Video editing for beginners

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It is good stuff

We recently did the same thing for the same reason. In all we probably came out spending a little over $6k for all our equipment.

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biggest keys are probably going to be good lighting, equipment like tripods to steady the camera, and planning your video out in advance.

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This. This. THIS. THHHIIISSS!!!!

Most people don't realize how much pre-production goes into a good quality video. The more you pre-plan, the less work you have to do once you start shooting and editing.

As for equipment, a good cell phone will "work" at the outset but probably won't be a good long-term solution for you. If this is something you will be doing a lot of, consider a good mirrorless camera and a decent lens. We ended up going with a Sony a6400 and it has been great for the price. Also, look at getting a pair of lights and a background with stands unless you have a good looking wall to use. B&H Photo is probably going to be your best bet in getting all the stuff together. You can find it on Amazon for a little cheaper but B&H's service is worth the extra money you'll spend.

You'll eventually need a good PC or Mac. You'll be able to get by with a pretty powerful off-the-shelf model as you are learning but you'll need something more specialized before long. You'll be looking at at least $1500 but be prepared to spend easily over $2k. Google "best computer for video editing" or check out CG Director for a good overview of the components you will need to consider and they have a PC Builder that will guide you through it.

Any software that you can be self taught will likely not give you the professional results you really want. Adobe Premiere Pro and Davinci Resolve are going to be the 2 you really want to look into. Getting an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription will give you access to all their other apps which you will be able to use in your business. Resolve is free yet professional grade. Both have their positives and negatives so it will be a personal preference thing.

Whichever one you choose, there are a ton of YouTube channels with great tutorials. For Premiere Pro, search for Cinecom.net. The guys are really quirky but they have good stuff. For Resolve, look for Casey Faris. They both also offer paid courses you can take to learn even more.

Good luck!

Go buy a Red Helium 8k with a 50mm Zeiss prime.

Next cry.

I don't feel like cell phones give good video quality. Someone has to have a dslr on hand to film with. That will give you a much better picture. I use shotcut but in all reality you can just use the windows movie editor if you have something not that complicated.

Or you can have some Apple savy person just do it all on their phone. According to their commercials it's completely possible.

We've been doing just fine with the lens that came with the camera but it's more geared to photo. I'm looking to get the wide-angle lens that is highly recommended for video (Sony E 10-18mm F4 OSS (SEL1018) APS-C Lens) LINK

If you are going to be doing any outdoor shooting, get some UV filters that fit on the lenses as well.

Really good video cones from fine cinematography, understanding light, understanding exposure and lenses. For example, did you know that good video lenses are measured in T-stops, not F-stops. To maintain even exposure when shooting a close up and a wide angle shot of the same scene, the exact same T-stop in a narrow field of view lens and a wide field of view lens, both lenses will provide the exact same amount of light. Doesn't matter if it's a Zeiss, Canon, Sony or Fujinon lens. These are called prime lenses. They are not cheap. Can't do that with F-stop lenses, where the F-stop ratings are subjective to the lens and manufacturer. A quality video shot with T-stop lenses will look even and uniform. Good production companies use these lenses. Wanna-be producers use F-stop lenses or ENG (electronic news gathering) camcorders.

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Go buy a Red Helium 8k with a 50mm Zeiss prime.

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Horrible advice. A Canon C300 or C500 is just fine as frogs hair and won't have to break the bank.

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Horrible advice.

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It was a joke

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I think I want the new FX6 that was released today.

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It looks really nice, but total overkill for me. In fact, I'm trying to justify an A7S3 over my S2. Right now, I don't shoot in 4k but might if I could in 60-120fps. I just can't stand how 30fps looked in 4k on my camera. So I could get another camera or almost 2 lenses. IMO, you can never have enough lenses.

I bought a Panasonic LUMIX. It is a $800 camera and I got the plug in power source for it so I don't have to worry about batteries. Camera
With cameras it is all about the lens though. The lights make a massive difference though.

I also bought 4 soft box lights with tripods. 2 was enough but just in case. lol lights

For sound recording I bought (2) wireless packs. These are pricy. Sound

For the editing I use https://www.openshot.org/. It is free and simple.

For audio editing I use Audacity

I also do overhead shots with WEBcam


My youtube channel is YOUtube

Note: I am not a professional. I have a lot to learn about the camera settings and video editing. This camera is amazing when the settings are taken correctly. I have not nailed these down yet. But I am learning and you can see the difference from the first videos to the most recent.

Now the Iphones take amazing footage now. But I would recommend at least getting the audio stuff.

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biggest keys are probably going to be good lighting, equipment like tripods to steady the camera, and planning your video out in advance.

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This. This. THIS. THHHIIISSS!!!!

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I'm surprised you left out SOUND. There's an old saying in the video business: "A good video is at least half audio". Suspend a shotgun microphone over the subject's head no further than 1 foot, point it directly at their mouth, and record with an external recording device (Zoom, etc), then sync in your editing app.

Crappy echoey sound can ruin the whole thing!! Record in a room with as much sound absorbing material as possible. If you recording ONLY the instructor's voice, I highly recommend doing it in a carpeted closet with lots of clothes.