering any gaps. Using music is another way to dictate the emotional feel of your video. You can make a video go from happy/upbeat to a more corporate feel just by changing the background track. One last tip: Make sure the music is in the background and not overwhelming. You don't want the music competing with vocals and being distracting.

Recap

Again, video marketing is on the rise and with a full head of steam! Half the battle is keeping up with trends, and setting new standards. With the progression of technology and ease of use, it's not uncommon for video production to take place within a small team or just one individual! Go check out our video gallery for examples covered in this blog. Take advantage of the tools around you and use video marketing to help grow your business!

Link to our Video Gallery