- As far as video editing's concerned,
there are some hug benefits
to using cloud-based editing platforms.
You can save a ton of time, but there are some downsides.
In this video, we're gonna take a look at what they are
and who they're best suited for
to work out if they're right for you.
Make sure you stick around 'til the end
because I'll also cover my favorite online video editor
and why it's so powerful.
Hey, it's just Justin Brown here from Primal Video.
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So let's jump into it.
With Internet speeds becoming faster
and the level of content that people are producing
it's no wonder that online or cloud-based editing platforms
are becoming more and more popular.
They can have some huge benefits to workflows
and editing efficiencies,
but they're not without their downsides.
So we're gonna start out by looking at the benefits
and then we'll move into the downsides.
Okay, so there's three primary benefits
when it comes to online cloud-based editing solutions
and the first one is the online processing.
So what that means is all the processing,
all the number crunching, all the hard work
that's normally done by your video editing system,
is actually done remotely by someone else's server
or someone else's computer and all you need to do
is log into that computer or to that platform
using normally a web browser
and all the hard work is done by another computer,
not the computer you're working on.
That opens you up to editing on what's called dumb systems
or dumb terminals or computers without a lot of power.
So you could even edit all your videos
using something as low powered as a Chromebook
or really any web browser would be fine.
And you could use your web browser on your phone,
your iPad, really any device that you can use
to log into that online platform will be enough
to be able to edit your videos.
So what that also means is you can save a heap of money
on buying a really powerful video editing computer
and just using something that's low powered
or powerful enough to run a web browser
to be able to edit your videos.
So that's the first primary benefit.
The second is collaboration.
Now that your video files
and all your video editing infrastructure is in the cloud,
it's really easy to share or give access
to other team members that may be remote,
or really anywhere in the world.
So this is really, really powerful
because it means that
you'll only need to get your footage to the cloud once
and then it can be accessed by anyone
that you give access to.
The next level beyond that is that you can also share
and assign different editing projects
to different team members and you can work collaboratively,
even at the same time in some cases,
on different video editing projects.
So that's really, really powerful.
So whether you're just giving your team members access
to review your videos, or to jump in and edit them for you,
this is a really awesome way to really streamline
the editing process if you've got people
working for you remotely.
And the third primary benefit,
which we did just start to touch on,
is file management.
The best part about online or cloud-based editing solutions
is that you only need to get your files up to the cloud
and once they're up there, they can stay there,
which means that you don't need to
download your finished editing projects
back to your computer before you can upload them
to places like YouTube or Vimeo or Wistia.
Most of them will have direct connection
or direct upload from the cloud platform
to your delivery platform,
which saves you a heap of time in downloading your files,
waiting for your Internet,
and then re-uploading them back to the platform
that you'd like to deliver on.
So there's a lot of power and a lot of flexibility
once you've got your footage in the cloud.
And that leads us straight to the downsides,
or the negatives, with cloud-based editing solutions.
The first one is the Internet speeds.
So while Internet speeds are getting faster and faster,
if you don't have a good Internet connection,
then it's gonna be rather painful to get your footage up
into the cloud, whether it's Dropbox, Google Drive
or direct to the platform of your choice
to be able to edit your video files in the cloud.
So Internet speed probably is the biggest, critical element
when it comes to online or cloud-based editing.
And if your speed isn't up to scratch,
then it's really not worth considering at this point.
Number two is that the editing software,
at least for now, is still rather basic.
There is no full copy of Adobe Premier Pro or Final Cut
that you can log on and have access to
a full, professional video editing platform in the cloud.
The platforms are definitely cut down
but they will allow you
to do most critical video editing functions,
like trimming, like adding effects, like green screen,
adding music and titles
and really, just having the core functionality
of video editing in there.
So if you're expecting an Adobe Premier Pro equivalent,
or a Final Cut equivalent in the cloud
to create professional level videos,
then it's definitely not there yet.
So that rules out things like documentaries,
probably music videos, and really any top or high end videos
that you're looking to produce.
As for content for your website or for YouTube,
the features in there could be more than enough
for what you're looking to do.
And the third downside is the performance.
So it's important to keep in mind here
that you are actually working remote.
So if you are uploading 4K video files,
or high resolution 1080p video files,
all the playback from all the platforms that I've tried
are a low quality preview, almost like a proxy file.
So the playback that you see is a pixelated version
of your end result,
which is hard to apply some effects and things
because you won't know what they actually look like 100%
until the video has rendered out
and saved out to your cloud platform.
Depending on the platform and the quality of your videos,
it can take quite a while for the videos to save out
to give you that preview,
so the whole process can be a little clunky
if you're going to be applying a lot of effects,
especially to high quality video files.
But as for general editing, trimming and cutting
and removing sections and moving sections around,
you'll find the process will be pretty seamless.
So those are, in my opinion, the benefits and the downsides
of online cloud-based video editing solutions,
at least for now.
It's a pretty interesting space
and it's amazing how fast it's growing
so it's definitely an area to keep an eye on.
So ideally, who are these online editing platforms for?
And who can make use of them right away?
Well, really it's anyone who's looking to create
online video content
where they're working with teams remotely.
So it could be that one person is capturing the footage
and uploading it to the system,
and then you might have another person
that's doing the base cut or the first cut,
you might bring in a graphic designer
to drop some graphics in.
You really can have multiple people
working on your editing projects at the same time
and sharing the projects without the need
to all download the individual files
and all the footage that's accompanying that project.
So the closest professional offering to that
is the teams component of Adobe Premier Pro
and it's nowhere near as seamless
in that you still need to get the files
to all the individuals
that are going to be working on the project.
It is much better editing software,
but the process isn't as seamless,
even if you're gonna be using proxy files,
or low resolution files for people to be editing
in the different locations.
And typically, Adobe Premier would be
a much more expensive solution as well.
Now these online cloud-based editing platforms
wouldn't be ideal for someone that's looking to create
really top level videos, like documentaries,
music videos, as we said earlier,
or top level marketing or sales videos,
something that's really high quality,
has a lot of huge files.
And if you've got a slow Internet connection,
then it's going to be very difficult and very painful
to work with some of the software
that's out there at the moment,
especially when you're looking at the feature set
and the cut down features that you actually have
in these online cloud-based editors
versus something professional like Adobe Premier Pro.
Now as far as these cloud-based
video editing solutions are concerned,
the clear standout after trying
quite a few of them now is WeVideo.
Now it still has the same downsides
that all cloud-based video editing platforms have,
but there's three things that I love about it,
that are definitely worth sharing.
The first is the seamless integration in connectivity
that you've got with things like Google Drive,
Dropbox, with Vimeo,
even with Facebook and Instagram as well
to get your content from those platforms
directly into WeVideo for editing.
So that means if your files are already on those platforms,
you don't need to download and re-upload your files
to WeVideo, they can connect directly
to get your files in that way.
Number two is the interface.
It's really easy to use.
It's really fast to edit a huge amount of video footage
down to a small manageable size
and it even supports things like 4K videos as well.
So really, really powerful and really easy to use.
And the third one is the built-in effects.
Now, I was really blown away with some of these effects,
especially things like the green screen
or chroma key effect.
So this effect on WeVideo actually worked way better
than some paid video editing software, like Camtasia.
There was way more control
and the end results were much, much better.
So it's a pretty cool feature to have in there,
especially for an online cloud-based platform.
We'll have another video
running through WeVideo in detail released shortly
and I'll link it up in the cards.
For those of you who are deciding
if online editing platforms are for you,
then my perspective is that I could definitely edit
these YouTube videos, these weekly videos,
on WeVideo or on a cloud platform,
but as for client or corporate work,
it's not there yet as far as I'm concerned.
If you found this video helpful,
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and linked on screen now is a video talking about
the best online video editing solution.
I'll see you soon.