hey friends elizabeth here from plant based bride back again for day three of plantmas 2021!
i'm super excited to continue on with this little mini series all about how to make youtube videos
how i create my content as a full-time youtuber answering all of those behind the scenes questions
that i get asked all of the time so in part one of this mini-series we talked all about planning and
organizing your content part two was all about filming and my equipment and today day three
is all about editing my videos and making my thumbnails so i'm going to take you over to
my computer and take you through the process of editing one of my videos and making a thumbnail
hopefully answering all your questions along the way so without further ado let's hop into it so
i'm going to talk you through the process of editing a video from start to finish
and the video i'm using for this is my husband's new bullet journal setup for the new year
this video is gonna go up on day eight of plantmas so keep an eye out for that but i wanna show you
the general process that i go through when i'm editing a video so i have been using blackmagic's
davinci resolve as my video editor for several years at this point i used the old microsoft
native video editor on my pc when i first started making youtube videos and then i moved over to
imovie when i got a macbook but once i started taking youtube a little more seriously i switched
over to adobe premiere and i used premiere for about two years and had so many issues with it
so many lost videos so many broken hearts over files that got corrupted or videos i spent hours
editing that would just not export no matter what i did it was quite a stressful experience
after one too many awful experiences with adobe premiere i started researching
other options because i just couldn't take it anymore and in researching what options i had
i stumbled upon davinci resolve which you can use on both pc and apple products and you can
use the software for free that's right that's what i said you can use it for free and it is
incredibly powerful software to have access to for free let me tell you i do now use the paid version
but the differences are pretty minimal between the free version and the paid version and i
guarantee that you can do 99 of what you want to do with video editing using the free version so
it's a great software to use there's definitely a learning curve when you're getting started but i
personally found it a lot more intuitive easier to learn and get into using than adobe premiere and
there are quite a few tutorials on the internet so if there's ever anything you don't know how to
do someone on youtube has probably explained it anytime i'm starting work on a new video
i create a new project of course and drag in all of my footage i like to line up my footage
in chronological order and i like to use the first video track v1 for my tabletop top down view as my
primary video source and then to pop all of my side angle shots generally lined up
chronologically with a tabletop video by shot on the second video track v2 this helps me stay
organized as i'm editing i can very quickly see if something is a tabletop shot or a side shot based
on which track it's on and you can keep adding more and more video tracks if you have more video
sources or if you're adding in text or graphics or whatever else to keep yourself organized
i also delete the camera audio since i don't use it in these videos but if this was a face video i
would keep the camera audio so i could use it to line up my external audio for my microphone with
the audio from the camera to make sure that everything is nice and lined up with my lips
my first step in editing a video is doing a basic cut where i go through from beginning to end and i
cut the footage take out unnecessary pauses remove long areas where i'm not doing anything maybe i
got distracted by an audiobook i'm listening to or a cat came for attention and i stopped working for
three minutes i also decide as i'm going through this basic cut which clip i want to use for
each moment throughout the video when i want to switch between my tabletop view and my side view
and usually this is based on a combination of not wanting to spend too much time on a single shot
so that it stays interesting switching between the two and also choosing which one is best for that
particular portion of the video which one shows what i'm doing more clearly which one is more
aesthetically pleasing which one is clearer the choice is made a lot easier if one of the shots
is slightly out of focus or if the lighting looks weird or if there's a big cat hair on the lens all
of those things happen semi-regularly but if both shots look nice it's really just a matter
of which one i think will be more interesting to the viewer and shows what i'm doing in the most
clear way i also at this stage speed up my clips usually at least to 500 times regular speed i am
very slow when i write and draw i tend to be very methodical and think about each line before i do
it that's just kind of always been my way which means that my videos would be very long if i
left them at real time so i pretty much always speed them up though i try to keep them to 500
to a thousand percent speed so that things don't get too fast and too hard to watch sometimes i do
have to speed it up more if there's just a huge amount of footage that i'm trying to fit into
a reasonable length video this is also the stage where i may get a little bit creative with edits
i may decide to do something like i did in my new bullet journal setup where i decided that it
would be more fun if i showed myself drawing the outline of each rectangle and then it did a little
transition where i tapped it to fill the rectangle rather than showing the entire process of filling
in that rectangle by hand i've set up some shortcuts in my personal davinci resolve install
to make things a little bit easier i hit the z key to cut and the s key to adjust the speed those
are the two tools i use the most when i'm doing my first basic cut of a video i also love my da vinci
speed editor which came when i purchased the full version i don't use 90 of the buttons because to
be honest i haven't had the time to go through and really learn the best way to use it but this
scroll wheel is the best thing ever and makes it so much easier to quickly get to a very specific
area on the timeline and i also occasionally use the cut and smooth cut buttons on the speed editor
as well as the split and snap and ripple delete buttons my hands are a little more accustomed to
hitting those keys on my actual keyboard the zed the s the delete button the backspace buttons the
spacebar to hit play but occasionally i remember that those buttons also exist on the speed editor
and i use that instead you certainly don't need the speed editor to use davinci resolve but
again that scroll wheel is just amazing and i really miss it if i ever have to unplug my speed
editor for some reason and i don't have it while i'm editing i reach for it constantly and get sad
when it's not there i love that within davinci resolve you can set your own shortcuts so you can
choose which keys work best for you depending on if you're right-handed left-handed what your setup
is like and you can also set different shortcuts depending on which tools you use the most once i'm
happy with the basic cut of the video it's time for recording a voice over and background music
sometimes i do one before the other it really just depends on the circumstance on this day when i was
editing there was some construction outside that was a bit loud so i decided to hold off on the
voiceover and choose my background music first i personally use epidemic sound for my music
you pay for a membership and you get access to a huge library of copyright free music and i just
find the library is so much more extensive than what's available through the youtube audio library
which i used for years but at some point i felt like i had used every track that appealed to me
and i just really enjoy the epidemic sound website how easy it is to search by genre feel
mood whether something's instrumental or not as well as looking at a specific artist or
at a specific album or related songs if you find something you really like so for this particular
video i wasn't quite sure if i wanted something a little more atmospheric maybe ambient or some solo
piano which is one of my favorites for background music or solo guitar which is another favorite of
mine and i picked a couple tracks downloaded a bunch so i could have them on hand and dragged
them into my project played around with them and ended up deciding that i preferred the solo guitar
for this particular video so that is what i went with a couple different tracks that all feel like
they go together but are distinct so that you don't get bored of the same track repeating over
and over through the whole video chewy decided to come for a visit which he often does while
i'm editing both chewy and yoda tend to be in my office with me during the day while i'm working
in their cat tree there by the window or curled up on my filming chair or maybe on my filming desk
on top of art supplies or my bullet journal or whatever else has been left there since
the last time i filmed chewie also loves to sit on my lap while i'm editing though he's not the
most helpful assistant i feel like i tend to be a little less efficient when i'm trying to pet and
cuddle him while i'm also editing simultaneously the construction finally led up a little bit
outside and it was time to do my voiceover so i pulled out my retractable arm that has my tula
microphone mounted to it and my little pop filter and turned it on checked the gain and started
recording usually i record my voiceovers just while playing the video that i cut on my screen so
that i can freely talk while the video plays 99.9 of the time i don't have a script i don't have
a plan the exception to the rule is if a video is sponsored i'll have notes there or my brief
provided by the brand or if it's a monthly plan with me video i'll have some bullet point facts
that i've researched so that i can share those in the voice over but otherwise most of the time i'm
just free talking to you whatever comes to mind just chilling hanging out which is exactly what
i'm doing right now as i record this voiceover once i finish recording i plug in my microphone
so that i can access the file and drop that into my project if my voiceover is particularly noisy
for example if the construction starts back up halfway through or our neighbors start doing their
laundry i'll send the file to my husband who has much more advanced audio programs on his computer
as an audio engineer and he can quickly clean it up for me and send it back but if none of that
happened or if he's just too busy to help out then i just drag it right into my project and i can use
some of the native audio features through davinci resolve to do noise reduction
handle the eq adjust the gain and i always do the final mastering within davinci resolve i'll
also go through and cut the voice over cutting any long pauses or false starts where i start a
sentence and then i mess up my wording or i forget what i was gonna say or one of my cats meows over
me i also cut out breaths that are too loud and mouth clicks and other random sounds that pop up
just trying to get the voiceover nice and tight and clean so that it's enjoyable to listen to
i'll also go through at this stage and adjust the volume of the background music so that it nicely
cushions my voice usually if i have any pauses where i don't speak for a period of time i'll
bring up the music gradually and have it at a higher volume for a period of time and then bring
it gently back down to background music levels when my voice comes back in so that there's always
a relatively steady volume whether i'm talking or not once i'm completely done cutting my voice over
and adjusting the volume of the background music i'll go into the audio panel which is called
fairlight in davinci resolve and i'll adjust the audio usually around this time i'll add in any
titles or extra graphics that i want if i want a title card or if i need to add a little note
on the screen and then i pop into color correction i usually like to leave color correction till the
end i know some people like to do it right from the start but for me i like to know that all my
shots are finalized and i'm only color correcting the shots that are going to be in the final video
i had far too many instances of spending a long time on a particular clip getting it perfectly
color corrected and then i ended up not using that clip in the final video so for me this feels like
the more efficient choice davinci resolve has a lot of very advanced color correcting
tools and i tend to use the bare minimum because i don't want to spend ages color correcting every
single clip trying to make it absolutely perfect but i really do appreciate having these tools
available to try to match color temperatures and brightness between different cameras
and adjust for weird lighting if the sun starts to set outside or if i forgot to adjust something on
the camera before i started filming i try to bring the clips to as neutral a place as possible once
i'm done color correcting i'll go back through and watch the video from beginning to end making
sure that i have everything i need at this stage i will double check that i've included everything i
need to for sponsorship if the video is sponsored i'll also make sure to add in my patreon thank you
cards on the screen while i'm thanking my patrons and just double check that everything looks okay
that i haven't left a random gap between two videos or forgotten to color correct a certain
clip and when i'm happy with that i can export the video once the video is exported i will pop
it onto youtube to start the uploading process and while the video uploads i will work on the
thumbnail depending on the video i will have taken dedicated pictures to use as a thumbnail
or sometimes i'll go back through and grab some screenshots from the video to use as a thumbnail
but pretty much every time i will have at least three to four options for my thumbnail image
and i'll pop all of those into photoshop to try them out and see which one appeals to me best to
make things easier for myself i build off of past files so i'll just open the last photoshop file
for whichever thumbnail i made last and start my new thumbnail on that template i just find that's
a lot easier than starting from scratch every time you could also make a template file that
you start from every time you definitely don't need photoshop to make thumbnails there are lots
of free services you can use instead of photoshop like canva that can be really great but i have
photoshop and i know how to use it and it's the easiest way for me to make my thumbnails so that
is what i use typically for a thumbnail especially a bullet journal video i'll start with an image
of my notebook or of a particular spread and a plain white border and then whatever text i feel
is important to include on the screen either some version of the title or a couple words that i feel
will draw your attention or let you know what the video is about i'll play with different layouts
for the text where i feel it fits best and also usually try a couple different fonts to see what
appeals to me and what i feel jumps out most while still fitting into my general aesthetic and vibe
that i'm going for with my videos i also like to go in and erase portions of the border so that it
looks like it's sitting behind some of the things on the screen don't ask me why i just like it
usually i want the border to look like it's above my table but behind anything that's on top of the
table i'll also do more fine-tuned adjustments here if i feel i need to for example my hand
looks really pink here it's been really cold in my apartment recently and my hands get pretty red
when they're cold so i did a dedicated adjustment just to try to bring down that redness a little
bit so that my hand wouldn't be too glaringly distracting once i'm happy with the base of my
thumbnail i have my image my border and my title i'll save it as a jpeg and open it up in procreate
on my ipad and this is when i'll add extra details just to finish off the thumbnail maybe an arrow
i do love to add an arrow to my thumbnails maybe some doodles a couple little stars or some lines
outlining certain areas i also might add some additional text at this point if i feel i need
it though i do usually try to err on the side of less text just because i know that it can be hard
to read smaller text on for example a phone where the thumbnail is pretty small and i don't want
it to be too messy with too much going on it's always hard though and i usually go back and forth
a bunch of times i feel like making thumbnails is one of the hardest parts of being a youtuber
for me personally especially because they are so important for drawing someone in and encouraging
someone to actually click on your video so there's a lot of pressure to make a good thumbnail
so i'm always second guessing myself and wondering if i've done a good job with my thumbnails but i
feel like i've improved on my thumbnails over the years and i figured out some things that work for
me and all you can do is your best and to keep learning and keep taking inspiration from other
youtubers and thumbnails that they may make and try to create something you're proud of
once i'm done in procreate i'll usually export the file just as a png with a transparent background
a file that just has the additional sections that i hand drew so that i can add that onto my
photoshop file and adjust it as needed and also be able to continue to adjust the underneath layers
if i need to and once i'm happy i'll add that thumbnail to my video and go through the process
updating the description box adding cards the end screen completing the quiz for monetization
adding tags and all of the other little final bits that go into getting a video ready to upload and
that's it for how i edit my videos and make my thumbnails i hope it was helpful for you
of course as with all the videos in this little series if you have any questions at all please
leave them in the comments down below and i will do my best to answer them i want these videos to
be helpful for you so if you have questions do not hesitate to ask i hope i can help be sure to come
back tomorrow for part four the final part of this little mini series where i'm gonna talk all about
how i make money as a full-time youtuber all of my different streams of income and answering as many
of your questions as i possibly can don't forget to hit that bell icon to turn on notifications
so you don't miss tomorrow's video or any of the rest of my plant miss videos this year remember
we do have a few more giveaways coming up they're sprinkled randomly throughout the plantless videos
and you only have 24 hours to enter each giveaway so you don't want to miss them thank you as always
to my patrons for your support you truly are the very best what are you doing yoda come here huh
yoda came to say hi so that is it for me i hope you enjoyed this video and i'll
see you really soon tomorrow for plymouth day 4. bye friends say bye she said bye
you