This guide will give an overview of the techniques a beginner needs to edit videos for academic projects. Video editing software is often so packed full of features that it can seem intimidating to use, but this guide is intended to give you guidance on the basic tools you need to get started. It will also point you in the direction of more advanced guides and theory regarding successful video editing.
Unlike hobbyist creations, academic videos often need to be held to certain guidelines as they represent you and your institution. Below are some guidelines you might not have considered, as well as some texts showing you how different videos can be styled depending on your academic application.
For more tips for publicising your research, see our guide to virtual research dissemination.
Most universities have a brand identity which needs to be maintained in the media produced by their staff. This includes their logo, colour scheme, and even font. Any project you are doing for the University should fall largely within these guidelines, though it does depend on the nature of your project.
Usually the University logo should be displayed at either the start or end of the video, alongside the logos of any partners or sources of funding such as the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Logos can be kept in a reduced size in one of the left hand corners for the duration of the video.
If possible, all fonts should be those included in the university brand guidelines. These can be found online and installed for free. The university colours should also be included where appropriate.
Below are links to the webpage containing University of Exeter brand guidelines.
All media used, be it images, video or audio must not breach copyright. The safest way to avoid copyright issues is to film any footage yourself, with the express permission of everyone involved in the project.
You can find images you are able to reuse in your own projects by applying the Google search filter 'Labeled for Reuse'.
Any music created by yourself in software such as Logic will be copyright free and fine to use. Beyond this, you will need to be more careful. Copyright-free sounds can be found online - the two terms to search for are 'royalty free' and 'creative commons'. Royalty free means that you can use a piece of media without needing to pay royalties for it. Creative commons is similar but typically the creator likes to have some form of attribution - this can be placed at the end of the video.
Academic projects tend to be not for profit anyway, but a link is included below detailing all the variations of the creative commons license - checking this before using a piece of media in your work is essential. Here is an image of what those licenses look like:
There are a few basic techniques you can use to improve the overall quality of any academic video.
The first thing is to ensure that branding is correctly addressed. Humans tend to read images in the opposite direction to how they read words. In the UK, this means that most of us read images on the screen right to left. Therefore logos and emblems should be placed in either of the left corners so we notice them but are not distracted by them.
The second is to include transitional effects which give the impression of a smoother video to the viewer. The type of transitions you use will be dependent on the style of video you are creating. Don't be afraid to play around with timings - viewers will get bored and lose interest if you stay on any one particular shot for too long.
If you are producing multiple videos for the same project, it's important that they have the same general style, as well as the relevant branding. To do this, you may want to experiment with filters and colour. You may also want to consider building up a library of stock footage for such projects so that videos can be produced more quickly.
Using video editing programs for the first time can be intimidating, but this section will introduce you to basic tools and techniques which are important in all editing software.
Whilst there are many different video editors, all projects start the same way - the first thing you need to do is create a new project file. Most editors will make you create a project when you first start up the software, but if not this can be done by clicking on 'File' in the top left hand corner, then selecting 'new project'. Some programs may require slightly different steps, but all will follow a roughly similar workflow.
When a new project is started, more professional software will have a new project window which opens. Here, it will have many different options to be changed, as well as a box for a project name. If you're a beginner, it's not recommended that you change any of the default settings shown on this screen.
Make sure to give the file an easily identifiable name, in case you end up working on multiple projects, and ensure that you know where the file is being saved on your computer - the C: drive of most computers is often fast but quite small in storage capacity so may not be able to cope with large video project files.
Once you have opened your new project, you will find that there are three main sections to the window: the media browser, timeline and viewer. Some software do have additional sections, notably Adobe Premiere Pro, however these are non-esential features which you can explore once you're comfortable with the basics.
Whilst these sections will look slightly different depending on the software you are using, they all serve essentially the same purpose and will work the same way.
This is where all imported media is stored, you can listen to audio and watch clips directly in the browser to isolate the parts you want to add to the timeline.
The timeline is the body of your project where a majority of the work is done. In the timeline, you can cut and edit your footage, add effects, change audio and many other functions.
The viewer serves the purpose of allowing you to see the footage from your timeline as it will look in the final product but also allows you to watch unedited footage from the media browser.
Before you can work on your project, you'll need to import some media to work with. Media in this case typically refers to image, video and audio files. In most software, you'll be able to find an option to import media by going to the 'File' tab in the top left hand corner and selecting from the drop down menu. This will open a browser for you to navigate to your media files.
It's important to avoid moving or deleting the original files you have imported once you've begun editing because the software will use these files as a reference whenever it is reopened or exports your project. Therefore, before you begin your project, it is a good idea to save all of the media you would like to use together in one place where it can be kept throughout the process of editing.
This section contains all basic footage editing techniques you will need for creating your own video, as well as some guides to point you in the direction of more advanced techniques.
Footage can be added to the project timeline by dragging it into place. It will play sequentially from left to right across the timeline.
Footage can also be stacked vertically above or below the main timeline, with the footage placed highest playing over the rest. Secondary footage, known as 'B roll' can be placed low on the timeline, so that it automatically fills gaps in your main footage, meaning that there's rarely call for it to be edited extensively.
Cutting is the process of taking one clip and splitting it into two. Before doing any cutting, make sure you use the zoom tool to magnify your footage. This will allow you to see your footage frame by frame so you can make more precise cuts.
Use the blade tool to make any necessary cuts but make sure to switch back to the mouse/select tool before clicking on any newly formed clips created by cutting, otherwise you will make more incisions.
Once you have two clips, you will be able to move them around independently of each other which is useful when you want to split a large piece of footage down to use at different parts of the video. Zoom out to make placing them easier.
You may wish to remove a chunk of footage from a clip. In order to do this, zoom in and make two incisions with the cut tool: one at the beginning of the clip you want to remove and one at the end.
Switch back to the select tool and select the newly formed clip you want to remove. Press either backspace or the delete key to remove this.
In most video editing software, delete and backspace will have different functions. They will either erase a clip and leave a gap where it was, or delete it and move your footage to fill the new hole. Which key does which will depend on your program. If you need your imagery to stay in place, leaving a gap and filling it with B roll footage may be the most effective solution.
When editing footage, it may be tempting to cut out every mistake in a piece of footage, but this isn’t necessarily a good idea. When a person is talking their face is often very expressive, cutting out the mistake will mean that the facial expressions before and after probably won’t line up. As such, it's often a good idea to leave in small mistakes so that your footage flows well. If you do want or need to remove these mistakes, you may find it useful to use images or 'B roll' footage to cover the mistake.
'Stitching' refers to taking two separate clips and and merging them into one. This often makes it easier to edit and move things around. It also allows you to remove any holes created by deleting a section of footage.
To stitch clips together, place them next to each other on the timeline and select the stitching tool. Select the first clip, then the second clip you wish to combine it with. You'll then be given the prompt to join them together. As video editing software varies a lot, the tool may not be called the 'stitch' tool, but some variant of this such as 'combine'.
This section will help you to understand the basic principles of leveling and correcting audio material.
Audio leveling is the process of editing your audio so that you can hear everything you need, and to ensure that nothing is disproportionately loud.
Sometimes you want to change the volume of an entire track, for example, you might want to mute 'B roll' footage or lower the volume of a backing track so that dialogue can be heard over it. This can normally be done by selecting the clip in question, causing a horizontal line to appear on the clip. This can be moved up or down to increase or decrease the volume of the entire clip.
In instances where you want to edit a section rather than an entire audio clip, such as reducing the volume of one individual's dialogue, you will need to insert 'keyframes'. Keyframes are added to the horizontal bar used to edit the audio of an entire clip, and act as pivot points to adjust a single section of audio.
To use keyframes, locate the section of audio you would like to edit along the timeline and insert keyframes according to the software you are using. Often this can be done using a right click and selecting from a dropdown box. However, you may need to search for a solution online if this does not work.
The audio that accompanies footage in a clip is visualised through a pattern of peaks and troughs known as a 'waveform'. When the audio is loud, the peaks of the waveform will be high and when it is quiet the troughs will be low.
Given that there are many peaks and troughs in any given piece of audio, it is worth zooming in to see how the shape of the waveform corresponds with what you hear.
In case you want to edit one particular sound, such as if you wanted to eliminate a bang or pop in a recording, most software will have a waveform visualiser in a sound effects tab. Once you’ve found the viewer and identified the anomaly you want to edit, it should be as easy as dragging the wave up or down based on what is necessary.
Professional editing software such as Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premier Pro contain features which can be used to identify and reduce unwanted background noises. Whilst these features can be effective, there is a danger that they distort key parts of the audio, possibly giving it a tinny, hollow sound. As a result, they should be used carefully.
Once your video is complete, you will need to render and export it so that it can be viewed by others. This section is dedicated to helping you do just that.
Rendering is the process of converting a video project from a piece of code and turning it into a video which can be played as a piece of media.
Your project will be made of many different parts, be it clips, images or music and all of these are made of code which needs to be converted into something you can see and interact with. When you add an effect to your video for example, it may take anywhere up to five minutes for you to actually see it because the computer has to take that code and apply it to your footage. This might mean that as your project increases in size it may take longer and longer for commands to process and as such, it might appear as though nothing is happening.
Watch out for the rendering timer in whatever software you are using and do not assume nothing is happening until that has completed whatever it was rendering. Computers have to work very hard to process video editing!
This is the process of taking all the parts of a video and combining them into one file. When you save your project as you go along, you are saving the project but not a final video that can be played on all devices, so your project needs to be exported for it to be uploaded to YouTube or played in a media player.
Depending on how powerful your computer is and how long your video is, exporting can be a very long process. Often you can compromise quality for faster rendering. A faster rendering time means the computer cuts out bits of the code the computer doesn’t think you need in the video. As a result the file is usually smaller and less intensive for the computer to produce, but the quality can suffer. For 90% of projects though, the difference in quality is unnoticeable, so unless it is crucial for your project to be of the very highest video quality, you will often be able to opt for a lower quality video for faster export. If you are worried about quality, have a powerful computer, and have a lot of time, you should probably choose higher quality and longer rendering.
You will almost always want to export your finished product as an .MP4 file. Some software such as Final Cut will try and export to .MOV which is Apple’s own video format and some Windows software will try and export to .WMV. However, for the best quality and compatibility, export to .MP4 as it can play on virtually any device.
The Technique of Film and Video Editing by 
Observational Filmmaking for Education [electronic resource] : Digital Video Practices for Researchers, Teachers and Children by 
A Guide to Underwater Wildlife Video and Editing by 
Final Cut Pro X 10. 4 - Apple Pro Training Series by 
Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Classroom in a Book by 
Post Sound Design by 
