There are three essential ingredients to getting started with video:
- shooting video (which was the focus of part 1 of the series)
- editing and producing video
- posting and sharing video
Editing and Producing Video
Editing and Producing Video is perhaps the most challenging aspect of getting great video online for your tourism business. It can be made a whole lot less challenging by doing things as efficiently and with high quality when shooting video. The less edits you need to make, the fast your video production will be.
How long should my finished videos be?
If you speak to most people who watch videos online, shorter is better. Once you have edited your video and you think you have a finished story, go back and trim even more content. If you have edited a very good 5 minute video, chances are you will have a great 3 minute video if you trim back the content even more. I like to think of video production as much like making maple syrup. In the forest we start with 33 gallons of sap and distill that down to just one gallon of syrup. We could stop boiling sooner and we’d have more sweet liquid for folks, but most people prefer a smaller amount of a better product.
How much video does it take to make a great three minute video?
In general, the more video you start with, the better the finished 3 minute video will be. Sometimes, a video can be very good, with very little editing. In general, you’ll only use about 10-20% of the actual raw video you shoot in a great three minute video. That means 15-30 minutes of video captured on your camera and loaded into your computer produces three minutes of finished video.
What does it cost to edit and produce videos?
The vast majority of video producers will never in their lifetime need to purchase software to make movies on their computer. The only real cost is time.
How long does it take to edit video?
For starters, plan on spending one – two hours of editing for each minute of finished video.
Do I need any special computer hardware to make videos?
Any new computer or laptop has more than enough power for anyone to edit and produce video. Computers designed specifically for the task of editing video (like the MacPro) have more processor power so they can do most tasks more quickly.
Most people will find it much easier to edit video if they setup their computer with dual monitors – one for using the editing tools and one for seeing the video as it is being produced. Desktop PC’s can easily add a video card which makes it easy for a second screen to be added. Both Mac and PC laptops are ready to use a second screen just by plugging one in and setting the screen preferences, so you can use your laptop screen and an external one, side by side.
The most important consideration for editing video on a computer is free hard drive space. Hard drive space is where the very large video files go while you are editing your video. Editing Video and HD video requires a significant amount of free space. This is why laptops are sometimes a poor choice for editing video, particularly if they are used for a lot of other tasks. If serious about editing video, the smallest hard drive I would recommend for a desktop computer is 1 Terabyte. Same goes for external hard drives for laptops. Bigger is always better.
How do I make the best use of space on my computer? What about backup copies?
The solution we have used for years in dealing with large video files is to keep as much space as possible available on the computer hard drive or flash drive at all times. We upload the video files we are editing onto the computer, and once a final video is produced and uploaded to the Web, we move the new video to an external back up hard drive for safe keeping and delete the original video files – freeing up space for the next project. Digital video camera tapes are relatively inexpensive. Most professional video producers keep the original tapes they used to shoot video as their back-up, clearly labelling the original tape with the date and video content information and storing tapes in a safe location. If shooting video to a hard-drive or flash drive video camera, consider saving the original video files used to edit your video to a back up hard drive, along with the finished video.
What software is needed to edit video? Is it beginner-friendly?
If you are new to making video, most computers come with basic, easy to learn, editing software that lets you slice video clips and move them around on a timeline, add simple video effects like titles and screen transitions, add photos and audio tracks. If you are purchasing a new computer to edit video, use what James Cameron and his team used to make Avatar - an Apple Computer. Most beginners find Apple’s iMovie simple to learn and use and it has numerous effects that can be used to add your personal touch to your productions. It comes pre-installed on Apple computers and it will take years of production before you are probably ready for a more powerful editing tool like Apple’s Final Cut Express. When you feel like a pro, join James Cameron who uses – Apple’s Final Cut Pro, core component of Final Cut Studio.
On a PC running Windows, Movie Maker has come pre-installed on XP and many versions of Vista. The new Windows operating system – Windows 7 requires movie-makers to download MovieMaker. It’s free to anyone. When ready for extreme movie making on a PC, move on over to Adobe Premiere.
I haven’t got any time to make movies, how can I get video online?
For the absolutely fearful beginner, online tools like Animoto let producers slice together photos and video into instant automated videos shows for free. Although we produce and edit our own movies using software and tools described above, we also sometimes like to produce quick little videos with no muss, no fuss. That’s why we subscribe to a paid version of Animoto in addition to our other investments in video production.
Where do I get music to add to my videos?
The easiest, least expensive and legal way to add free music to your videos is by using CreativeCommons licensed tunes from Jamendo. The music on the site is royalty-free, meaning you pay nothing to download and use these tunes in your videos.
Is it OK to add music from my commercial music collection to videos I make to promote my business?
NO. Never. Seriously. Never.
