First off, I have our latest YouTube greenhouse update. You can check that out here. This is the roof framing process.

I’m sure in my life there have been many things with a large learning curve, but in the last few months, there has been a learning opportunities that has had a large learning curve, at least for me.

The video editing process. I started out with Adobe Rush. It was a great beginner editing program, but very limited. It did however, give me confidence that maybe I could edit my own videos. But there was a monthly fee that I didn’t want to have to pay because I wasn’t editing enough videos to justify the cost.

My daughter and several others told me about DaVinci Resolve. It’s free and has way more features. I have now been editing on this program for several months. At first I really didn’t like it, I don’t think it’s very user friendly, the home screen is intimidating. But, as I have learned how to use more of the features, I have learned the value of the program.

When I began with DaVinci, it took me days to edit just a 20 minute video, with only 30 minutes of raw video footage. The last couple of videos I was able to edit in around 8 hours, from almost 3 hours of footage each, down to 6 minutes of time-lapse. And when I’m the main videographer, I can edit the footage even faster.

Editing these videos has given me a new appreciation for the people who create a lot of content, especially high quality content. The behind the scenes work is much more time consuming than I ever realized.

Recently my oldest daughter was filming for me. She is a photographer but did quite a bit of video filming and editing on her mission. This was the first time she had helped us, and she had a couple of suggestions on how to streamline the filming process, which would also streamline the editing process.

The first one I will implement with our next video will be a shot list. This is a list of shots that conveys the message you want to convey. Currently, especially when I’m not home, the camera gets set up, turned on, and then just runs. This creates a ton of footage, and most of it is unnecessary. A shot list means less filming, and more usable content.

She also recommended a signal for the point at which you want to start the shot. She likes to clap. This gives a spike in the audio and then you don’t have to sift through all the camera setup, getting everything situated, the camera focused where you want it, and what not. Things that take time, but don’t need to be in the video.

I am getting quicker. Hopefully that means more videos. I am more comfortable with the editing, with the program, and with the process as a whole. I don’t usually give up, but I’m glad I didn’t set aside the video editing for a later date.