Track V1 — Clip 01

From a folder of clips to a finished cut

A beginner’s editing guide for the moment the shoot is over and the footage is sitting on a drive. How to organise it, shape it, make it sound and look consistent, and get it out the door without editing it forever.

7 min read First-time editors Any editing software

Seen from behind, an editor wearing headphones works at two monitors showing colour wheels, a clip strip and video scopes, in a room whose wall is lit amber and green. — Viewer · Colour page

Editorial note

Amber Cactus Parade is an independent editorial site published by Signs & Graphics. This guide is general information written by our editors. It is not sponsored, it contains no affiliate links, and we are not selling software, courses, presets or services. Software names mentioned anywhere on the site belong to their respective owners. The guide is not legal advice; music licensing in particular depends on the specific licence and where you publish. How your edit turns out depends on your footage, your computer and your practice.

The guide

Editing a first video, one pass at a time

Editing is the stage where a project quietly stalls. The footage exists, the deadline is soft, and the timeline grows without getting closer to done. A few habits fix most of that.

Before the first cut: copy, check, and name things

The first job has nothing to do with storytelling. It is making sure the footage cannot be lost. Copy every memory card to your editing drive and to a second drive, open a few clips from each copy to confirm they play, and only then reuse the cards. One copy is a single point of failure.

Next, make one project folder and put everything for this video inside it. A simple, numbered layout works in any editing program:

ProjectName/ 01_Camera · 02_Audio · 03_Music · 04_Graphics · 05_Project · 06_Exports

Rename card folders with the date and camera (for example 2026-10-02_CamA) rather than renaming individual clips, which can break the link between a clip and its sidecar files. Keep the project file and the media together so the whole thing can move to another drive in one piece.

Make the edit run smoothly: bins, proxies and a sequence that matches

Import into bins that mirror your folders, plus a few by purpose: interviews, B-roll, sound effects, selects. Clear bins are how you find the shot you need at eleven at night.

If playback stutters, try proxies: smaller, easier-to-decode copies the program uses while you cut, then swaps back to the originals when you export. Many editors can create them for you. If your machine plays the originals smoothly, you can skip this step entirely.

Set the sequence (timeline) to match most of your footage: the same frame rate and, usually, the same resolution. Changing frame rate halfway through an edit tends to shift cuts and audio sync, so decide once at the start.

Finally, watch everything once, start to finish, before cutting anything. Mark moments you like. That first viewing is the only time you will see the footage with fresh eyes.

Bin setup

Ready-to-cut checklist

Two verified copiesBoth play back before any card is reused.
One project folderNumbered sub-folders, media and project together.
Proxies if neededOnly when full-quality playback drops frames.
Matching sequenceFrame rate and resolution set once, at the start.

CLIP 02 · Ten minutes of setup that saves hours of hunting and re-linking later.

Three cuts, not one: assembly, rough, fine

Trying to make every edit perfect on the first pass is the slowest way to finish. Work in stages, each with a different question.

The assembly asks: what do I have? Lay the usable material on the timeline in story order. It will be far too long and that is expected. Do not trim yet.

The rough cut asks: what is the story? Remove whole sections that do not serve it, pick the best version of each moment, and get the order right. Expect to lose material you like. It is common for a rough cut to come in well under the assembly’s length.

The fine cut asks: does every cut feel right? Now you trim frames, adjust where each shot starts and ends, smooth dialogue, and tighten pauses.

Save a new version of the sequence before each stage (for example v01_assembly, v02_rough). If a bold change does not work, you can go back without undoing a hundred steps.

Cutting on action, and the J and L cuts

Two techniques make edits feel smooth rather than abrupt, and both are available in every editor.

Cutting on action. When someone moves — reaching for a door, standing up, turning their head — cut to the next shot during the movement rather than before or after it. The viewer’s eye follows the motion across the cut and barely registers the change.

The J cut. The sound of the next shot starts before its picture. We hear a voice or a noise, and then see where it is coming from. It pulls the viewer forward into a scene.

The L cut. The picture changes but the sound of the previous shot carries on underneath. A classic use is staying on someone’s words while showing the listener’s reaction.

Most editors let you unlink or offset audio from video so you can drag one edge further than the other. The names come from the shape the offset makes on the timeline.

V1 / A1 · Split edits

Which cut, when

Straight cutPicture and sound change together. Clean, direct, the default.
J cutHear the next shot first. Good for entering a new scene.
L cutSound lingers after the picture changes. Good for reactions.
Cut on actionChange shots mid-movement so the motion hides the edit.

CLIP 04 · Split edits are the simplest way to stop a sequence feeling like a slideshow.

Pacing: let shots run as long as they are doing work

There is no correct shot length. A shot should stay on screen while it is still telling the viewer something, and leave shortly after.

Fast cutting builds energy; long takes build calm or tension. Many first edits use one speed throughout, which flattens everything. Vary it to match what is happening.

Trim the air. Pauses before someone answers, a breath at the start of a sentence, and walking into frame can often lose a few frames without anyone noticing.

But do not strip every pause. A beat of silence after an important line gives it room to land.

Test pacing by watching at normal speed without stopping. Scrubbing and looping make everything feel slower than it is.

If you find yourself skipping a section, your audience will too. That section is a candidate for cutting or shortening.

Sound: dialogue first, then music, then the mix

Viewers tolerate imperfect pictures far more readily than hard-to-hear speech, so the sound pass deserves real time.

Dialogue. Make speech consistent from clip to clip. Use short audio fades at every edit to avoid clicks, and fill gaps with a stretch of the room’s background sound if you recorded some.

Music. Place it after the edit works without it; music can hide pacing problems rather than solve them. Lower it under speech so words stay clear, and look for natural phrase points to start and end.

Licensing. A song you bought or stream is generally not licensed for use in your own published video. Use music you have permission for: tracks you licensed for this use, music offered under terms that clearly cover your project, or something you made. Read the terms, keep a copy of the licence, and expect platforms to mute or claim videos with unlicensed music. This is general information, not legal advice.

Levels. Watch the meters. Nothing should hit 0 dBFS. For online video, many platforms normalise loudness to roughly −14 LUFS integrated, but targets differ and change, so check the platform you are publishing to.

Audio tracks

A tidy track layout

A1–A2 · DialogueThe priority. Even, clear, no clipping.
A3 · Room sound & effectsFills gaps and makes cuts feel continuous.
A4 · MusicLicensed, and ducked under speech.
Mix busWatch the meter; leave headroom below 0 dBFS.

CLIP 06 · Keeping each kind of sound on its own track makes level changes quick and predictable.

Colour: correct first, grade second

Colour correction is about consistency and accuracy. Fix exposure so faces are visible, neutralise white balance so whites look white, and match shots in the same scene so a cut between cameras does not jump in colour.

Colour grading is the creative layer on top: warmer, cooler, softer contrast, a particular mood. Grading uncorrected footage tends to amplify the mismatches instead of hiding them.

Correction makes the shots agree with each other. Grading decides what they agree on.

Use the scopes. A waveform shows brightness and a vectorscope shows colour, independent of how bright your screen is set or how the room is lit. Glance at them before trusting your eyes.

Go gently. Small adjustments usually look better than heavy ones, and skin tones are where overdone colour shows first.

Check elsewhere. Watch the result on a phone or a second screen. If it only looks right on your monitor, it probably needs another pass.

Titles, captions and export

Titles. Use one or two typefaces, keep text inside the frame’s safe margins, and leave each on screen long enough to read twice. Check spelling of every name.

Captions. Captions make speech accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers and to anyone watching without sound. Most platforms accept a separate caption file such as SRT, which viewers can switch on or off; burned-in captions are always visible but cannot be turned off. Automatic transcription is a useful start, but proofread it: names, numbers and specialist terms are where it slips.

Format. An H.264 MP4 with AAC audio is a widely accepted starting point.
Resolution and frame rate. Match your sequence; do not convert at the last step.
Platform guidance. Video sites publish recommended upload settings. Follow the current ones for where you are posting.
Test first. Export a short section, check sound sync and colour, then export the whole thing.

Keep a high-quality master export as well as the upload file. It saves re-exporting later.

Close-up of an editing timeline on a monitor: stacked violet and teal video clips above amber and green audio waveform tracks, in shallow focus. — **CLIP 08** · By the time you export, picture, sound and graphics each sit on their own tracks, so a late change touches one layer, not all of them.

Feedback, and knowing when to stop

After a few days inside an edit you can no longer see it as a newcomer does. Show it to one or two people who have not seen the footage. Watch them watch it rather than asking for a verdict afterwards: where do they lean in, where do they look away, what do they ask about?

Take the problem, not always the fix. “I got lost here” is valuable. Their suggested solution may or may not be the right one.
Set a finish line in advance. A date, or a fixed number of review rounds, keeps polishing from becoming the project.
Know the signs. If recent changes are swapping one acceptable choice for another, the edit is done.
Archive cleanly. Keep the project folder, the master export and the music licences together, on two drives.

Then publish it. Your second edit will benefit from everything this one taught you, and it can only start once this one is finished.

Edit order

Five passes, from ingest to upload

Each pass has one job. Finishing one before starting the next is what keeps an edit moving instead of circling.

IN · 00:00:00:00

Ingest and back up

Two verified copies, one tidy project folder, bins that mirror it, proxies only if playback needs them.
V01 · Assembly

Lay it all out

Watch everything, mark what works, and place the usable material in story order. Long is fine at this stage.
V02–V03 · Rough & fine

Shape the story, then the cuts

Remove what the story does not need, then refine: cut on action, add J and L cuts, and vary the pace.
MIX · Sound & colour

Even out sound and picture

Dialogue clear and consistent, licensed music under it, meters out of the red. Correct colour so shots match, then grade gently.
OUT · Master & upload

Finish, review, export

Titles and proofread captions, a viewing with fresh eyes, a test export, then the master and the upload file.

Edit-bay reference

Six habits that make every edit easier

Small things that cost almost nothing on a first project and are tedious to add once a timeline is already full.

REF 01 · MEDIA

Names you can search

Date and camera on every card folder, numbered project folders, and versioned sequence names. Future you, looking for one shot in a hurry, is the main beneficiary.

2026-10-02_CamA, 2026-10-02_Audio
Sequences: v01_assembly, v02_rough, v03_fine
Exports: Title_v03_2026-10-08

REF 02 · BACKUP

Two copies, always

Footage lives in two places until the project is archived. Check that both copies play.

REF 03 · CUTTING

Learn the trim keys

Every editor has shortcuts for play, mark in, mark out and trim. Learning a handful early saves a lot of mouse travel.

REF 04 · AUDIO

Fades on every edit

A few frames of audio fade at each cut stops clicks and pops before they reach the mix.

REF 05 · COLOUR

Trust the scopes

Screens differ and rooms change through the day. A waveform and vectorscope do not.

REF 06 · ACCESS

Captions as part of the edit

Treat captions as a deliverable, not an afterthought. They help viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing and anyone watching on mute.

Proofread automatic transcripts
Short lines, timed to speech
Keep them clear of on-screen titles

Questions

What new editors usually ask

Short answers, hedged where the honest answer is “it depends” on your software, your footage or where you publish.

Which editing program should I learn first?

Whichever one runs comfortably on the computer you already have and fits your budget. Mainstream editors share the same building blocks: a media bin, a viewer, a timeline, trimming tools, audio levels and a colour panel.

The concepts in this guide carry across all of them, so it is usually better to finish a project in one program than to keep switching in search of a perfect one.

Do I need to make proxies?

Only if playback stutters. Proxies are lightweight copies of your footage that the editor uses while you cut, switching back to the original files for export.

If your computer plays your clips smoothly at full quality, you can skip them. If it drops frames, especially with high-resolution or heavily compressed camera files, proxies are often the simplest fix.

What is the difference between colour correction and colour grading?

Correction is technical: fixing exposure, white balance and contrast so shots look natural and match each other. Grading is creative: giving the whole piece a look or mood once the shots match.

Correct first, grade second, and judge both with the editor’s scopes as well as your eyes, because screens and room lighting can mislead you.

Can I use a popular song in my video?

Usually not without permission. Commercial recordings are protected by copyright, and owning a copy of a song does not give you the right to put it in a video you publish. Platforms may mute, block or claim videos that use unlicensed music.

Safer options include music you have licensed for this use, tracks offered under a licence that clearly covers your kind of project, or music you or a collaborator wrote. Read each licence’s terms. This is general information, not legal advice.

What export settings should I use for uploading online?

A common starting point is an H.264 video in an MP4 file, at the same resolution and frame rate as your timeline, with AAC audio.

Most video platforms publish their own recommended upload settings, and those are worth following because they change over time. Export a short test section first and watch it on the kind of device your audience will use.

How loud should my finished audio be?

Aim for clear dialogue that never clips. Many online platforms normalise playback loudness to a target somewhere around −14 LUFS integrated, so mixes made close to that tend to play back without being turned down much, but targets vary by platform and change.

A loudness meter in your editor helps. Keep peaks below about −1 dBTP so the file is not distorted when it is encoded.

Should I add captions to my video?

In most cases, yes. Captions make speech accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, help people watching without sound, and help anyone following an unfamiliar accent or a noisy recording.

Automatic transcription can save time, but always proofread it, especially names and technical terms. Keep lines short and timed to the speech.

How do I know when my edit is finished?

When the changes you are making no longer help a first-time viewer understand or feel the piece. Set a deadline before you start, show the cut to one or two people who have not seen the footage, and fix the problems they actually trip over.

Then export. A finished, imperfect video teaches you more than an endless one.