I Edited 1000 Videos... Here's 5 Things I WISH I Knew Sooner

I edited over 1,000 videos, but I also wasted years learning the wrong things. When I started, I thought video editing is all about cool effects and flashy transitions. I was wrong.

But if I knew what actually makes edits better, it wouldn't take me anywhere near 1,000 videos to get to where I am now. So, in order to make your editing journey 10 times easier, here are five lessons about video editing I wish I knew sooner. And the first thing literally saved my editing career. When I first started editing, I got obsessed with learning new stuff.

I'd spend hours every day looking at tutorials and trying to recreate them. Back then, I thought that the more I know the software, the better my edits would become. So, I spent years going down this route, trying to learn the most advanced techniques and the most flashy effects. But no matter what I did, my edits still felt empty. Yet, I kept going. I tried to learn every single setting and technique.

Not only that, I tried learning multiple softwares, After Effects, Blender, Photoshop.

It got to the point where I was using tools I didn't even understand. But what happened next almost made me quit. One day I was jumping between different programs, feeling lost like always, then suddenly noticed that my entire project was gone. The animation I spent days working on just disappeared out of nowhere. But this disaster taught me something that completely changed my approach to editing and will probably change yours, too. After that incident, I stopped chasing every single tool and instead focused on making the best out of simple things.

I would open a project and think, which shots actually matter? How fast or slow should each moment be?

Do I really need this animation here? I started thinking about things like that before every single editing decision. And guess what? My edits improved drastically. I didn't know it back then, but I accidentally followed the 80/20 rule. You probably heard about it, but in case you didn't, it's basically the rule saying that 20% of actions drive 80% of results. And what I was doing for all these years is learning the 80% that doesn't matter. I thought editing is all about the advanced stuff and that this is the only way to improve. But when I stopped doing so, my edits started to improve really quick. That's because I jumped back to focusing on 20% that actually improve your editing skill. I got obsessed with shot selection, pacing, sound design.

I focused on fundamentals and my editing skills exploded because doing the simple things right will improve your editing way more than doing the advanced things wrong.

And here's something mind-blowing. If you know how to drag clips into your timeline and place a cut, you're basically able to edit a Hollywood movie. But if you don't understand how to actually use these basic tools to create impact, your videos will still feel boring. Have you ever felt like your edits feel empty? Even though you're technically doing everything right, I know I did for years.

I would spend days, even weeks on the edit. And when I sent it, I got responses like, "Yeah, it's alright. It's okay, man. Yeah, it's fine bro." That was painful because no matter what I tried, I just couldn't make my edits hit. Then I changed one thing and suddenly my feedback became, "Man, this is so good. That sequence is so fire. The edit is crazy, man." What caused this difference?

Old edits viewers watched. New edits viewers felt. Here's the thing. Edits are like people.

And you don't connect with others because of their clothes or their car. You connect because of their personality. And it's the same thing with editing. Because it doesn't matter what you show.

It matters how you show it. Every shot is like a single word. On its own, it doesn't mean much.

But if you put the right words together, you get the sentence. And that's where the meaning is.

And if you don't edit based on how your entire sequence should feel, your viewers will tune out and stop watching. For example, let's say you're editing a sequence about someone's struggle.

It wouldn't make sense to show fancy motion graphics in between shots that feel emotional.

It would feel completely out of place because it doesn't support the tone of the entire sequence.

Instead, you could cut from shots of him alone and depressed to shots of friends partying, then back to him alone again. That party scene, which normally feels positive, suddenly feels painful.

Now, it works like a flashback and gives us a lot more information about what our character is going through.

It creates a very specific feeling that you want your viewer to feel when watching this sequence.

Not only that, these cuts are actually hacking viewers attention because of one more cheat code that I'm going to explain in detail later in the video. Here's the thing.

The easiest way to make your edits hit is to control the context. But most editors have no idea where this context actually comes from. Well, the best way to find it is to edit with your eyes closed.

When you watch a great video, the thing that sticks with you is not great shots. It's the message and how it felt.

And here's the thing, it has nothing to do with what you show on the screen.

Because the easiest way to shape that message is to start with the audio. Editing videos is like building a house.

And audio is the base of your video. It decides the structure, the tone, and even what your visuals should be. Audio has three elements. Get this right, and your video will almost edit itself.

First one is the dialogue. It's the raw message of your video. First thing you should always do is to make sure it sounds clear and flows naturally. Remove hmms and awkward poses while keeping the conversational feeling. Second element is music. It sets the vibe of your video and helps you create a specific mood. Listen to the narration and think about what tone each part of your video should have. That gives you a clear outline of what music would fit each segment of the video.

For example, upbeat track for exciting moments and melancholy for sentimental segments.

Having a good music score will also help you choose visuals and how they should feel.

And the last element is sound effects. They create an immersive experience that drags your viewer into your video.

They make your audience not only watch but feel the shots. For example, atmosphere sounds for realism or wishes for emphasis. Imagine a shot of a busy street. You hear the cars, the chatter, the footsteps before you even see them. When you get your audio right, your visuals almost choose themselves.

That's why a very important thing is to edit with ears and not eyes. But even if your audio is perfect, your edits will still feel flat if you miss the one thing that makes people care about your video. When I started editing, I heard everybody talk about storytelling.

It was mentioned in every video, every tweet, every post. But I couldn't understand what storytelling actually means.

And after I searched it, I ended up even more confused than before. But here's what made it click for me. Great video editors aren't storytellers. They are translators.

Remember when I talked about the message of your video? This is your actual story. You don't invent the story with your edit.

You take the story that is being said in the sound medium and translate it into visual medium.

Based on the message, you choose visuals that would represent it in the best way possible.

But here is the thing, your visuals should not only explain what is being said, but they should hit the emotion that you want to make your viewer feel. If you think this way, you will be able to avoid a huge mistake of showing things that are too obvious. For example, let's say that the narration is telling a story about someone feeling trapped. You could show someone alone in the room, feeling lonely, and depressed. If you combine it with quick, abrupt cuts, you will clearly represent the feeling of uncertainty and being hopeless. That would really show the feeling of being trapped in your head, lonely, and unable to get out. It would hit a lot stronger than showing a single shot of someone in the prison cell, which would be generic and boring. Making sure your edit conveys the story in the best way possible should always be your priority. And the thing that helps me do it is this. I think of every single editing decision based on this question. Does it help to push the story of your video forward? If yes, keep it. If not, delete it. But your story can't just go forward.

It has to be interesting. And the next thing uses human psychology in order to make your story so impactful that the viewers can't stop watching. I once made an edit where everything was epic. Fast cuts, loud music, crazy effects, but somehow it still felt boring.

Here is why. Look at this picture. Where do your eyes go? Probably nowhere, right? All of it looks kind of the same. Now look at this picture. Your eyes probably go to this square, right?

Somehow you feel like it's more important than other squares. Human mind identifies things that look different and focuses all of its attention on those things. Great editors use it all the time.

They hijack viewer's attention with a clever use of contrast. And I don't mean just the contrast when it comes to the color. You can create contrast with every aspect of your edit. Loud moments paired with silent moments, a slow shot followed by a series of fast cuts, bright shot after a dark sequence, fast movement after a steady shot. Remember the example from point two? These shots of friends partying not only added context, but also used contrast to emphasize the meaning of this sequence.

Contrast makes your videos a lot more dynamic and impactful. It not only signals what things are important, but also creates a moment of breath in your edit. Because even the best shots, graphics, and sound effects will become boring if you don't give them room to breathe.

Master this and your viewers will be hooked to the screen. But it doesn't matter if you don't know how to use it to create videos that get results. Click on this video where I go over it in detail.

Subscribe for more editing insights if you enjoyed this video and I will see you in the next one.

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