You’ve learned the basics to shooting video, live streaming, recording audio and the tips, tricks and trends to creating software demos, it’s now time to put all of those skills together in video editing. Start With the Software
Most computers come with basic video editing software such as iMovie on Mac or Windows Live Movie Maker, but if you can afford to spend a little extra, try upgrading to Final Cut Express or Sony Vegas for around $100. If you are ready to take the leap to the pro software, look into Adobe Premier Pro, Final Cut Pro X or Avid Media Composer 6.
Lynda.com offers tutorials on video editing software if you want to brush up on your skills.
Get Organized
Files pile up when it comes to video production. For every one piece of interview footage you should have 10 shots of b-roll. You might have music, images, interview footage, design files, b-roll and this can all get very confusing if you don’t take care in organizing your assets.
Here are some quick tips to organizing your footage:
- When you upload the footage, go through each asset and give it a specific name. This specific name could include the name of the subject in the shot, if the shot has motion you can include the pan or tilt and what the number is of that specific shot. For example your file name could be: Intel_Logo_Pan_Right_Video_2.mp4
- Organize all of your footage into individual folders. An easy process to manage your folders is to create folders based on the type of asset. Create a music/audio, images, interview, design/logos, and b-roll folders.
A focused narrative will keep you viewers watching and will help them remember your message when they’re finished. To create the narrative, start by finding each clip of your speaking parts and piece them together to create the story you’re looking for. If you are editing an interview, only cut out interviewer’s dialog. If you do this, you’re left with a choppy video. Here’s how to fix it:
- Leave space at the beginning and after each speaking clip. Space between clips gives your interviewee the feeling of natural speech and will give your audience time to let the information sink in.
- If the audio in your interview seems choppy from clip to clip, consider adding a cross-fade between the two clips. A cross-fade will blend two audio or video clips together to make a smooth transition.
- Still choppy? Don’t worry we will fill those cuts with b-roll.
B-roll has three main purposes, cover editing cuts, help tell the story and increasing the viewer’s interest. The key to creating seamless video is having b-roll that perfectly matches the subject of the interviewee’s conversation.
Things to remember when it comes to b-roll:
- Consistency is key when it comes to b-roll effects. Whether you cut straight to b-roll, fade into it, keep it consistent. You don’t want to distract your audience from the story with fancy transitions, so keep it simple and consistent.
- If there’s no movement in the footage, create movement. In most video editor software, you can zoom, pan (motion right to left) and tilt (motion up and down). If your camera footage is still, zoom in and use the software to create motion during the clip. Motion generates interest and continues the feeling of video movement. This is especially true when your b-roll is photographs.
- Use b-roll and music to increase or decrease the pace of the video. If your interview or footage seems as if it’s dragging, use b-roll or music to pick-up the tempo. Short b-roll cuts and fast music makes your video more interesting and makes your video have higher energy.
A horror movie without the spooky music is not quite as scary. Music in video is the easiest way to create ambiance and mood. You have to find the song that expresses the right mood. You can either speed up the pace by choosing a song with a faster tempo, or slow the pace by choosing a slower tempo song.
There are a few tricks to finding the right music for your video.
- The music genre is everything. Before you begin looking for the right music, watch your almost complete video and think about the music that would fit the topic, mood, theme or pace of your video’s story
- Take the time to find that perfect song. Scour the copy right free websites like Royalty Free Music to find the song that will help tell your story and engage your audience.
- Adjust your music volume to mix with the interviewee audio. When your interviewee is speaking, adjust the audio to be much quieter (around -21dB). When the interviewee pauses or stops talking, gradually increase the music volume to 0 dB.
- Always end at the end of the music clip. Most music ends in an interesting way and audiences are used to knowing the end of a song when it comes. Finishing the video at the end of a song is a natural conclusion to your story. If your video is shorter than the song, cut the song around half way through the video and skip the middle section of the song to fill the second half of your video with the end of your music.
Exporting your video is the final step to video editing. No matter what video format (we recommend .wmv, .mov or .mp4) or video quality you choose, always choose the highest quality of audio you can.
Now, you know how to shoot video, audio and piece it all together to tell your story. What other editing tips do you have to share with developers? Have you created a software demo video? Share a link in comments!
Related Resources
- Intel Premier Elite Partners and Premier Partners also have access to Wooshii, a professional video and animation production service.
- Check out 9 ways to promote your software demo or game trailer.
DIGITAL JUICE
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