There is a saying to count the cost before you take on a job.  Video editing is one of those job I hope to give you insight to in case you come across this “opportunity”.

We had 4 hours of training in video that was just OK for creating a very basic “watch this video and read this document” course.   It would have been fine to do just that however I got feedback it was too long and thought I could just do some simple splicing and shaving before giving to our LMS team.

So, 12 hours later we had a streamlined set of videos, shaving off over an hour of time.  Here are some of details so you know what you are getting into, should you lack and audio/visual team to do this for you or cannot get this outsourced when you need to have it:

• You can use free video editing applications like DaVinci that have a lot of features
• Near studio quality applications are is best; you can find simpler applications but effects like adding titles become extremely difficult
• One of the biggest reasons for shaving and saving time was the trainer had a slight cold and was clearing his throat all the time; this can be easily isolated and deleted
• For each 1 hour video, it was about 1.5 hours to edit then 1 hour to play the edited version, stopping and fine tuning as needed
• Deleted time included dead air, coughs, chatter at the beginning and end of the meeting, incorrect information (I think it’s xyz but I will let you know after the class), and some Q&A that wasn’t relevant for that video topic
• Another big time saver was filler words we all use like “like”, “ya know”, “you bet”, “of course” when a question was not asked, and lots of “um”; every few sentences for an hour adds up
• The video and sound run together on 2 tracks and so you can see what happens when you make a cut, there is undo, and your original remains untouched
• When you are done, you export you edited video, my format was mp4, and then send/upload as needed

The process was actually fun and rewarding and I learned a new skill in a weekend.

It saved the project time, as we first tried to find a department that handled such request and we found none, and the cost of outsourcing.

Rather than charge my client, who was happy for the effort and result, I simply added a skill to my toolkit and to a few extended lunches.

Don’t be afraid to get your feet wet on a task you’ve never tried.  Don’t promise anything until you are sure (I tried out and completed a small intro video from the same trainer first) but also don’t avoid trying solutions that could help your project and add to your resourcefulness.