Editing any video online isn’t an easy thing to do for a beginner. You can search for the best tools or the steps to guide you with the editing. But choosing a suitable software that works well on your laptop can be challenging. Also, video editing requirements vary from one project to another, and you will have to learn about editing tactics once you start with it.
This is where a feature-packed video editor that is convenient for your laptop comes into the picture.
Do not start with expensive software for editing. Instead, opt for the powerful one that comes with an intuitive interface and is easy to understand. The software should have pre-installed templates, effects, filters, tools, stickers, etc.
On that note, here is a comprehensive guide that can help you edit videos easily on a laptop.
Table of Contents
Factors to Keep in Mind before Editing Videos
Before starting to edit the videos, keep these two factors in mind:
Backup Media Files
This is one step that people regret missing the most, resulting in loss of media files. Reduce the chance of losing the files by backing up media before you start to edit the files. Use cloud storage to backup files for safety and ease of access.
Set Goal for Video Editing
If your goals are set into how you want the finished video to be, it can make the editing easier and less time-consuming.
Set goals based on the product or service you want to showcase through the video.
Editing Videos on Laptop
You can edit a video laptop in two ways: either on windows or using the blank canvas.
How to Edit on Windows
First of all, choose the video editing software and sign up or log in to the account.
Creating an account is easy. Add brand presets in the stage where you have to add a brand name and select the color of the brand name.
The latest software gives plenty of options of templates and brand presets to choose from. There are different ways of giving a professional touch to a video, and so all you need to do is go by the project requirements.
When editing a video from scratch, try experimenting with the pre-built templates on the editing tool.
How to Edit on a Blank Canvas?
Step 1 – Login to the software
Log in to the online editor and start by selecting the aspect ratio according to the platform you need to share the video. Then, click on the ‘make a video’ option.
Step 2 – Upload the required footage
- In this step, you have to upload the video footage that you want to edit and click from uploads from the left side and get access to the required video files on your laptop
- You can choose image and video available from the stock media library that is relevant to your project
Step 3 – Adding media to start editing
- Drag and drop media to the editing timeline, and you will get pop-notification to trim the required portion of the video
- Click on the ‘use full video’ option to use the full footage; if not, trim it from the right or left side and keep only the portion required
- In the timeline view of your online video editor, you can see the scenes you need to put together
- If you wish to add another clip, click on +scene on the timeline, and select a blank scene; drag and drop the required one and can trim the final one as required
- Repeat the step for as many clips as you wish to add
Step 4 – Crop video
- If you have to crop the video, click on the canvas and get the option from the left corner of the screen
- After clicking on the crop option, click on the ‘done’ option
Step 5 – Adding voiceover or music to the video
The music element can be a game-changer to boost the level of the video. In this step, you can also add a voiceover or record the required one to be added for the video.
- You have to click on the option from the timeline and select the record option. Soon after this, it would start to record the voiceover.
- You can add background music from your collection or app library and give suitable sound effects. You can also select sound effects based on the type of music that you want to add to the video project. When browsing the songs from the list, click on the +sign to add it to the main video.
Step 6 – Adding text to the video
After adding music, you might want to add text to videos.
This option is available on the panel of your editing software. You have to click on the +sign and give a heading option. You can change the type of text you want to add based on your video’s flow, tone and mood.
Step 7 – Sync of video and audio
Syncing video and audio is a vital part of editing a video. If they are not in sync, viewers will not enjoy watching it.
Play each part of the video, and adjust each scene depending on the music’s duration. This function can also be done with the help of the drag and drop feature on the app.
Step 8 – Adding transitions to the video
You have to click on the small box between scenes to open the transition option. Browse and choose the one that suits the video best.
You will gradually get a better idea of which transition to choose for which video content as you keep editing.
To add overlays and stickers to the video, click on the stickers option or overlays to add the required one. You can include transparency or color of overlay as per your choice too.
Step 9 – Export and Share the Video on Laptop
After the video is correctly synced, preview the whole video, look for errors and re-edit it. Then click on the Export option, and it will be ready to download. After exporting, it is ready to render the video.
Once you have the downloaded version of the video, you can share it on the platform as per requirement.
Conclusion
So, this is all about editing a video on a laptop. Even if you are a beginner, it shouldn’t take you too long to edit your video as long as you follow the basic steps and rules. Create a video according to your business needs, cater to your target audience, and edit it following the steps above to attract new customers/audience today!
