What is Video Editing?
Video editing is the process of manipulating and rearranging video shots to create a new work. Editing is usually considered to be one part of the post production process — other post-production tasks include titling, colour correction, sound mixing, etc.

Many people use the term editing to describe all their post-production work, especially in non-professional situations. Whether or not you choose to be picky about terminology is up to you. In this tutorial we are reasonably liberal with our terminology and we use the word editing to mean any of the following:

Rearranging, adding and/or removing sections of video clips and/or audio clips.
Applying colour correction, filters and other enhancements.
Creating transitions between clips.

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The Goals of Editing
There are many reasons to edit a video and your editing approach will depend on the desired outcome. Before you begin you must clearly define your editing goals, which could include any of the following:

Remove unwanted footage

This is the simplest and most common task in editing. Many videos can be dramatically improved by simply getting rid of the flawed or unwanted bits.

Choose the best footage

It is common to shoot far more footage than you actually need and choose only the best material for the final edit. Often you will shoot several versions (takes) of a shot and choose the best one when editing.

Create a flow

Most videos serve a purpose such as telling a story or providing information. Editing is a crucial step in making sure the video flows in a way which achieves this goal.

Add effects, graphics, music, etc

This is often the "wow" part of editing. You can improve most videos (and have a lot of fun) by adding extra elements.

Alter the style, pace or mood of the video

A good editor will be able to create subtle mood prompts in a video. Techniques such as mood music and visual effects can influence how the audience will react.

Give the video a particular "angle"

Video can be tailored to support a particular viewpoint, impart a message or serve an agenda.

Different Types of Video Editing
There are several different ways to edit video and each method has its pros and cons. Although most editors opt for digital non-linear editing for most projects, it makes sense to have an understanding of how each method works.

This page provides a very brief overview of each method — we will cover them in more detail in other tutorials.

Film Splicing
Technically this isn't video editing, it's film editing. But it is worth a mention as it was the first way to edit moving pictures and conceptually it forms the basis of all video editing.

Traditionally, film is edited by cutting sections of the film and rearranging or discarding them. The process is very straightforward and mechanical. In theory a film could be edited with a pair of scissors and some splicing tape, although in reality a splicing machine is the only practical solution. A splicing machine allows film footage to be lined up and held in place while it is cut or spliced together.

Tape to Tape (Linear)
Linear editing was the original method of editing electronic video tapes, before editing computers became available in the 1990s. Although it is no longer the preferred option for most serious work, it still has a place and remains the better option in some cases. It is likely that linear editing will be a useful skill for a long time to come.

In linear editing, video is selectively copied from one tape to another. It requires at least two video machines connected together — one acts as the source and the other is the recorder. The basic procedure is quite simple:

Place the video to be edited in the source machine and a blank tape in the recorder.
Press play on the source machine and record on the recorder.
The idea is to record only those parts of the source tape you want to keep. In this way desired footage is copied in the correct order from the original tape to a new tape. The new tape becomes the edited version.

This method of editing is called "linear" because it must be done in a linear fashion; that is, starting with the first shot and working through to the last shot. If the editor changes their mind or notices a mistake, it is almost impossible to go back and re-edit an earlier part of the video. However, with a little practice, linear editing is relatively simple and trouble-free.

Digital/Computer (Non-linear)
In this method, video footage is recorded (captured) onto a computer hard drive and then edited using specialized software. Once the editing is complete, the finished product is recorded back to tape or optical disk.

Non-linear editing has many significant advantages over linear editing. Most notably, it is a very flexible method which allows you to make changes to any part of the video at any time. This is why it's called "non-linear" — because you don't have to edit in a linear fashion.

One of the most difficult aspects of non-linear digital video is the array of hardware and software options available. There are also several common video standards which are incompatible with each other, and setting up a robust editing system can be a challenge.

The effort is worth it. Although non-linear editing is more difficult to learn than linear, once you have mastered the basics you will be able to do much more, much faster.

Live Editing
In some situations multiple cameras and other video sources are routed through a central mixing console and edited in real time. Live television coverage is an example of live editing.

Live editing is a fairly specialist topic and won't concern most people.

Video Editing Terminology
This page provides a few simple video terms to get you started. For more editing terminology,

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Capture Device: A hardware or firmware device used to convert analogue video into digital video.

Compressors & Codecs: Software or firmware used to compress and decompress digital video. Compression makes the file size smaller.

Editing: The process of rearranging, adding and/or removing sections of video clips. Also, creating transitions between clips. Editing is part of post-production.

Encoding: The process of converting digital video into a particular format, for example, saving a video project in MGEG-2 format for DVD distribution.

Layering: Adding multiple layers of superimposed video.

Linear Editing: Also known as tape to tape editing. A method of editing in which footage is copied from one tape to another in the required order (more info).

Non Linear Editing: An editing method which uses computer software to edit the footage (more info).

Transition: The way one shot changes to the next (more info).

Post Production: Everything that happens to the video and audio after production, i.e. after the footage has been shot. Post production includes video editing, audio editing, titling, colour correction, effects, etc

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