Nailing the Final Cut: Dos and Don’ts of Video Editing for Online Marketing

Dos and Don’ts of Video Editing for Online Marketing

Any business with a video marketing strategy should be aware of the potential pitfalls of editing online video clips. Avoiding microscopic text or excessive visual effects and making good using of audio and video correction techniques, can make all the difference between an effective video and a waste of money.

Avoid tiny text

CG titles may serve your video well, but keep in mind that “online” often equates to “thumbnail-sized,” particularly in light of the growing prevalence of mobile devices. Resist requests to wedge more than a few words onto the screen at any given point in the video. If you’re not certain how readable your font choices and text size will be on various platforms, export some tests and try them out on an iPad, smart phone, netbook and other devices.

Resist the urge to dazzle with effects

Final Cut and other pro digital editing suites offer a combination of plug-ins and their own built-in transitions and effects. This naturally tempts editors to show their stuff — only to create a jumbled, confusing, overly-busy cut that fails to communicate the central message. Even consumer editing programs such as Apple iMovie offer enough fades, cuts, wipes and fancy transitions to send many self-taught editors astray. Clean, unobtrusive storytelling always trumps razzle-dazzle.

Use your audio filters

As Simple Vlogging Tips points out, clean, clear audio is critical to a video’s success. After all, no matter how confused, muddy or poorly shot the video may be, a pristine audio narration can still get the message across. Generous use of noise removal filters will help reduce background noise picked up over today’s sensitive microphones. If there are still differences in background ambient sound from shot to shot, record some “room tone” and lay it into the final audio mix.

Use your color correction tools

Film editor jobs often include wrestling matches with poor color quality. If your videographer simply couldn’t get a decent color balance, then it’s up to the editor to fix it. Final Cut and other professional editing suites have a variety of color correction tools, including scopes, spectrum monitors, and RBG bars that allow you to manually tweak your red/green/blue mix until your whites look white and your colors are true. Once you find the ideal corrected settings, remember to save them as a filter.

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