By Mitch Rice
Do your videos look ordinary? A few simple editing techniques can transform your videos into something that looks like a pro? These methods will help you increase your video watch time and make you stand out in the vast world of YouTube.
The Jump cut
A jump cut is a key editing technique. It’s a quick cut between two shots of the same subject. This technique speeds up your video, cuts out boring parts, and keeps your audience’s attention.
A jump cut can seem annoying at first, but it’s very effective when used correctly. The key is to keep the dialogue natural and remove unnecessary silence. Adding a close-up or cutaway shot (like showing someone making coffee while they’re talking) can make these cuts look even smoother.
For a perfect jump cut, make sure your audio is clear and consistent. Any unnecessary noise can ruin the entire flow. Using video quality enhancer tools like ‘Noise Reduction’ and ‘Volume Normalization’ to improve sound quality makes transitions seem invisible.
Color grading
Color grading is more than just adjusting brightness or white balance. It gives your video a creative look, sets a certain mood in the video, and keeps everything consistent.
If you’re new, start by adjusting exposure and white balance first. Then, you can experiment with LUTs (look-up tables) to use a color preset that matches the mood of your video. After that, you can fine-tune hue, saturation, and luminance to get the look you want. Keep in mind, excessive color grading can make your video look unnatural or confusing. Try to use a consistent color palette across all your videos. This will help create your brand identity.
Use B-roll
B-roll is additional footage that is used alongside your main shot. It adds context and interest to the video. For example, if you are teaching how to make coffee, instead of just listening to you talk, the B-roll footage can show the coffee beans, the water being poured, and the steam rising. This makes your story more interesting.
Shooting B-roll with the main footage makes everything fit together perfectly. Instead of just taking random shots, create variety by shooting from different angles (e.g., wide, medium, and close-up).
However, shooting additional footage takes time and if it is not planned properly, it can look inconsistent with the main video. Try to keep the B-roll directly related to your main topic and don’t overdo it, otherwise it can distract from your main message.
Add motion and keyframes
Still shots can look a bit dull. Keyframes are used to solve this problem. With keyframes, you can set points in the timeline where you can add subtle motions like zoom, pan, or tilt.
For example, slowly zooming in on a subject increases focus, while panning across a scene shows the entire scene. These movements make your video appear dynamic rather than static. But remember, it’s better to use less here. Overusing these effects or making them look choppy can look unprofessional. These movements take practice to perfect, but they can make a huge difference in your video.
Professionalize your audio
A good video is incomplete without good audio. If the sound is blurry, noisy, or inconsistent, viewers will often leave the video. Clear and crisp audio is a key feature of professional content. Simply remove unnecessary background noise, equalize the volume, and reduce loudness to improve the quality of your audio. Equalization (EQ) can be used to adjust the bass, mids, and highs to make your voice clearer and richer.
If possible, record the audio separately using a good microphone. This will give you much better results than your camera’s built-in mic. While it requires a little extra setup, it will give you a smoother sound that will help keep your audience’s attention.
Add transitions and avoid flashy effects
Transitions are the way to move from one clip to another. Professional editing emphasizes subtle transitions that make the story more interesting, not distracting.
A simple cut is the best transition. Sometimes the simplest method is best. When a subtle change between two scenes is needed, cross-dissolve or luma fade can be used, but only in small amounts.
Avoid overusing wipes, spins, or other flashy transitions. They often feel artificial and distract from the main content. Adding a simple cut with a light sound effect can enhance the experience without distracting from the main subject.
Use graphics and lower thirds
Lower thirds are text that runs along the bottom of the screen. They show the speaker’s name, place name, or important information. They make the video look sleeker and more professional, and they create opportunities for branding.
A good lower third will be clean, easy to read, and consistent with your channel’s style. Using the same fonts, colors, and animations across all of your videos will help viewers easily recognize your channel.
But be careful! Don’t clutter your video with too many graphics. Don’t make your video look like an advertising billboard. Keep graphics simple and purposeful. Using simple text on a clear background usually works best.
The Power of Intentional Pacing
Pacing is the rhythm and timing of your editing. By controlling it, you can increase the viewer’s experience and ability to hold their attention.
Using quick cuts creates tension in your video, which is perfect for action or tutorial videos. And using slow motion gives viewers time to absorb emotional content.
There are many places in a video where attention is lost, such as pauses, stuttering, or unnecessary dialogue. You can shorten the video by eliminating these “dead spots.” By carefully viewing your video from the viewer’s perspective, you can understand where interest is lost.
It takes effort and practice to create the right pace. But it will ultimately change the way you tell your story and keep viewers engaged with the video.
Use AI in video editing
The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in video editing is growing, and we can’t deny that. AI tools make tasks like noise reduction, color grading suggestions, and even automatic cutting based on scene changes or audio much faster. Some tools can even remove watermark from video automatically, which used to require extra steps or complicated software. For example, some AI tools can analyze your footage and suggest editing for speed or improve simple clips on their own. Software like Adobe Premiere Pro and Topaz Video AI have smart features that save time and help beginners improve their videos.
However, relying too much on AI can reduce your creative control and often lead to generic or stereotypical results. So, use AI as an assistant to help you maintain your own style, not just to rely on.
These techniques will serve as tools to help you tell the story of each of your videos beautifully. Video editing is a skill that only grows with practice, so don’t give up if it seems difficult at first.
Instead, try new things regularly, watch how professional editors work, and keep refining your work accordingly. Remember, each edit will take you one step further.
Data and information are provided for informational purposes only, and are not intended for investment or other purposes.