(gentle music)
- What is the process to make a video?
We find an interesting topic to shoot,
we spend some time planning, and then we go out and film.
This is the fun part,
playing with all the cameras, the drones, the gimbals
but then comes the bottleneck for a lot of creators,
putting it all together, editing isn't always
the most glamorous part of the process, but the majority
of time it becomes the longest and the most challenging.
So how do you put all the pieces together
and how can you get through this process faster
so that you could start working on your next video?
(upbeat music)
So I just got back from filming
an interesting story up in LA, it's about this weird history
around these ruins that are only as stone's throw away
from one of the wealthy parts of the city.
And filming this entire video was a lot of fun.
It was great to go out there and explore
and do some hiking and be able to just get immersed
in the story and really figure out what to shoot.
But now comes the harder part.
At least I think it's the harder part
and that is editing and putting all the pieces together.
So in this video, I want
to talk you through my process of how I sit down
and approach one of these edits and get them done so fast.
And this is also the same process
that I use for all of my videos here on my main channel.
Let me just give you a quick outline
of what I'm gonna go over in this video.
So first we'll have a discussion
about branding and then we'll get into my editing flow.
We'll talk about Motion, graphics and templates.
And then also we'll talk about customizing those templates.
These are all the different things that I do to speed up
my workflow so that I don't spend so much time editing
and so that I can spend more time
and actually shooting because that's the part
of the process that I personally really enjoy.
But before we get into the video
I just wanna say a special thanks
to Motion VFX for sponsoring this video.
Motion VFX is a leader in producing plugins
for Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Premier Pro.
They also produce a bunch
of stock elements that you can use in any editing software.
And I personally have been using Motion VFX for a few years
and they're the plugins that I use for all of my videos
both here on this channel, and also all the videos
that I'm making over on my second channel.
Essentially, what they do is build
out Motion graphics that you can use in your edits.
And it will add a completely new element
and a professional look to all of your edits.
And the best thing about all of these plug-ins
is that you can completely customize 'em to fit your brand.
And essentially you can change everything
about these graphics to fit exactly what you need.
Personally, I use Final Cut for all of my editing
and these plugins integrate seamlessly within my workflow.
They show up in the generator's tab and you could just drag
and drop them right onto your timeline.
And then from there, it's just a few changes
in the inspector window, and you're ready
to move on and continue with your editing.
Motion VFX has a ton of different styles
of graphics whether it's titles, logos, icons, lower thirds
basically everything you need to add some Motion
on screen and finish your edit.
So if you wanna see what Motion graphics
or animations or stock elements you can add
to your videos, make sure you head down the description
to where I've included a link to Motion VFX.
And also I'll include some links down the description
to my favorite plug-ins that I use on most of my videos.
So let's dig into some different things you need
to think about when you're editing your videos.
So the first thing I wanna have a discussion on
is branding and your style.
Now, when it comes to making videos,
you want to have a brand
and your brand is gonna dictate
how everything looks when it comes to graphics
or text or basically just how anything appears on screen.
And so one thing that I've done personally
for this channel here is I've come up
with an entire brand guideline.
And this has all of my colors that I use.
It has all the fonts, it shows how I actually use fonts.
And so this is something
that I've thought through and figured out, well
I like these elements looking this way when I make my videos
and by making these decisions
and setting up all of this on the front end, it makes it
so that when it comes time to actually do my editing
I know exactly how I'm going
to add graphics and fonts and text and everything
on screen so that I don't have to think about it.
And I don't have to try and test things.
And also when you come up with your brand guideline
it's gonna help you as a solo creator.
But also when you start working
with a team if you have an editor,
well you just hand them the brand guideline
and they have a starting point, a jumping off point
where they could start building your videos
and you don't actually have to go through everything
from scratch and tell them exactly what you need to do.
This is a guide that you'll always have.
And so thinking through your brand and coming up
with your own guide, it's gonna help create a visual style.
And so when someone's watching your videos
it feels like there's some consistency from video to video.
So the next thing we need
to talk about is the editing process.
And my editing process is fairly simple.
It's three steps, and I've really thought
through my process, and this is the way that I'm able
to get through videos faster.
Step one is organization.
Step two is my first cut and step three is polishing
and my final cut.
And I know that seems kind of simplified, but make sure
that I organize everything before I get into the first cut.
And I make sure I get my entire first cut done
before I actually go through
and start adding things like Motion graphics
and everything else that I do to polish up my videos.
And so let's talk about organization.
So here is just my project's folder
and this is on my computer.
I have a four terabyte hard drive on my laptop
and that allows me to edit off of the hard drive
in this laptop without plugging in an external hard drive.
And it's an easier flow
for me especially when I'm traveling
so I don't have something hanging out.
Now here in my office back there,
I have a 98 terabyte hard drive
which has all of my older projects.
So it's everything that's already finished
and just things that I need
to access when I'm digging into my archive.
So here's my projects folder, and everything's broken
down into date, project number and then a title.
So for example
the Giant Rock video that I did, it was April, 2022.
And that project number is 720.
And the reason I go by project numbers
is because I have a Notion set up.
And Notion is basically a database builder,
so in my Notion I have a page that's all
for project 720, the Giant Rock.
And so here's a glimpse of my database.
This is my finished database.
And you can see I have my video numbers organized
and then a title the status and the channel that it's on.
And I did this because now I have two channels.
And instead of making two databases
I'm just using one and organizing it
and then I could go through and sort it later.
And so when you see down here
at 720 I have the Giant Rock story.
I can open that as a page.
And I have a bunch of different information that I can fill
out here linked to this video
but also I have the whole script
and basically anything else that I might have attached
to this Giant Rock story.
So if I had more research
and articles and different things that I'm working on,
I'm gonna put everything into my Notion, so
that if I ever need to go back to a video or find something
everything is easily findable in a database.
The key when it comes
to making things faster is making everything accessible
and in a system that is easier to find what you need.
So all of my videos have a project number associated
with them, and then they're all organized by date.
And so I could easily have a reference
of year and month while also using project numbers
to have all of the other data in my Notion.
And if you want me to do a bigger breakdown
of how I built out my databases in Notion,
I'd love for you to let me know down in the comments.
And this is something that I could do a video on
because I have everything in my Notion
that basically runs my entire business.
All right, so let's go back to the projects folder.
Let's open up my Giant Rock folder
and you see that I have it organized into a few categories.
I have my Final Cut Profile.
I have a thumbnail folder, a media folder and exports.
So it's super simple.
And if there's any other folders
that I need I'll just add 'em right in here.
Now I don't put numbers
for these folders like some other creators do
because it's really easy to see what I have here.
It's only a few folders
but when you go into media,
for example you'll see that I have a bunch
of different folders and I label things based
on cameras or based on this types of footage that it is.
So you'll see, I have A roll,
which for this video I did it behind the scenes.
And so that a roll is just me talking
on camera here in my office.
I also have the A7SIII, that was footage
from when I was on location using the A7SIII.
I have my Action 2, I have Auphonic,
which is audio processing that I do online.
And this is where I keep the finished file.
I have Case B Roll.
So this is just footage of the product that I was talking
about in my behind the scenes.
I have Mini 2, Drone Footage,
I have Photography and I have some Voiceover.
So when it comes to organization
this is all I need to be able to find the footage
and audio that I'm using to make this edit.
You could change up your folder structure however you like
but you just need a quick reference
to know where everything is, so that when you get
into the editing software, you could easily bring it all
in and then do some more organization.
And the next step in my organization process
is bringing this all into Final Cut.
And for those of you who are Final Cut users
let me just show you breakdown of how I do this.
So for this Giant Rock video, I had it behind the scenes
which was here on this main channel.
And then I had my story video
which was on my second channel.
And so when you open this up, you'll see
that I just have all the same keywords
that are the folders that I made in my organization.
Then this is
because I could just easily drag all those folders
into Final Cut, makes all the keywords
and then I can start editing.
I just set everything up
that makes sense for what I need
to be able to find the footage that I'm looking for.
So if you need more folders
and more organization, we'll add more folders
and move your footage into more places,
but you just need to be able to find everything.
And this comes down to
what's easier for you to find different elements.
And so the next step of the process
for me is getting into the first cut
and the first cut is something that I think is
super important and I try to get done as fast as possible.
And the reason for this
is if you're tinkering with your footage too much,
you're gonna just get sucked in the loop of trying to
figure out what to do without actually seeing any progress.
And progress is huge to get yourself
to keep moving forward and finish a project.
So what I found in my years
of editing is that I try to just get
a first cut done as fast as possible.
And so I'll take my script
or my outline for whatever video I'm making.
And I'll just follow that
and start adding all the elements in.
Yeah I'll have creative ideas as I'm going through this
and I might change some things here and there
but the idea is to get a cut from beginning to end.
So I could see the entire story
or the entire tutorial laid out in one finished timeline.
And while I'm doing this first cut, I'm also going
through all of my footage and seeing everything that I have.
So I'm scrubbing through all of my B roll, I'm looking
at what kind of shots I got when I was out filming.
And I'm just kind of seeing everything
so that I have a general idea
of what is in all of this footage.
I might not add all of it right away
but I just can see where everything is
and what I shot and what I have to work with.
And then the next step is polishing and finishing.
And once you have a cut from beginning to end
it's gonna be a lot easier to take different sections
and move them around or add new sections
or add B roll or add different elements
that it's gonna help enhance your story.
But having that first cut for me is the most essential
and then allows me to just be creative
and then I could just start playing around.
So this gets into my next section
which is about Motion graphics
and how they can speed up your workflow.
So as I said earlier in the sponsored segment
Motion VFX is what I use for most of my Motion graphics.
And the reason I use plugins
is because it speeds up my workflow.
Personally, I'm not a full-time editor
and I don't need to learn
how to build out all the different graphics from scratch.
I've found that plugins are the easiest way
to speed up your workflow, especially
if you're someone who wears a lot of different hats.
So if you're shooting,
if you're writing, if you're researching, if you're editing
if you're doing all the uploading, the whole process,
well you're gonna wanna make things easier
for yourself and Motion graphics really make things easier.
And so for here on this channel
I have a bunch of just animations
and graphics that I go back to again and again.
And I also do things like punch-ins
because having a graphic where I could just lay it
on top and then it automatically Zooms makes it.
So I don't have to key frame anything.
And having all of these elements
in plugin form makes it a lot easier
to get through my edit faster.
And this is also why I use LUTs
for a lot of my color grading, because I don't
want to go through and color grade every video clip.
I shoot a lot of my footage when I'm outdoors in log,
and so if I was to go through and edit every shot
it would take a lot of time.
So I use an adjustment layer
and then I add LUTs to everything that I do.
So having plugins
and Motion graphics is gonna speed up your workflow.
And this brings me to my next thing, which is templates.
So I like to build all my graphics out
and then template them
so that I don't have to rebuild them over and over.
And I actually have a Final Cut file
that I use called template, which just has all
of these built out already and on a timeline.
And I could duplicate this Final Cut file
so that when I actually get
into editing, I already have a timeline
with all of these graphics that I typically use
so that I could just copy and paste them.
And I'm not rebuilding graphics
even though a lot of these are plugins.
You still have to do some editing
and tweaking to make 'em your own and fit your brand.
Now you could take this a step further
and start customizing your own graphics.
So if you're a Final Cut user,
you could actually open all of these Motion graphics
and text elements and everything else in Apple Motion.
And you could start tweaking all the elements
and build your own graphics from these graphics.
And sometimes it might just be like changing colors
or changing fonts so that when you bring it back
into Final Cut, everything's very customized
and you don't have to have that template timeline
like I was saying earlier.
Now for me I don't use Motion that often
and it's not a tool that I want to learn right now.
So I use my templating method.
However, one thing that I've done is I start
taking all the plugins that I use consistently
and I put them in a separate folder.
So if you're using Final Cut
and you go to your generator's tab
you'll see that all your plugins will pop up here.
So MTuber, or Mtravel or Mtutorial.
These are different plugins that I use from Motion VX.
And when I go into these there's a lot of different elements
and I don't necessarily use all of these elements
but one thing you can do in Final Cut
is right click, reveal and finder.
And then what I do is I go back
to my main folder where it shows titles
and I'll create a new folder here,
labeled Jeven's favorites.
And what I could do is find the plugins
that I like to use over and over,
copy that folder and add it in my Jeven's favorites.
Now, when I go back to Final Cut
you'll see that there's a new title here
that's labeled Jeven's favorites.
And then one of the arrows that I use is now in there.
And so what you could do is find all your favorite elements
from the different plug-in packs, and then make one folder
with all the elements in there
so that you're not sorting through a bunch of random stuff
to find exactly what you use for your brand.
It's just another way that I've sped up my workflow
so that I have everything easily accessible in one folder.
And I could find exactly what I need .
Process is pretty simple when you take a step back
and look at it you wanna make sure
that you have everything organized on the front end.
You have all your templates built out and you know
your brand, and then edit your first cut
as fast as you can and then comes the fun creative part
where you get to polish and really play
around with your videos and make them your own.
Now make sure you head down the description and check
out Motion VFX and find the plugins that will work for you.
But next, make sure you check out this video right here
which goes through my entire process
of how I go from script to actually filming a video.
I'll see you on that one.