Decent results without spending a ton of time
Recording videos yourself is a skill you develop with practice, just like anything else worthwhile.
The first videos you create will likely take a lot of time to record and edit. (Heck, it may take a while for you to get used to hearing your own voice played back! It was tough for me.)
I have a few dozen videos on YouTube, for better or worse. One thing I still struggle with is using filler words — the uhh's, ahh's, and's, so's, and repeated words that break the silence but otherwise don't add to the presentation.
I'll describe how I do a quick clean-up of my videos of most of the filler words and awkward pauses.
1. I do some preparation while I record the video
While I'm recording a video, sometimes the words don't come out like I want. If this happens and I catch it in time, I'll simply pause for a couple of seconds and start the phrase or sentence over.
Then, when I'm editing, I'll have a nice big break to cut out the footage with the substandard talking.
2. Listen, back up, cut, listen, back up, cut, …
The entirety of my clean-up skill set right now is simply cutting out verbal fumbling and splicing the video back together without any additional transition.
For the most part, this works well.
I start at the beginning and listen. When a verbal tic comes up, I pause the video and go back a bit. The audio track has shape to it, so I can visually match the fumbling to where it happens in the track.
I usually end up zooming in quite a bit so that I can be precise about where I'll cut.
I'll then cut out the offending part of the video, back it up a bit, and listen to verify that it works. If it does, I just continue in the video until I'm done.
3. And that's it.
For a medium-length video (10 minutes or so) it usually takes no more than 45 minutes to edit the video if I focus. Shorter ones, I'm done in 15 minutes or so.
After editing, I add a few overlays for subscribing and call-outs, and then it's pretty much ready to upload.
Ways to make this more efficient going forward
The advantages of hand-editing videos like this are (1) there's no additional services to pay for, and (2) you're in control of the result.
Still, I know I can do better. Some ways:
- Rehearse more before recording. If I don't put the mistakes in the video first, I don't have to take them out later.
- Invest in software that edits automatically. With AI on the scene, software could just zap the filler words out with some flair, I'm sure,
- Just not worry about it? I ran across this Jamie Northrup article that suggests just posting quick videos straight from recording. This could be an option but I'll need to improve my speaking skills and script things a bit more.
A little cleanup can go a long way
If you don't have the means to spend a lot of time or money on production for your videos, a small amount of editing can make your videos more engaging.
Every additional like, comment, and minute that your more polished videos get helps the channel get monetized and makes it more profitable.
Thanks for reading!
Hi, I'm John and I encourage people to start side hustles to improve their financial peace of mind.
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Photo by Thomas William on Unsplash