1. Learn the Video Editing Basics
2. Configuring your PC for Digital Video Editing
3. Planning and Shooting your Videos
4. Connecting a Digital Camera to Your Windows PC
5. Video Dimension, Aspect Ratio and DVD
6. Editing Techniques to remove unnecessary footage
7. Useful Video Editing Techniques
8. Adding Titles and Credits
9. Speeding Up or Slowing Down Video Playback
10. Applying Effects Correctly
11. Applying Transitions Correctly
12. Applying Picture-in-Picture Transition
13. Using the Animated Transform Effect
14. Using the Green Screen Technique
15. Adding Life To Images: The Pan and Zoom Effect
16. More Effects and Transitions
17. Useful Audio Effects
18. Create photos from your videos
19. Watermark Your Videos
20. Getting Edited Videos out of your PC
21. Inserting videos into PowerPoint
22. Create Movies for Video Desk
23. Troubleshooting Compatibility Problems

Video Edit Magic 4.47

Useful Video Editing Techniques

Before digital video editing exploded on to the scene, video editing was as technical as it was creative.  Now, with easy to use desktop based editing tools like Video Edit Magic, creativity has truly come to the forefront.

If imagination is your forte, you can do amazing things while editing your digital videos.  This article will familiarize you with some useful editing techniques.  Sharpen your editing skills with these techniques and start getting more out of your videos.

If you are starting an editing project from scratch, it is a good idea to follow the basic principles for planning and shooting your videos.  Capture as much footage as you can, so you have plenty to work with during the editing process.  Then delete unnecessary footage; put scenes in order; add special effects; and add narration, titles and transitions between video clips.  All of this is easy with Video Edit Magic’s drag and drop, cut, copy and paste operations.

You can start editing, by dragging your videos from the Media File tab in the Collections window to the video track on the Timeline.

Cutting unnecessary footage using cropping

You can remove footage with the Cut operation.  You use it to delete the beginning and the ending of a clip, retaining only the middle portion.

There are two types of cropping operations available in Video Edit Magic.

a. Cropping the entire content of the Timeline.
b. Cropping selected sources only

To learn more about cropping, you may refer to our article on editing techniques to remove unnecessary footage .

Applying Transitions

A video Transition defines how a movie moves from one clip to another.  It is never a good idea to move between two video clips suddenly.  A transition gives the viewer a sense of continuity.

There are many types of transitions.  The Cross Fade moves smoothly between two video clips, without jarring the watcher.  The picture given below shows you how a Cross Fade transition works.

Adding Effects

An effect produces results that cannot be achieved by normal techniques.  While special effects are traditionally very expensive, and the special domain of Hollywood technicians, digital video editing with software like Video Edit Magic makes it simple to leave your audience stunned.  One effect is the Brightness/Contrast effect.  This can be used to correct images that appear too bright, dark or dull.  The picture given here shows you a video before and after applying the effect.

Removing noise and adding music or narration

To make your videos stand out, you can add narration in your own voice.  This can be a great addition to your home videos that contain a lot of scratchy, distracting audio.  You can delete the original audio completely, or replace some parts with your narration or a music track.

To delete unnecessary audio:

1. Select the audio track, which you want to edit.
2. Move the Selection Sliders to the portion you want to delete.
3. On the Edit menu, click on Cut.

To add narration to a video, first connect a microphone to your PC.

1. Position the Seek Slider on the Timeline, where you want to add your narration.
2. On the Tools menu, click on Narration.
3. Click on the Start button and start speaking into the Microphone.
4. Click on Stop when you are done.  Save the audio file you recorded.

Creating title slides

Title slides are great for beginnings, endings and credits.  To create title slides that blend with the general theme of the video, combine the Take Snap feature with the Add Text feature.

To take a snap from the video:

1. Position the Seek Slider on Timeline the to the frame which you want to use as a title slide.  It is a good idea to select a frame with a uniform background, so your annotation or text stands out.  The image in the Preview window would be captured as the snap.
2. From the Tools menu, click on Take Snap.
3. In the Take Snap properties window, specify the Output Format, Dimensions of the image and the image Quality.  Click on OK to save the image to the path specified under Save To.

To add text to the snap you have taken:

1. Add the image file you had created using the Take Snap tool, to the Timeline.
2. Click on the Effects tab in the Collections window.
3. Right-click on the Text/Title effect icon and click on Add Effect to Timeline.
4. Once the effect has been added to the Timeline, right-click on it and select Effect Settings option to launch the properties window.  You can insert text using different fonts, backgrounds, styles and positions to get the title effect you want.
   
5. In the File menu of the Add Text Propertieswindow, click on Save and Close.
6. Move the snap and the Text/Title effect to the beginning of the Timeline or towards the end to display your credits.

These editing techniques can change the look and feel of your videos.  Experiment with the techniques described in this article using different effects and transitions.

Once you have edited your videos, you can consider the various distribution options for sharing those special moments with family and friends.