Workflow Efficiency: How long does it take you to edit?

[ShiftQuick]

I spend quite a bit of time editing. I think it’s partly due to learning Final Cut Pro and not understanding the best workflows. I shoot with multiple cameras and introduce additional audio sources at times.

• What have you found helps to maximize your time when editing?
• What’s your biggest time saver?

Thanks!

 

[HippoDrone]

I spend quite a bit of time editing. I think it’s partly due to learning Final Cut Pro and not understanding the best workflows. I shoot with multiple cameras and introduce additional audio sources at times.

• What have you found helps to maximize your time when editing?
• What’s your biggest time saver?

Thanks!

If I'm using multiple cameras, I sync up the audio, then rough cut to the parts where I am talking, then tidy it up by editing out the crap chat. Once I have that sorted, I flip between camera angles to help with the gaps in cuts and delete the footage not used. After that, I just add the intro and outro and watermark.
Generally takes me an hour (ish) once I've done the rough cut to get to the point I can render it.
I also record in 1080/50 and then upscale to 2.7k in my render.

 

[R-Rated]

It varies depending on how many cameras, pics, and other items. I tend to have a general outline saved as a template. The biggest timesaver is my GoPros all sync within a split second when recording. Another timesaver is not having to fuss with an external audio recorder.

As far as rendering I record anywhere from 1080 to 4K but always render in 4K.

 

[Drakhen99]

I use Resolve, so it's not one-for-one, but I find that setting up the editor to fit your editing workflow is a must. Learning the keyboard and mouse shortcuts helps a huge amount. Then, it's down to practice and muscle memory.

With my current workflow, I can turn out a regular vlog in 1-1.5 hours usually, with the outliers being special effects and rewatching it for more cuts to trim the fat. My destination rides, how-tos, and product reviews can take 2-3 times that amount, so upwards of 5 hours to put together. The longest I had was 14 hours, but that was 3 cams, 2 mics, 2 bikes, 2 riders, and 3 hours of footage from each camera. It was a mess to edit, but came out great IMO. If anyone wants to see it, it'll premiere Thursday night on my channel.

Oh, and I record and render at 2.7k/30.

-John

 

[scooterwuf]

Likewise it depends on the number of cameras I’m using, especially if one is a 360 action cam. First I find synch points for the different cameras for multi-camera editing which can be a challenge if one camera records one file length/clip while the other has 3 cliips for about the same length As the first. More, I have to edit the 360 footage in its own stand alone editing app before bringing that into Premiere and then synch it up with the other cameras.

Next, Iwill probably Normalize and Compress my narration track, and then color correct the different cameras before I cut them into different parts. If it calls for it I will find any music as a background element, or to cut the shots to. Once all that is done I can begin editing.

I don’t do everything in one sitting so I’m not sure how many hours it takes, but I try to get a video done in 2-4 days if possible before I render out and upload to YouTube.

— Wolf

 

[Drakhen99]

Likewise it depends on the number of cameras I’m using, especially if one is a 360 action cam. First I find synch points for the different cameras for multi-camera editing which can be a challenge if one camera records one file length/clip while the other has 3 cliips for about the same length As the first. More, I have to edit the 360 footage in its own stand alone editing app before bringing that into Premiere and then synch it up with the other cameras.

Next, Iwill probably Normalize and Compress my narration track, and then color correct the different cameras before I cut them into different parts. If it calls for it I will find any music as a background element, or to cut the shots to. Once all that is done I can begin editing.

I don’t do everything in one sitting so I’m not sure how many hours it takes, but I try to get a video done in 2-4 days if possible before I render out and upload to YouTube.

— Wolf

Man, that DOES sound like a lot of work! I'm glad I've found the tools I have, they save me so much time.

One thing I'd suggest is to rename your GoPro files, if you're not doing it already. I add a prefix to each file: "<cam> - <#> - " <cam> is the camera, so H9 or H10, then # is the clip, so 1, 2, 3, etc., so they all line up. Then, when I make my multicam clips in Resolve, all the 1s are together, 2s, etc., and it makes synching them up far easier to me.

-John

 

[PhilTonic]

Time savers:

1. Using the waveform audio as a guide as to where to place cuts. Requires very clean audio with lots of dynamic range (NOT GoPro standard audio). Clean audio is my main focus in my videos.

2. Setting up your shortcuts for efficient editing. Simple cut, ripple cut, cut to playhead (forwards and backwards), pause, increase/decrease playback speed.

3. Using your own templates and presets.

I can edit a 10 minute video from 30-40 mins of footage in about an hour. Could be faster if I skipped the final "watch the whole video is OK" check.

Efficiency is key, but you don't have to tell a German

 

[scooterwuf]

I use Resolve, so it's not one-for-one, but I find that setting up the editor to fit your editing workflow is a must. Learning the keyboard and mouse shortcuts helps a huge amount. Then, it's down to practice and muscle memory.

With my current workflow, I can turn out a regular vlog in 1-1.5 hours usually, with the outliers being special effects and rewatching it for more cuts to trim the fat. My destination rides, how-tos, and product reviews can take 2-3 times that amount, so upwards of 5 hours to put together. The longest I had was 14 hours, but that was 3 cams, 2 mics, 2 bikes, 2 riders, and 3 hours of footage from each camera. It was a mess to edit, but came out great IMO. If anyone wants to see it, it'll premiere Thursday night on my channel.

Oh, and I record and render at 2.7k/30.

-John

I generally create folders in the Project panel and name them after the camera they were shot on - GoPro Max, Drift, Rylo, etc. … I then just import the shots in the order they were filmed in and place them in their named folder and keep track of them that way. To keep more specific track of the content I add markers in the Timeline to a clip with metadate comments and notes added to them.

Your suggestion makes valid sense, but I’ve never had a problem with losing track of a shot once I’m familiar with what‘s on it, or if it has a moment I’m looking for.

With shots stored on my external hard drive I add color tags to designate if the shot is is good, bad or medicore in terms of its content.

- Wolf

 

[Drakhen99]

Hey, I do the same color change trick! Works aces for pacing.

As for the renaming, it really comes in handy when the GoPros record for long enough to generate multiple files for the same clip - they name them GH0100023 and GH0200023. When sorted by name, they show up all the 1s, then 2s, etc., but my renaming forces them to stay together, so when I drag 15 files into the Timeline, they're all in the right order

-John

 

[Meifesto]

First run is 1.5 or 2x the lenght of the original content.
Just to cut it down to only the important bits.

Then a second run to clean up the clips, fix audio clipping etc.
Which often takes 2x the length of the remaining content.

So anything between 90 min to a few hours is possible.

 

[Moto Mengy]

It takes me a few hours per video on average. That includes a few breaks and some puttering around time, I could probably edit faster if I really wanted to but I'm a "casual" video editor, lol.

Some of my longer and more fancy videos have taken much longer to edit. I'm also way too fussy about choosing what to cut and what to keep, much of my editing time is sitting with my arms crossed while thinking...

 

[scooterwuf]

I'm amazed at how fast everyone can edit. I really don't know if I'm good or not. It might be because I (over?) look at why I'm cutting from one shot to the next, or what's motivating the cut - am I matching on action, showing a change of thought or mood with a cut, cutting off a look, etc. ... . I think I try to work with whatever mood or emotion is in play at the moment and work with that. That generally takes time, or walk away time to get a fresh look at a video after a few hours or even a day.

Music helps a lot as cutting on the beat gives anything rhythm and an emotional guide for the viewer, but there's sometimes more at work in the footage that can be pulled out too outside of melody or song.

Multicamera editing has really opened up a lot of possibilities for how to edit a video, but it has a decent amount of technical set up time and logging. It's well worth it, but I need to learn to speed up the process.

- Wolf

 

[Drakhen99]

I'm amazed at how fast everyone can edit. I really don't know if I'm good or not. It might be because I (over?) look at why I'm cutting from one shot to the next, or what's motivating the cut - am I matching on action, showing a change of thought or mood with a cut, cutting off a look, etc. ... . I think I try to work with whatever mood or emotion is in play at the moment and work with that. That generally takes time, or walk away time to get a fresh look at a video after a few hours or even a day.

Music helps a lot as cutting on the beat gives anything rhythm and an emotional guide for the viewer, but there's sometimes more at work in the footage that can be pulled out too outside of melody or song.

Multicamera editing has really opened up a lot of possibilities for how to edit a video, but it has a decent amount of technical set up time and logging. It's well worth it, but I need to learn to speed up the process.

- Wolf

Don't be amazed. My earlier videos took me WAY longer - try 5-7 hours per video. And they were just regular vlogs. Then I got into doing more scenic destination rides, cinematic stuff... and it all took practice. It's practically muscle memory now that I'm over 400 videos. And you're right, it's not easy to cut cut cut and switch camera angles, and show what you want to show when you want to show it.

Having repeatable recording methods means easier editing, IMO, as I edited 2 regular commuting vlogs last night. Each one took less than an hour. They were simple, but didn't need to be overcomplicated.

Something I've found out is that the longer I do this, the faster/easier it gets, because I'm better able to string together words [otherwise known as a sentence] without flubbing what I want to say [anyone that says motovlogging is easy, clearly hasn't tried it - talking while riding is an art form, and I respect everyone who even tries it].

-John

 

[HippoDrone]

I'm amazed at how fast everyone can edit. I really don't know if I'm good or not. It might be because I (over?) look at why I'm cutting from one shot to the next, or what's motivating the cut - am I matching on action, showing a change of thought or mood with a cut, cutting off a look, etc. ... . I think I try to work with whatever mood or emotion is in play at the moment and work with that. That generally takes time, or walk away time to get a fresh look at a video after a few hours or even a day.

Music helps a lot as cutting on the beat gives anything rhythm and an emotional guide for the viewer, but there's sometimes more at work in the footage that can be pulled out too outside of melody or song.

Multicamera editing has really opened up a lot of possibilities for how to edit a video, but it has a decent amount of technical set up time and logging. It's well worth it, but I need to learn to speed up the process.

- Wolf

We all have very different end results to our videos, and that is because we put our own perspective on not just the ride, but the edit. Your way takes as long as it does, because you put in to it, the thought that is important to you.

 

[Drakhen99]

We all have very different end results to our videos, and that is because we put our own perspective on not just the ride, but the edit. Your way takes as long as it does, because you put in to it, the thought that is important to you.

I couldn't have said it better... I mean, I tried, but it came out like a short novel. +10 Internets to @HippoDrone !!!

-John

 

[scooterwuf]

Thanks guys, that makes perfect sense. What we shoot is filtered through us and comes out on the screen different by the way we edit our work. I wonder if we could do an online Zoom session where we showcase our own approaches to editing - transfer, logging, synching and editing, and then share it those new (or even old) to motovlogging.

-Wolf

 

[Drakhen99]

Thanks guys, that makes perfect sense. What we shoot is filtered through us and comes out on the screen different by the way we edit our work. I wonder if we could do an online Zoom session where we showcase our own approaches to editing - transfer, logging, synching and editing, and then share it those new (or even old) to motovlogging.

-Wolf

I do something similar to a zoom, minus the "live" aspect of it. I've been showcasing effects and techniques in my YouTube videos, as well as a full start-to-finish edit in a video I published fairly recently. Sharing my workflow may be helpful, so I do it.

That, and whenever someone notices or asks about my editing, I'll create a video around it.

I'm down for a Zoom or Google Meet or something [I don't actually have Zoom installed].

-John

 

[HippoDrone]

I am so over zoom meetings since covid lol.
TBH, my workflow is not complicated, I put it on my timeline, then trim out the bits I'm not talking, if it is multiple cameras, I switch between them for the most relevant angle if there is one.

 

[whiskthrot]

It depends on how much I've rode in the last few days / week- I try to focus on one video per week but find myself slacking and overloading (1 video per two weeks, or three weeks, etc) and then my editing seems to take substantially longer. I think I'm going to push myself to put out two videos per week for the next month and make them drastically shorter in length.

To answer OP's question about workflow time and streamlining... hoping this cuts my time in half (or even quarters it). I usually find myself spending the better part of 4 or 5 hours editing. Would love to have it down to an hour or two max.

I've been re-learning Premiere Pro, which I'm sure also slows down my timing, but that's all part of the grand scheme, I suppose.

 

[Meifesto]

Thanks guys, that makes perfect sense. What we shoot is filtered through us and comes out on the screen different by the way we edit our work. I wonder if we could do an online Zoom session where we showcase our own approaches to editing - transfer, logging, synching and editing, and then share it those new (or even old) to motovlogging.

-Wolf

Also, just talky talky vlogs are a lot easier to edit.
End of the sentence is a cut, cut when the next word is spoken and add together to keep a decent flow of discussion.

Editing anything else (or more) then the ritme of the shots start to play a role.
Add music to it and it needs to match even more.

To more you want, the more it requires