Editing - Getting Started Part 1

Hey everyone! I decided to give some advice and tips on how to get started as a non/Disney crossover editor. This goes for all kinds of editing too. Not professional editing like the big movie studios lol, but the technique is similar if that's something you're interested in.

Anyway, let's get started.

What Do You Want To Edit With?

This refers to what medium/footage you want to edit with such as liveaction films, animation, anime, etc. This isn't limited to just these options, a lot of editors like to mix-match the media (liveaction/animation). The best part about this is there is no limit or rules, but that depends on certain aspects we will discuss later.

Choose Your Editing Programs

This may be the overwhelming part, but it gets easier with time. I suggest watching tutorials on different editing programs before you download any of them and try working with them. Watch tutorials on how to import footage, how to work with the timeline and the tools, see what the effects do and how they look. Watch some advanced tutorials to see what is possible to make. This will allow you to see what the program is capable of and if that aligns with your interests. You also have to be aware of what your computer accepts. For instance, Sony Vegas does not work with MAC computers. They are only available for Windows. Whereas iMovie and Final Cut Pro only works with MAC computers. Adobe programs work with both computer types. Other programs may work on either computer, but I am not familiar with them so I cannot say for certain how much better or easier they are. You can always look up different editing software online or in stores. Most programs are downloaded now and days so looking for examples online might be best if you cannot afford programs like SV or Adobe,

Getting Your Footage

Once you decide on what type of footage you want to edit with and you get your editing program(s), you can start finding the footage to either download or rip from DVDs/Blu-rays. I do not know if all software for ripping DVDs/Blu-rays work for MAC but I know it works for Windows.

While on a MAC computer I rely on torrent downloads to get my movies/episodes and sometimes there are online folders containing the movie and/or episodes you need that are easy to download without needing to convert (most of the time). I use Utorrent to download torrents I find in certain websites like Nyaa.land for anime or master-posts for movies such as this. Another torrent website for movies you can use is The Pirate Bay. Most downloads needs a torrent downloader so get one before collecting torrents. Other apps such as Wondershare Uniconverter can download videos for you but it may depend on the website. Wondershre works great with downloading files from YouTube. For example, if you need just an audio file from a video you found, Wondershare has the option to do that for you.

Most movies and episodes are .mkv, so you will need to convert them so that your editing program can use them. I use Handbrake for that. Wondershare and Adobe media encoder can be used for converting too.

To rip dvds and blu-rays, I use MakeMKV. You will need an external dvd/blu-ray drive that can connect to your computer so that it can read the disk. Sometimes you will need an app that will allow you to watch the disk, but this is mostly for blu-rays. Most DVDs won't cause an issue, at least not from what I have seen. MakeMKV is great for gathering all of the video files from the disk so you will have to try and make sure you get the file you need/want by looking at the options it finds for you. You can choose to just select the main movie source, which is usually the biggest file you see, or just choose all of them to be safe. It does take some time to rip everything but it is worth it. I rely on my windows computer to get this task done.

Time To Play!

So after you download/rip/convert your footage, you can try importing them into your program. Once that's done, you can play around with the program and learn some things on your own. Try to copy what you learned from a tutorial, or make your own settings for an effect you saw. Just have fun and learn to work your program. Once you feel comfortable, then you can start getting ideas on what your first video will be!