Need help editing down a video.
August 20, 2022 8:26 PM Subscribe
For a grant proiposal, I need to edit and submit a video, like one on You Tube, into maybe a ten to twenty second piece. Feel free to talk to me as if I am 5. I have 0 percent experience in editing videos.
Response by poster: I have an HP PC and the video is already done. I am going to lift it off you tube with permission.
posted by Rumi'sLeftSock at 8:41 PM on August 20, 2022
posted by Rumi'sLeftSock at 8:41 PM on August 20, 2022
Your question is vague. You say you have zero experience in editing videos, so the answer to this question could be "everything", but what exactly do you need help with? If you need technical help, you'll need to tell us what software you're using. If you need help with editing concepts, we'll need to know what you're trying to do. 10-20 seconds isn't a long time, so without seeing the video, it will be impossible to suggest how to edit it. Do you need for that 10-20 seconds to tell a story, and do you just need to extract something from that video that will explain something in your proposal?
posted by jonathanhughes at 9:26 PM on August 20, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by jonathanhughes at 9:26 PM on August 20, 2022 [4 favorites]
You can hire someone to do this for you. For a 20 second video, you could pay a film student $50.
Put an ad on Craigslist or in a FB group for a local film school or filmmakers’ community.
If you know any real estate agents, since most real estate listings now use video, they tend to know quick and affordable video editors, too.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 10:03 PM on August 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
Put an ad on Craigslist or in a FB group for a local film school or filmmakers’ community.
If you know any real estate agents, since most real estate listings now use video, they tend to know quick and affordable video editors, too.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 10:03 PM on August 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
I am honestly very confused by what this proposal requirement is supposed to do. If it's supposed to show that you can edit a video, you're probably going to lose out to an experience editor because unless you're a savant at it, winging it for the first time isn't likely to put you on top. And if you're trying to distill the essence of a project based on an existing video, that's really hard to do without knowing what you have to work with. Ten to twenty seconds is nothing, so unless you have really compelling source material, it's hard to give a guide.
If there happens to be an entrance fee for this proposal, I'd give this a hard pass.
posted by Candleman at 10:29 PM on August 20, 2022
If there happens to be an entrance fee for this proposal, I'd give this a hard pass.
posted by Candleman at 10:29 PM on August 20, 2022
Assuming this proposal has nothing to do with showing off your video editing skills, I’ll second nouvelle-personne’s advice. If you have to DIY, it sounds like you just need a very simple app that does straight cuts and maybe has some pre-made transitions, such as dissolves to go between shots or a fadeout you can put at the end (just don’t get carried away with these!). Hopefully the video you’re working with doesn’t have any music, because that’ll seriously impede your ability to make clean cuts.
I have no reccs for basic editing tools on Windows, but based on a cursory look at this page it seems like the built-in Windows Video Editor might be sufficient, or maybe something like VideoPad, or possibly Adobe Premiere Elements (although even that is likely overkill for your purposes).
What I can tell you is that whichever app you end up using, you’ll probably learn far more (and more quickly) from watching a tutorial on YouTube than you will from responses here on Ask MeFi. Here’s a tutorial for Windows Video Editor and here’s one for VideoPad. If you do get into a jam, feel free to MeMail me (a filmmaker) and I’ll try to help!
posted by theory at 11:02 PM on August 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
I have no reccs for basic editing tools on Windows, but based on a cursory look at this page it seems like the built-in Windows Video Editor might be sufficient, or maybe something like VideoPad, or possibly Adobe Premiere Elements (although even that is likely overkill for your purposes).
What I can tell you is that whichever app you end up using, you’ll probably learn far more (and more quickly) from watching a tutorial on YouTube than you will from responses here on Ask MeFi. Here’s a tutorial for Windows Video Editor and here’s one for VideoPad. If you do get into a jam, feel free to MeMail me (a filmmaker) and I’ll try to help!
posted by theory at 11:02 PM on August 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
But to try to answer the question:
The best advice I can give is to try to find a video that's similar to what you want to do and try to emulate it. Observe the types of cuts the between scenes that are used. Your target audience will affect what you want to use. It's common to do jump cuts in TikTok videos, for example, but older audiences might find them off-putting. Similarly consider whether on-screen captions are something you should use.
10-20 seconds really isn't a lot of time to work with so figure out what the bare minimum of what you need to convey the message will be. Remember that you don't have to use audio with the video it's from. If there's someone talking in one segment in a way that can be combined with video from another, make use of that to save time.
Are you telling a story? This might be useful for how to approach it. Instagram stories are limited to 15 seconds so check out what's common in popular videos and think about how it can work with your content. Are you making an ad? Obviously there's tons of examples available. If it's something like editing down an interview, think of ways to bring a little visual variety to it, especially if there's only one camera. You might zoom in for one cut, swap in some supporting stock footage, etc.
Normalize the audio. This means bringing up the volume so that the loudest part is just below the maximum loudest possible. Most editing software can do this non-destructively. Doing this will make your product seem more professional. Make sure that your softest part isn't hard to hear at a normal setting.
I agree with theory that watching a video tutorial for whatever editing software you intend to use will be easier than anyone here trying to talk about it. For simple things, almost any basic software will be capable of doing what you need, but there's a art to picking out the best snippets of content, knowing how to arrange them, select the types of transitions, etc. that you'll just have to get a feel for unless you're able to take the advice to outsource it.
Good luck.
posted by Candleman at 11:12 AM on August 21, 2022
The best advice I can give is to try to find a video that's similar to what you want to do and try to emulate it. Observe the types of cuts the between scenes that are used. Your target audience will affect what you want to use. It's common to do jump cuts in TikTok videos, for example, but older audiences might find them off-putting. Similarly consider whether on-screen captions are something you should use.
10-20 seconds really isn't a lot of time to work with so figure out what the bare minimum of what you need to convey the message will be. Remember that you don't have to use audio with the video it's from. If there's someone talking in one segment in a way that can be combined with video from another, make use of that to save time.
Are you telling a story? This might be useful for how to approach it. Instagram stories are limited to 15 seconds so check out what's common in popular videos and think about how it can work with your content. Are you making an ad? Obviously there's tons of examples available. If it's something like editing down an interview, think of ways to bring a little visual variety to it, especially if there's only one camera. You might zoom in for one cut, swap in some supporting stock footage, etc.
Normalize the audio. This means bringing up the volume so that the loudest part is just below the maximum loudest possible. Most editing software can do this non-destructively. Doing this will make your product seem more professional. Make sure that your softest part isn't hard to hear at a normal setting.
I agree with theory that watching a video tutorial for whatever editing software you intend to use will be easier than anyone here trying to talk about it. For simple things, almost any basic software will be capable of doing what you need, but there's a art to picking out the best snippets of content, knowing how to arrange them, select the types of transitions, etc. that you'll just have to get a feel for unless you're able to take the advice to outsource it.
Good luck.
posted by Candleman at 11:12 AM on August 21, 2022
If it is bog simple as extracting 20 seconds from a video... You've downloaded the video, check your preferred video player's documentation, there's usually an option to turn on an On Screen Display (OSD) that shows the current runtime, and there's usually pause and forward/backward frame things. Find the a good start point by pausing and jogging until you hit that "there" moment. Note the timestamp. Do the same thing for the end, pause, jog, find the right place and note that timestamp.
Then you can just use 'ffmpeg' and give it the original video, the start time and the end time and have it create a new video. Watch the new video, maybe tweak the start/end times or some other things until it's good enough.
That's the quick and dirty way. Graphical editors do about the same, even audio editors do about the same. For this simple extraction thing.... except you load the video and drag some markers on a timeline to create a selection and then you "save selection".
If it is just a "extract these 20 seconds" sort of thing.
Or at least that's what I do to clip out funny segments from a video to turn into an animated GIF.
Definitely Nth watch a YouTube tutorial for your chosen video editor. It's basically not that hard until you start getting really fancy.
posted by zengargoyle at 1:57 PM on August 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Then you can just use 'ffmpeg' and give it the original video, the start time and the end time and have it create a new video. Watch the new video, maybe tweak the start/end times or some other things until it's good enough.
That's the quick and dirty way. Graphical editors do about the same, even audio editors do about the same. For this simple extraction thing.... except you load the video and drag some markers on a timeline to create a selection and then you "save selection".
If it is just a "extract these 20 seconds" sort of thing.
Or at least that's what I do to clip out funny segments from a video to turn into an animated GIF.
Definitely Nth watch a YouTube tutorial for your chosen video editor. It's basically not that hard until you start getting really fancy.
posted by zengargoyle at 1:57 PM on August 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Could you clarify what you mean by edit? I think many of us interpreted it as meaning condensing a longer video to a cohesive short video, which is relatively complicated. If zengargoyle's interpretation is correct, and you just need to cut 10-20 seconds out of the video, that's very easy once you get the source file. I'd recommend using something with a GUI (Handbrake is a safe and free one as long as you download it from a trustworthy source). Set the start point, set the end point, preview it to make sure it's not a jarring start or stop point, and then save the selection as a new file.
posted by Candleman at 12:31 PM on August 22, 2022
posted by Candleman at 12:31 PM on August 22, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by theory at 8:33 PM on August 20, 2022