YouTube: An Insider's Guide to Climbing the Charts

Basic Editing

Alan Lastufka

Editing neither is as overwhelming as it sounds nor is it as overwhelming as it looks when you first open your chosen piece of software. Most nonlinear editing (NLE) software contains multiple windows or docks and numerous, colorful, but unlabeled icons. However, given the content you'll most likely be working with and the small number of edits and transitions you'll need, you'll be editing like the pros in no time.

Why Bother Editing?

As you've no doubt watched a few YouTube videos before picking up this book, you may have noticed that some YouTubers don't edit their videos at all. You may ask, why should I bother? Well, some videos require no editing. A three-minute vlog, recorded in one take with little or no mistakes, requires no editing at all, unless you want to remove the "ums" and "uhs." Other videos may require numerous edits for time restrictions, content, or pacing. Editing involves chipping away at all of the material you have, until only the best footage remains.

Style is another important factor when discussing why you should edit your videos. Most of the "popular" vloggers have perfected the jump cut and use it effectively for funny or quirky transitions. I'd estimate that 90 percent of the edits you'd see on a typical YouTube viewing day are jump cuts. Jump cuts will be defined in the following section.

The final factor in why you may need to edit instead of just uploading a raw take is whether you plan to add any music, text, or collaboration ...