Crafting a Captivating London Travel Video: Editing Tips and Techniques

So I'm working on a London travel promo video. I've already added my music and my video that I want to use in the timeline, but if it's kind of like throwing it down there, I don't really have exactly what I want in the final version. Okay.

I'm actually going to go back to the beginning this time. It's highlighted. I'll jump to the beginning.

I'll play it a little bit. So it's not bad, but I'm not completely sure I like just that range of the video. So let's see if I can adjust this.

There's a tool called the slip tool. One, two, three, four, five tools down, press and hold slip tool. Why is the keyboard shortcut to activate it? What it basically does is take a video clip and shift.

What part of it is being displayed? So the clips in your timeline are simply references to the clips that you import. So if I right-click on this clip on the timeline, there's an option here reveal and project. So this clip on the timeline is actually from that clip.

Now this clip on the timeline is much smaller than that clip. It's actually, if I hover over it, the duration is six seconds at a frame. Now, if I actually go to the original clip and I remove these in and out points, I'll right-click, clearing out the original clip, which is 15 seconds long.

It's more than double that. Now that the clip is actually on the timeline, it can actually show any part of these 15 seconds. So if I use my slip tool on the timeline, I'm going to get a little preview up in the program panel.

And as I drag left, it's actually going to give me a later starting point in the clip like this. So I could actually start at a later time. So now the clip starts showing London and then zooms in to show you the city at the end.

Okay. Now it's kind of good, but I kind of want to start with the entire like European continent visible. So that's what I want to start with.

Okay. That's not bad. That's fine.

I like that. That's pretty cool. Okay.

But I don't like the speed. It's a little slow. So if I play that again, it's really, really, really slow.

Okay. And every time you play it's going to basically play the music for you. And I can see it's a little too loud.

I'm actually going to mute it. I'm going to unlock it and just hit M for mute. Then I'll lock it again.

So nothing screws it up. I'll come back eventually when I'm ready to work with the music in a second to basically get rid of that. So I want to speed this up.

I'm just going to right click on that clip and I'm looking for the speed duration option on that menu. I can also get this same menu with the button at the click the clip, the button at the bottom of the properties panel, adjust speed will also open it. The keyboard shortcut for it is command R or control R by the way.

And it's a little slow. Let's try doubling that speed. So let's go with 200.

Unfortunately, I can't actually change like preview this. I have to like apply it. Okay.

It gets shorter. I'm gonna go back and look at it. That's nicer.

It's nicer. I like that. I like that.

I like that. I like that. Okay.

I can go back and do it again. Maybe two 50 is a good number. Let's go with 300 actually.

Let's see how that works. Okay. It's a little nicer.

I like that. Now, if I want it to be the same length, I can just take that clip and extend it out with the selection tool. And my problem that I'm running into is it can't go any further because I'm out of space.

So since this clip is too short, I can't actually extend it. I got a couple of choices. So one, I can simply pull it towards the end using the selection tool.

And I still have space at the beginning. So I'm able to use that, but I am now physically at the end of the clip. So that's as far as it can possibly go.

So I'm now just out of space. I do like the movement. I like it, but I simply can't use it as quick as I want.

So I'm gonna go back to adjust speed. I'm going to take that back down. And the only issue is I can't exactly know exactly what I have.

It doesn't actually change in real time. Okay. So if I were to like adjust the values, I'm not going to see anything.

I think the damage by two 50, by the way, until I say, okay, that's when it updates. Now that actually may have physically pushed it further than this space. It may actually be longer, but it can't go past the existing clips.

There is an option on the menu that lets it do it, but I didn't turn it on. So now I've got that 250% zooming in that looks nicer all the way down to the city level. Pretty cool.

Pretty cool. Pretty cool. Pretty cool.

Okay. So I can use the slip tool to change what parts of a source clip, the source clips being the ones you've imported is visible on a timeline. I can only use that tool.

If there is physical space, I'll deselect to use it. So right here, the white corner and the white corner at the beginning show that this clip is at its physical beginning and end because I sped it up 250%. Okay.

One note on changing the speed of a clip. If you zoom in enough, you'll see the speed change to the right of the clip name right there. Okay.

Backslash backslash zooms all the way out so you can see everything. So that's not bad. Not bad at all.

Okay. Now I do want to change some of these things. Okay.

So the first thing is I don't like exactly where my clips begin and end. I'm going to have to unmute my audio for this part. You're going to have to hear it.

So if I zoom in really close on the timeline, I'm also going to drag the bottom of audio one track down. So it's taller. I want to be able to see this waveform a little better.

So when I play this audio, there are parts that I can see in the waveform, like right here where it's raised, where something is happening. Now usually music, this kind of music, like punk rock, that sort of thing. It's beat is kept usually with drums or a guitar.

And that's actually what you're hearing right here. There's a snare drum hit. I think it's a snare drum.

It could be wrong. It could be a different drum, but there's a drum hit every so often. And that's what's keeping the beat.

You're also hearing every so often a guitar hit. And actually that's where I want to make my cuts. I want to have the clips starting at those points.

So maybe right back there. I like that. Okay.

So I want to shorten this and pull everything over because I've got a bunch of time to like get rid of. So I'm going to use my ripple edit tool, the ripple edit tool, third group of tools down. If I press and hold ripples right there, the keyboard shortcut to activate it is B. I am going to relock audio one in case I mess something up and I'm just going to hover at the end of that clip, the London animation one, bring it down.

So now when I play this, I'm gonna press shift K to preview this, that change in clip is going to match the music beat. With that. Usually music videos, music driven promos, and that sort of thing.

Your cuts, your edit lines are lined up with the beat of the music. Okay. So I'm just going to go through and like find where that beat is.

So right there's a snare drum hit. Don't, I don't need to use the play head as the target. I can actually just do it by eye, but it's a little easier if you zoom in.

Okay. And find that, that. Right there.

Now there is one note on this. Effectively, you have, um, I'm trying to shorten these as much as possible. You basically have to be careful when you're using this tool.

If you have clips on multiple tracks, it can be a little tricky. So those, like right there, might be another hit. I'm just going to move back to that right there.

So again, I'm just going to shorten this clip, pull it down a little bit. And I'm using my down arrow key to jump. And I'm just looking for the nearest beat, either the drums or the guitar hits at that point.

So here, maybe it's right there. I have to go back and check it. There's something here.

That's good. I think it's like they all shorten that a little bit by the way. Okay.

Minus on the keyboard zooms out on the timeline. So everything becomes smaller, plus the keyboard zooms in the timeline. So everything becomes larger. The down arrow key jumps to the next edit point, and the up arrow key jumps to the previous one.

So I've managed to actually get rid of a lot of this overlapping space here. Notice it's pretty good. I'll zoom in really close.

And I'm thinking I find right there is my next beat point. Again, if you want them shorter, go right ahead. Yeah.

So like right about there. Now, one note on this. So audio is actually measured in milliseconds.

So I can't actually get the play head exactly on that, that peak right there, but I can go like right above it. So like right there. Okay.

So now that I got that lined up, I'm going to zoom out. Let's backslash, or I can just drag the little control handles on the outside, the little handles of the scroll bar on the bottom. Zoom out.

Not bad. So to make sure it lines up at the end, I'm going to zoom in a little more on that on the end. And I'm just going to use my ripple tool in this case.

So the selection tools just line it up. And now I have like the 35 seconds right there. I actually noticed a little one frame over.

So I'm actually going to go to 35. Okay. And this is in fact the end, but because of the way the program actually begins and ends clips, it's actually one frame extra.

So if I want exactly 35 seconds, I'm going to go one frame earlier, which is 3429. I'm going to use the selection tool for this. I'm going to unlock the audio as well.

I'll grab them both, just select them both, and I'll just pull them back one frame. So now I have exactly, I'll have exactly 35 seconds of my timeline rather than 3501. So it's going to make sure it's right there.

Now I'm good. Okay. So at 35 seconds, trim my clips down exactly.

So they didn't extend one past. This has to do with when I insert things using the, um, and out points. I think I was one or two extra when I did it.

So that's good. 35 seconds. I'm going to relock the audio in case I need to do something.

I'll zoom back out with backslash. That's the one next to bracket. And I got everything on my timeline the way I want.

That looks pretty good. Now I'm just going to check and see if there's anything else I like about it. I'm gonna go to each clip.

I am going to mute my audio for this because I'm looking for the clips, how they visually begin and end. And I just want to like play through it a little bit. I'm going to jump to each edit line, shift K to preview that area.

Okay. What I want to see is if there's like another area I can get with a little movement in this. So I'm gonna use my slip tool.

I'm going to adjust the tower bridge clip. See if I can actually get some movement with those birds, maybe. So they fly off.

It might be kind of cool to end it with the clip it currently starts on. So I'm just going to slide back a little bit. See if I can actually get some movement here.

These birds may be in the ending clip. I'm going to preview that again. See if I like it.

That's pretty cool. So again, I'm going to look here, see if I can find a good ending point. I think the clip where the truck starts on screen will be good.

Like right about here. I'm thinking where it's moving. And then I'm just going to go through and do the same thing.

Look at each clip, see if I like where they meet. I'm looking for movement inside the clips. So it's easier to hide edit lines when there are moving parts.

So again, I'm shifting K to preview that edit line. So again, I'm going to take this, and I'm looking at the previews on the upper small previews to see where each clip begins and ends. The left side is the new starting point of my clip.

Maybe if I started moving with that person in black on the left preview, that'd be pretty good. Keep it moving here. And again, when I preview that now, I've got a little more motion going on when I cut from one clip to the other like that.

I'm looking for four places that visually match. Same thing. She's got some movement in this clip.

She's got people lined up, moving on across like that. It actually might even be cool if I end this clip right as that person's in the middle. Her physical position on screen should better match the woman holding the glass who's dancing.

So I'm going to preview that until I get what I like. Like that. Probably a little earlier, but that's actually pretty good.

OK, she's got that movement here. See how this ends with the ending clip. And I'm using the up and down arrow keys to jump from edit line to edit line, the edit line being where each clip meets, or where the two clips meet.

So I'll preview this. Not bad at all. OK, a couple of things to keep in mind.

I can also adjust the sizing of the clip. So maybe if, like, she's not in the right place, maybe I can scale her up a little bit, move her over. There are effects that I may want to use that will actually screw that up.

Certain effects can't be used if you've scaled or adjusted a clip, or some of them override that, too. So keep that in mind. So in this case, it looks pretty good.

I like what I've got. So I'm going to save that. The thing to keep in mind is what I'm looking for when I go from each clip to each clip here: the edit lines.

I am visually trying to find what's called a match cut, a point where visually the ending of one clip matches the beginning of the next one. And if I just basically advance to this one frame at a time, it's left and right. That's the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard to advance one frame at a time.

This one ends. That one begins. This one ends.

That one begins. I'm trying to find where there's movement between them or where, visually on screen, they match, like right here. And this ends up looking at this young lady.

And when the next one begins, looking at this young lady, approximately, in a pretty close physical position. OK. So it's actually pretty cool.

So this is what I'm trying to do when I'm cutting these clips. It's like, do they visually match? Now, I can also use transitions to kind of fix some of that. But I'm trying to find visually the parts where they actually line up first.

OK. Now, so I play that and return the music back on and unmute this. I'm going to zoom in really close.

There is, in fact, a missing frame right there, actually. OK, let me see if I can take my selection to extend that out. That's what that little black flash was, a little missing frame.

Now I'm going to preview it. Shift K to preview this area around the playhead. I thought so.

The choice of which parts of the clip to use, plus the music really help hold that edit together, I think a little better than it did before. It's pretty cool. Now, if you want, you can also use transitions between them.

For example, maybe I want to put a fade between all these clips. I'm first going to recolor all the clips. I'll grab all the video clips.

I'll right-click the label. I'm just going to set them all to, I mean, you can do whatever you want. I do Caribbean, which is that nice green color right there.

Actually, I'm not going to do Caribbean because that matches the music a little too much. Let me do a lavender. I like lavender.

OK, the colors don't really mean anything except whatever you decide they mean. But I want to keep all the main video clips the same color. Again, if I wanted to, I could also rename this.

So I can right-click on the track, rename. I'm just going to call this A-Roll. OK, and if I'm going to use titles or graphics, I can have those clips added as well.

So naming the tracks can help you keep everything nice and organized. I'm going to rename Audio 1 again, right click on Audio 1, name, rename. I'm going to call this Music Bed, B-E-D for bed, like that.

And again, I'm going to keep that locked unless I really need it. I'm also going to press Shift + to set everything to this, like set height. That's pretty good.

I like that. I like what I've got. That's nice.

Now, I don't think I need it in this case, but if I wanted to, I could take the track select forward tool. This is locked, so it's not going to really matter. Grab that.

And I can actually use the command sequence. Apply video transition, command D or control D, the keyboard shortcut to auto apply a fade between each. Let's see what that looks like.

OK, I don't really like that. I think it looks good without that. So I'm just going to undo that command, Z or control Z is undo.

But I think it looks pretty good as it is. I could maybe add it at the beginning and end. But again, I think maybe I'll add that later.

I'll think about it more. I look at this, see how it looks. OK, so it is cool.

I like what I got. And that is how I refine this within the timeline, getting the full length in here and having a nice, like video to move forward.