12 articles
Editing is deletion before it's addition. It's the longest stage in making a video and the least planned for, and it's where what you filmed is either rescued or lost. Seven articles from the first cut to the last level.
Start here — Start by deleting, not adding
Picture — Cutaways · On-screen text and subtitles
Sound — What can be saved and what can't · Music, safely · Voiceover at home
Once the video is done — Cutting a short from a long video
An hour and twenty minutes of good talk, cut down to ten minutes, and then the interviewee wrote back: I never said that. Working from the transcript rather than the timeline, four cutting tools, and the line you do not cross.
· Say
He opened the software, dragged the files in and started cutting straight away. Two hours later he had forty clips with camera filenames and a timeline that stalled on every scrub. Six things to do in ten minutes.
· Say
The file looked clean on his computer, he uploaded it, and the night scene came back full of blocks. Why the platform re-compresses your video, what the export actually decides, and a checklist before every upload.
· Say
He mixed on headphones and published, then got a comment: we cannot hear you. Why headphones lie, three layers each with its number, how to duck music under speech, and a three-minute check before export.
· Say
He dropped a ready-made cinematic look on every clip, and the faces turned orange and the sky purple. The right order of five steps, why matching matters more than beauty, and when to stop.
· Say
You recorded your voiceover and a news presenter came out instead of you. The setup in four things, the cure for the broadcast voice, and how to make narration match your location audio.
· Say
You cut the funniest minute out of your video, posted it, and nobody laughed. Why a good minute doesn't work alone, four steps in the editor, and how many clips one video gives you.
· Say
You cut a sentence from the middle of your speech and your head jumped visibly. Three jobs a cutaway does, how many you need, and the mistakes that spoil them.
· Say
You put a song you love behind your video, and six months later it was blocked in half the world. Why a popular song is the worst choice, four safe sources, and when you don't need music at all.
· Say
You spent two hours trying to rescue echoey audio, and it came out metallic, like underwater. What editing can fix and what it can't, and the order to work in.
· Say
A man on a train opens your video, can't turn the sound on, and closes it two seconds later. Why subtitles aren't a luxury, how they differ from on-screen text, and the rules for Arabic.
· Say
You spent two hours trying twenty transitions, and in the end the video just needed two minutes cut out. Editing is deletion, three stages in order, and exactly where to cut.
· Say
