Practice Editing Footage

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Filmedby talented independent filmmakers all of our projects are hand picked to ensure the very best in professional production value. Pick your project type, genre, and difficulty level and practice at your own pace.

Professional editors know that there is no tutorial you can watch, or book you can read that replaces the practice needed to improve your editing skill. Get feedback from professional editors on your cut.

EditStock is a breakthrough resource for anyone aspiring to become a professional film or television editor. Heretofore, it was pretty much impossible to get your hands on production dailies from an actual film...

It was the first day on my new editing gig: a feature documentary about abuse, directed by Amy J. Berg. The AE had delivered the hard drive, the project set up to my requested specifications. I began opening bins and scrubbing through footage, and very shortly ran headlong into very disturbing material: a character roaming around streaked with blood; a series of photos showing the antagonist pretending to stab the protagonist over and over; audio of a woman being beaten and screaming. Caught off-guard, I felt a very old panic rising in my chest, that same terror I used to feel right before a phobic attack. Suddenly, I was 12 years old again, and shaking in a bathroom stall.

But when Amy first called me about editing her film, I was in the middle of a period of solidly processing my own traumas. As has been documented, when the pandemic hit, trauma survivors actually felt calmer, and this was certainly true for me: the constant stresses and chaos of daily life evaporated instantly, and my well-honed crisis management skills could focus on what was important. Somehow, the stoppage of life gave me enough space to begin to heal the scars of my past. By the time I got on the phone with Amy in late October, I finally felt able to consider taking on an emotionally difficult project.

Throughout the session, Bruce emphasized this last strategy a few times, because having professional collegial support is one of the proven buffers that helps build resilience. Towards the end, we discussed how having a clear sense of mission is another buffer against secondary trauma and burnout. I brought up something that my best friend had mentioned to me, which, although the context was unrelated, had really stuck with me as I had struggled to find ways to overcome my job-related fears. She had told me that the thing that enabled her to do difficult or boring work was to connect it to a higher value she held. In her case, that value was helping people, and as long as she could connect to that higher purpose, she could take the more tedious steps to get there. I found that this worked extraordinarily well for my situation too: I could put my trauma reactions in their proper place by reminding myself that this work could help potentially thousands, or even millions, of abuse victims.

Miranda Yousef, ACE, is an accomplished documentary editor and filmmaker whose work has screened at major outlets including Sundance, Tribeca, PBS and HBO. A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Documentary Branch, she won the DGA Award for her graduate thesis film, and is currently in pre-production with Tremolo Productions on her feature directorial debut.

I'm a young video editor, and one of the issues I face as a video editor is sometimes not having enough footage to edit! I know people will reply to this saying oh why don't you shoot something on you're phone.. well the problem with that is that I can, but I can't shoot anything meaningful to make a good, solid sequence (as I'm not very good at writing films or composing a script).

I've compiled free, Raw footage from some of my previous projects and some free footage found from the internet, all in one place for video editors looking to practice (like me) can go in and download footage from.

Here are a few different sources. Be sure to check that the footage is either Public Domain or available for non-commerical use. If you like space-related stuff, NASA released lots of videos and stop-frame sequences including a handful of low compression files that will look great when editing. Unfortunately, they tend to be stored in several locations so you have to be willing to poke around.

We make editing projects called FilmKits. They are designed and created with the intent of providing the most amount of footage and coverage possible for those who are learning how to edit. There are multiple takes, shots and angles allowing you to have some creative freedom when editing the story. They are designed exclusively for editing practice.

Creators who publish videos on social media or produce short films must continually improve their skills. Ensuring you can reach that next level and stay current within your niche or industry requires adding to your skill set.

So - how can you get video editing practice? Numerous avenues are available to you, even for free, that you can utilize. Filmmakers and creators with social channels that use video can benefit from carving out some time to practice editing.

Repetition and practice are necessary for your skills, especially if you want to master them quickly. It would help if you also made yourself aware of trends regarding certain aspects of editing, such as quick cuts, lighting, and how to draw in your audience with a stellar intro.

If you aren't continually working on and improving your videos, whether in Instagram reels, TikTok videos, YouTube videos, or producing short films, you will miss out and fall behind. Incorporate your editing practice as part of your content creation routine to ensure you will continually improve and create videos that resonate.

Prevent claims on your YouTube channel by researching all the necessary steps before you post your videos. Another aspect of your practice must include understanding how to obtain agreements or licenses to utilize sounds and music correctly.

When you begin, you should look for free video editing software and stock footage online to work with. The skills you want to practice first include how to zoom, how to pan, and how to use different camera angles and lighting.

Your first step is to find guides and tutorials on video editing and the editing process. Find out what kind of video editing software is for you - chances are you can find some for free to practice on. You don't need to enroll in a class, but finding ways to train online (such as with YouTube or Skillshare) can be helpful.

You can also watch multiple videos already out there in your desired format. It's the most accessible way to determine the types of videos you want and help you know what film techniques you need to practice.

Find similar influencers or filmmakers who are already doing close to the same types of projects. Pay attention to their technique of film, what sort of lighting they use, if the film is done in a single shot, and so on.

Figure out the best way you can train and learn in video editing. You may need to be more hands-on with the software. In this case, you should look for some free video stock footage, which you can find with Pexels or Videezy. You can also record videos on your phone that you can upload for editing practice.

You may learn more efficiently by reading a book. Some people are more intellectual and may need a training course with the structure to learn and apply film editing techniques. Figure out which learning method works best way for you.

Finding a specific author of books on video editing can help if they pertain to the type, style, or video content you are creating. Ken Dancyger is an author of books on film editing, which are a background of theory with practice involved and helpful for learning and practicing video editing.

Then, work with the video clips or stock footage you find in a video production program like Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, or the iMovie app. You can usually get a free trial for a month with the paid software, so ensure you can put in the time if you don't want to buy it.

Watch other digital video clips and check the latest advances in video editing. You may even want to mimic more professional video editors. Analyses of photographs and pictures help you to understand camera angles and contact a student editor to walk you through the editing process.

Work to copy the video editors in mainstream entertainment by practicing using the same camera angles, lighting tricks, sound, and more in your software. See if you can copy these editors in your practice by performing nonlinear editing and other techniques.

You may make mistakes as you go, which is part of the beauty of creativity. You might discover something else, like a new technique or method you hadn't tried before. You can add everything you learn to your skill set as you continue to advance.

If you're a content creator, you've heard of repurposing content to create a new edition of something. You can use the same method with video production and develop a new edition of the video that reflects a different context.

Take examples of videos from other editors and go back to your own video to see how you can edit it and make a new chapter to your story. If it's a project you're particularly proud of developing, try a new idea or tool you've picked up.

Perhaps you have gotten a new licensing agreement for quality music. You can utilize royalty-free tracks within your videos and find a unique way to incorporate the music. You might need to edit the audio as well as the video. Music is powerful in evoking feelings and emotions that can be brought out more within your videos.

You might simply want to improve upon your previous videos by going back and re-editing them. If you can make a more precise look, add more genuine sound effects, a cool new track, or a specific jump cut that makes the overall video more seamless, you provide the essence of a more professional filmmaker.

Consider submitting your video if you want to measure your progress and see how well you know the editing process. Giving valuable feedback can help you improve your video content and story and master your craft.

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