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In this 3rd and final part of our short series on creating a craft video we are looking at editing. Editing can be the difference between having an “OK” video and a good one. You can use the editing to take out all the irrelevant content, clean up the sound, the colour and the general pace of the finished video.
By doing editing like this it can make the filming easier. When I first did a video I recorded it “live”. This meant if I made a bad error I had to start again. Something it is quite difficult to do when demonstrating crafts. Now I just keep the camera rolling and do the bit again making a mental note of what to cut out during the edit. In addition to this I do all my zooming in during editor. This saves me having to control the cameras/phone during recording.
Creating a Craft video. Part 3. Editing.
Audio Editing.
Although the 2 phones I use to record the videos do record sound the soundtrack I actually used comes from a lapel mic. This is recorded directly into “Audacity” on my computer. Audacity is a great FREE program for recording and editing audio. Before I save the audio track I do a very basic clean up to make it sound better/clearer. First I “normalise” the audio level. This is quite simple. Under “Select” chose “All” and then go to “Effects” and select “Normalise”. You will see some setting in the pop-up box but I just leave these on the default and click “OK”. That’s all there is to it.
Next I get rid of the worse of the back ground noise. Again this isn’t too difficult to do. Firstly you need to grab a sample of the noise. So chose a quiet bit where you’re not talking and it should be silence. Highlight this using the mouse, it only needs to be a few seconds. Next do to “Effects/Noise Reduction”. In there click on “Get Noise Profile”. After that go back and select “all” again in “Select”. Finally go back to “Effect/Noise Reduction..” and this time just press on “OK”. (There are some options in there but again I leave it on the default. ).
Last of all you need to save your file. Do this by using “File/Export…”. I’ve found it best to expert it as a “wav”.
Video Editing.
I’m not going to try and teach how to edit a video from scratch on here. That would take far too long and there are much better resources available on the internet (than I could produce). I will however tell you the basics about the two video editors I have used recently which may help you make a choice. Both are free.
HitFilm Express.
This is a great program which I used for years. Although the program itself is free you can buy lots of “add ons” for it if you wish. These are mainly special effects. Having said that I found there was enough for me in the basic program so I never had to buy anything.
This program will allow you to work on multiple video and audio track HOWEVER one of the downside is you have to line these up manually, there is no auto facility.
There are basic free specially effects and wipes etc. I often used the colour correction, clock wipe etc.
Davinchi Resolve.
This is an amazingly powerful program. Unfortunately this leads to a couple of the drawbacks. Firstly you need quite a powerful computer to run it (the spects are on their site) and secondly there is quite a steep learning curve. (There are lots of resources available to help you will this).
There are a few limitations with the free version e.g. you can only work in HD and not 4k. This isn’t an issue for me as I only work in HD anyway.
Don’t let the program daunt you. Although there are lots of “sections” to it I only really use 3: the editor, Colour Correction and Delivery. I don’t use the media or cut pages as I can deal with them in the editor. I don’t use Fairlight (sound) as I have already sorted that and I don’t use Fusion as that seems to be for special effects.
The main reason I changed to Resolved was for it’s multicam capabilities. This makes it far easier to deal with multiple cameras and a separate sound track.
Software Links.
Audacity Sound Recorder and editor:
Hitfilm Express:
https://fxhome.com/hitfilm-express
Davinchi Resolve:
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/
Summery.
You need to be enthusiast in order to edit your own videos. It will take time to do and take time to do. If you don’t want to do it yourself maybe you can ask a partner, child, friend to do it for you.
