Dear aspiring filmmaker, if you are a beginner and you are not familiar with video editing, this article could be right for you! Here I am going to give you some advice and tell you a few tricks for a good start. But first, let’s recap quickly all the steps.
When producing a movie, the editing is part of the last stage. So, in order to proceed with it you should have already gone through the previous stages and steps, such as the conception of your idea for the video, the creation of the storyboard, the shooting, etc. If you have already all the video and sound material that you need, we can move on to the editing, otherwise I suggest you to have a look at my previous articles!
There are many apps for videoediting nowadays that you can download for free both on smartphone and computer. One in particular has gained a great popularity lately and it is called CapCut. The reason of Capcut success may be its great range of functions and its very user friendly set up. That is why I think it could be a good starting point for us. So, let’s break down CapCut together!

1. First thing first you have to create a “New Project”. You can always rename your project in the home page.
2. The second step is to import the video and/or photo material which you are going to edit. In order to do this, take a look on the upper taskbar. It shows eight different options, but what we need now is the first one: Media. Just by clicking on the “+” icon, you will have access to the file library of your computer and you will be free to select every file that you would like to use in your video. All the selected files will show up in the same frame (at the top left). You can select the files one by one and play them in the central frame (the player). If you are sure about the files to add at the “editing table”, you just have to click on the plus that pop up when you drag the pointer over them or, even more simple, by dragging them to the lower box.
3. The lower box is our actual “editing table’. The first thing to point out is the option, offered by CapCut, to work on “multiple layers”. This means that you can display your videofiles, which from now on we will call clips, on different levels and also overlap them. The clip on top hides the ones below, as long as they are overlapped. However the default is to order the clips in succession on the same line. The lower layers of the editing box are reserved for the sound files and are not accessible to the clips.
4. The basic operations that you can carry out working on the clips are the splitting and the cutting. The splitting consists in dividing the clip in two separate clips. On the other hand, the cutting allows you to delete part of the clip. In the first place, you have to select the clip that you want to edit by clicking on it. Then, you have to drag the timeline marker to the point of the clip where you would like to use these different functions. The “split” icon corresponds to the curly brackets. Next to it, on the right, there is the “delete left” icon: this means that the part of the clip that is located at the left side of the timeline marker would be deleted. Next to this icon there is its complementary, that is to say, “delete right”. Last but not least, in case you want to delete an entire clip, after select it, you just have to click on trash bin icon next to the “delete right” icon or, even easier, by using the backspace key.

If you cut part of the clips by mistake or you use any other function accidentally, don’t panic! The undo and redo buttons are there for you. They are placed at the beginning of the same bar and they look like two opposite arrows. The undo function can also be activated by pressing Ctrl+Z on your keyboard.

5. Proceeding to the right on the same bar, we will find other icons for intriguing functions. The first one is the freeze function: it creates a 3-seconds long still image of the running frame. Next to it there is the reverse function: it makes a reverse version out of the selected clip. The following icon stands for the mirror function: it changes the framing of the selected clip by overturning the images as if they were the riflection of the original clip. The next function is rotate: it changes the framing of the selected clip by rotating the clip. So it is the perfect function if all you want to do is to change the orientation of your video from a vertical to an horizontal position and vice versa, or even if you want to put it upside down! Last but not least function is crop. The cropping is a very useful function if you want to crop the framing of your clip, that is to say, leave out a portion of the images. So, it is the same as cropping an image, but the cropping is applied to the whole clip.
6. Talking about images and framing, you have probably noticed that every time we select a clip, another box opens up at the top right of the screen. It consists in the dashboard of the advanced functions that we can use on the selected clip. On the upper bar of the box we can see different items indicating us the components of the clip on which we can work. Let’s take a look at the basic function under the main items.
   The first one is video. In the video area we can change the dimensions of the clip framing thanks to the scale bar. We can also move the image from left to right or up and down using the X and Y function. Again we find the rotation function, but here you have the chance to choose the exact grade that you would like to apply to your clip. Moreover, in the lower part of the box you can decide of the opacity of the images in the clip thanks to the opacity bar.
   The second item is audio. Here you can adjust the audio of the clip, thanks to the volume bar and also the fade-in and fade-out bars. The fade-in and fade-out are used to make the audio start and end gradually.
   The third item is speed. Here you can make your clip many times faster or slower thanks to the times bar.
   The following item animation. Here you can let loose with all the different animations that CapCut offers. There are three kinds of animations: in, out and combo. The in-animations are used to give a special effect to the first framings, in order to create a splashy entrance for your clip. The out-animations do the same, but they are applied to the ending framings of the clip. The combo-animations, instead, are the combination of in and out effects. You can decide how much you want to extend the animations thanks to the lower bar that pops up when you choose one.
7. If we take a few step backs and we take another look at the taskbar of the top left box, we can see many other options concerning the “effects” topic. Here you have the possibility to add texts, stickers, effects, transitions. If you add one of this items, it will appear in the “editing table” as another “layer”. Just like you can do with the clips, by selecting these layers you will be able to adjust them in the dashboard of the advanced functions that pops up at the top right.
8. On the main taskbar we can find also a specific item for the audio. Here you can find a library of music and sounds effects that you can use for free, but you are given also the chance to extract the audio from a video file that you can upload from your computer archive. Otherwise, if you have already an audio file ready for the use, you can import it in the Media section. Once you have imported and/or chosen the audio file that you want to use, you have just to click on the “+” icon or drag it to the editing table, as you did with the video files. The audio will appear as another “layer” and again, by selecting it, you will be able to adjust it at the top right.
   A very important function, useful to visualize better all the layers, is the zoom bar. You can find it at the right end of the editing table taskbar.
9. When your work is completed, it is time to export the video! By clicking on the “export” item, which is placed in the top right corner of the screen, the export box will pop up. Here you can rename your video and decide in wich folder you want to export it. Then you can find more specific settings, among which the format setting. The other settings are usually set up properly already.
   The last step is to click again on “export” and in less than no time…your artwork is ready for the use!
   Enjoy the show!