Guys, I would like to learn video editing, with an eye to doing it part time in the video industry when I retire from the corporate world in 2021. Its something I always wanted to do but never had the time due to my workload. Thing is, I'm not a Mac user. I have only used windows computers and servers. However, as I learned both servers and advanced telecom software, I'm sure I can learn video software. If there are any guys in the video industry here, like our very knowledgeable member vidiot, I would like your recommendations on what I should do. Im open to most, but I really want to learn at home in my spare time, and not have to physically go to a class. So. Please let me know youre thoughts on what I should do to make myself marketable when the time comes. I am told that knowing Final Cut Pro would be a very good thing. I believe thats only a Mac program . I'd buy a Mac if thats the best way. Please let me know youre thoughts and thanks for your help and advice.
Plenty of online tutorials are out there, from pay ones, to free, many on youtube. There are some really great editing programs, and even professional ones for free like DaVinci Resolve (Mac or PC) by Blackmagic. I would get a cheap or semi-cheap camera, shoot some footage, and edit it and post it to a private video library, say a Vimeo account, which is youtube for professionals. You want to be able to edit and post the results online which is where the future is other the, the bigger million dollar budget things go to theaters. You need a smartly / top performer computer to start with (need not be that expensive), very powerful CPU and lots of RAM, and fast GPU, not to mention some quality large hard drives.
I would learn Premiere Pro first, which is cross platform, and then maybe Avid Media Composer (also cross platform). But I think honestly think you’ll be able to do anything you want to do with Adobe products...Premiere Pro and After Effects. I spent 30 years in post production, edited on both Macs and PC’s, and finally had to retire due to disability about 4 years ago. By the end...a lot of editors had transitioned away from Final Cut Pro and moved on to Premiere or something else. Apple is just a bit too flaky to build a career around any more IMO.
Getting a Macintosh is a good start I think, I'm a Final Cut Pro X user myself and people will say that it's the easiest to pick up for beginners but I would say that more than this the Mac is the platform which gives you the most options with the least hassle. You go with a PC and you've gotta think about what hardware will suit you best, what is the most compatible and reliable with whatever system you want to use. Do you have to find the drivers blah blah blah. You get a Mac and it's much simpler, you want a desktop and an iMac can get you a really great display. You want portable and the new 16-inch Macbooks pro have just come out making them the ideal option for video editors. If you want Avid you can try avid, if you want to try Adobe you can try Adobe. It used to be that Adobe was better with PCs because if you wanted you could find the right hardware to really optimize your performance but from what I've heard the Mac version has gotten a lot better. Also, I think you only really need to learn the basics to get started, in points and out points where the transitions are and basic cutting techniques after that it's just refining your storytelling and if you need more than you go to youtube and find a tutorial.
Yep. But, if you want to be able to learn editing as a career, and be a free lance editor, you need to be able to work on cross platform software. If you're just doing this to edit at home, you can use whatever you want.
Thanks....I'm gonna go with Davinci Free Edition on my new HP 17 core laptop, and an external drive for video files, with a nice Cannon 1080 HD camera, and see how I do. If I really get into things, I can always upgrade my tools. Quickst: Thanks for telling me about Davinci, I would not have known about it otherwise. It got great reviews from many folks looking to get started in video.
jon...understood! But I have to start somewhere, so I figure I'll start on the PC platform and try to get comfortable with video editing in general.
Editing is something I’m real interested in too. I love to edit together little videos I make for fun on my phone.
DaVinci Resolve is a terrific choice, and more and more people are using it as a "Swiss Army Knife" for dailies, editing, color, and final delivery. I use it 50-60 hours a week on a lot of projects. Blackmagic (the developer) has a half-dozen textbooks intended to help you learn all facets of the program, and while they're about $250 for the physical books, they give them away as PDFs on their training website: DaVinci Resolve 16 – Training | Blackmagic Design There's also numerous video tutorials out there; the ones from Ripple actually go into editing (and others go into Color and Fusion VFX). Be warned there's a steep learning curve, but it's not that hard to dive in and do simple things in a day or two.
Not if you start with an older version until you get used to it I agree that it's an important one to be savvy with.
I guess your choices of software and hardware depend a little on what you want to do with the skill professionally. I’ve most experience with Avid which is widely used in many areas. What I’ve noted over the past few years is that unless you’re a real craft editor then you’ll need a few skills combined. Many freelancers these days are multi skilled and can go out filming, lighting and cutting. A useful thing to understand is Media Asset Management, any large project or company would run a MAM of some kind so an understanding of the fundamentals would be brownie points I’d imagine!
Thank you Vidiot and everyone else for the information and encouragement. I figure, I've given almost 30 years to my company, now its time to do something for me.
Yes you’ll do good to start with that i7. And while DaVinci Resolve has this totally amazing “free” professional editing software, the hardware required (to run it) is up there on the high end of things and quite specific. Like 32Gs of ram, but 64 would be better. A newest graphics card with speed and major ram there too. Fast drives with some room to breathe as well. I think it’s worth it to get good fast rig and that wonderful software. Skip the monthly subscription fees for the time being. You can always try Adobe’s stuff a bit later.
Is your goal to become more of a freelance editor (working in various facilities) or doing video editing in your own home for weddings, etc.?
Dunno. Just thought you ( originally ) wanted Final Cut. If you’ve got a few hundred spare bucks, always a possibility + it’s portable.
