Transcripts
1. Introduction: No matter what you do at some point, you have always wanted to make videos of the topics that you are most passionate about and share them with others. Well, I'm going to help you. I will take you organically in my PHP framework, a standardized set of criteria defined by my experience to achieve an elegant result in a short time. This framework is divided into three stages, planning, assembling, and polishing. Each stage introduces strategies, best practices, quizzes, and hands-on projects. This is not just another divinity class. It is a class specially designed for people totally beginning in editing oriented to YouTube. I will teach you from audio visual terminology, video editing effects, audio, color correction, all this using the free but no less powerful version of DaVinci Resolve. Learn by doing with the hands-on projects at the end of each stage. You're not alone on this journey. Get feedback along the way and ask questions. Software workflows and technical aspects can be demanding factors when it comes to embarking on your first editing experience. So I will focus on making the process as clear and simple as possible. I hope you stay motivated until the end. I can't wait to see your creations. Let's get started.
2. My Effective Framework P-A-P: If we want our message to stand out, the most important thing is that we enjoy the process and follow and effective plan. Fortunately, in this class I will introduce you to my editing framework, something very simple, but that will allow us to follow a form, so as not to overwhelm us, I call this framework PAP. P stands for Planning. They say that a large percentage of projects success is the result of proper planning. The first thing is to answer the following questions, What kind of story you want to tell ? or Topic What is the content of my story? or Script, Screenplay, Timeline. How do you want your story to look? or Style What visual references will serve as influences to refine my perspective and my critical eye? or References. Select the media, A-roll, B-roll Ingest and Organized media. Backup the Media A stands for Assembling. Organizing ideas will help us to tell a story with structure. Structure, gives meaning to the message you want to share and the public will understand it easier. First, we need to create a timeline looking for our clips to be placed in the most coherent array. This process is known as rough cut. Secondly, we adjust the duration of the clips always looking to narrate with a good pace. The idea that we think of in the planning phase, this is called Refining a Timeline. Let's remember that constant practice will sharper skills to know if the pace is good or not. P stands for Polishing. Polishing is the process of creating a smooth and shiny addition. At this stage, our creativity flourishes more than ever. We should look for an appealing look for our video using resources such as transitions, effects, audio mixing, color correction, among others. I will explain each stage as the class progresses, from the most general to the most specific with a template designed for tracking purposes. At the end of each stage, I will show you how I carry out the hands-on class project with all the previous knowledge acquired, I would love that you did it at the same time for your class project, this will offer dynamic learning.
3. How P-A-P will help you?: Consider James a college freshman who wants to share his first video on YouTube about a day in his life at the Biomedical Sciences faculty. For this example, James already has the footage and meets the audio and video quality standards, clean audio and high resolution video. James needs to start editing to make sense of his video. At first glance, the editing seems like a very simple process. In essence, it's nothing more than putting images together one after the other. And the only thing he needs is to have some proficiency with the editing software, whatever it is. James is looking for a basic editing course on the Internet. Most courses consist simply of a walk-through through the editing tool explaining the basic know-how. Additionally, they offer a method that follows a very vague roadmap. Ingest, Edition and Export. This methodology is mainly focused on what makes editing attractive. It highlights the process of set the mood, also known as Tonal Montage. These techniques argue that different colors suggest emotions to influence your audience's reception with the accurate tonality. Aside from Color Correction, another high emphasis element is the use and creation of various transitions, titles, and effects to enhance the editing. James is eager to try the number of options that tool offers him. He ingests all the material and then begins to design a great 3D title for each daily activity. Then he decides to apply Color Grading on each of his videos. In the end, James realizes that some clips already worked on in Color Grading and Visual Effects add neither narrative nor emotional value to his story. He has spent an entire weekend and he doesn't even have a clear idea of what message you wants to show. Certainly giving importance exclusively to the aesthetic part as a factor of success in modern editions is not entirely accurate. One of the most common failings of beginner editors is the lack of understanding of the methodology. This is why the adoption of a framework in this case, like P-A-P makes sense. We should recognize that all art has a way in which it is made to be considered such. Design thinking explains that organized processes keep people on track and avoid spending too much time examining one task or skipping idly to another. The structure generates confidence and maximizes creativity as it happens in music It's time to have less on your mind How P-A-P will help you? Pap keeps you informed and aware of the process. Identifying the job to be done. P-A-P stimulates new ideas and magnifies your creativity because you don't spend energy thinking about the structures. You focus on what and not on how. The right thing at the right time, gives you more flexibility and editing to your taste. To reduce waste effort quickly cover logistics procedures, releasing mental and operational load so you can focus on your best work. Computer memory and processing power are finite resources, so making good use of them is relevant. It's important to set up conventions for naming clips, create categories by folders, define identifiers that our mind can assimilate intuitively. In the Planning stage, take time to look at the clips, which has helped you organize them and anticipate what media you need to get a clear message. It allows you to be the first viewer and anticipate problems before they arrive. This stage allows identifying the media minimum viable elements. The video must be in high resolution, not pixelated audio. It must be clear in the case of a voice-over with good pronunciation and adequate vocalization You should choose a nice and easy to read font, always taking care of the grammar and spelling of each word.
4. Types of Videos : What kind of videos can you use with P-A-P? P-A-P, due to its nature as a framework and the audiovisual industry, it can be adopted in several types of content that tells a story. Among the most common are: Vlogs Ideal for real-time experiences, showing your life, opinion and thoughts, high level of personification. How to videos, ideal for those who like to teach, from cooking recipes to programming languages perfect for informing and providing facts. Product reviews, ideal for cross marketing strategy. A systemic and sincere look at a product from the packaging to the experience of use. Best of videos, ideal for those who like to recommend things. Advise your audience with ordered lists of products, services, and experiences. Haul video, ideal for makeup or clothing, review. Similar to the Product Review but with a specific beauty, fashion, and lifestyle industry. Nowadays, people watch videos to be enlightened and to be entertained, identifying your niche, and keep in mind, P-A-P is the backbone for effective video editing. However, great ideas don't automatically translate into great videos. Trust in the beauty of the structure, the way you present your subject, and how your audience responds. The right content. Editing acumen can give you an edge over others in the video content space.
5. Download DaVinci Resolve: Step 0 is to download the software. We need to open our browser and type in our search engine, download DaVinci Resolve, or visit this link. The DaVinci Resolve landing page appears with all the information. As we realize it is a complete solution for editing, audio, color correction and visual effects. On the overview page, click the Download Now button. In order to have full compatibility with a third party plugins that we use in some examples. We are going to download version 16. However, feel confident that what you learned in this class will work in Version 17 as well. The DaVinci Resolve Studio 16 version is the paid option that includes more professional functionalities. We choose DaVinci Resolve 16, click on the Mac, Windows or Linux button, depending on our operating system. We fill out the data and then click on Register and Download. Once the installer is downloaded, unzip the zip file and click on the executable file. In this new window, the DaVinci Resolve installer automatically selects what we have to download to start. Click on the Install and follow the installation instructions. Once this message appears, we are ready to start working.
6. General Interface: Once DaVinci Resolve is open, the first thing we will see is the Project Manager, the interface for managing all our projects in a centralized way. At the bottom of the project manager, click on the new project button and then we write a name for the project, Let's say TEST. First and foremost, let's review the general interface of the software DaVinci Resolve is organized into several main pages or tabs based on functionality, Media, Cut, Edit, Fusion, Color, Fairlight, and Deliver. It's basically the entire post-production workflow. Click on the Media tab button to switch to the Media tab. When we analyze media, we should think about all audio, video, or image files. So the Media tab is the interface for Media Import, clip organization and metadata addition in DaVinci Resolve, click on the cut tab button, here we can do a very basic addition that for the purposes of this class we are going to skip. Go directly to the edit tab. Click on the Edit tab button. The Edit tab contains all of the editing tools to bring together our program, meaning add effects, transitions, titles, etc The Fusion tab is a complete 2D/3D option for visual effects and motion graphics. Let's move on. The Color Correction tab contains maybe the most complete color correction tools for the industry. This point was why DaVinci Resolve became famous. Click on the Fairlight tab button. The Fairlight tab is the complete digital audio solution designed mainly for professional audio work on the Deliver tab here we can export our beautiful artwork for different platforms or other editing software.
7. Project Settings: It is very important and considered a good practice to set up various aspects of the project before we start editing. Go to Files. Projects settings. The Project Settings window contains all project parameters that are saved along with a particular project. For now we are going to stop at Master Settings to review the fundamentals of video editing. If you are not familiar with the following terms, do not worry, we will cover them in detail later. Let's start with the resolution. We have 720p or 1080p, among many others. We also have the frames per seconds, and above them are the recording parameters of the clips which are obtained before starting to edit. Initially, we will focus on the Resolution, the Aspect Ratio, and the Frames Per Second (FPS). Resolution means the width and height of the displayed image, measured in pixels, at YouTube, we can identify the resolution and other elements associated with the image quality in the Quality Menu. The most popular resolutions are 720p or HD 1280 pixels wide by 720 pixels high. 1080p, or full HD 1920 pixels wide by 1080 pixels high. 2160p, or UHD is also known as 4K, which is 3840 pixels wide and 2160 pixels high. The ratio between the width and height of an image is known as the Aspect Ratio. The first number always refers to the Width and the second number refers to the Height. If we divide the width in pixels over the high in pixels, we would obtain a number. And that number is the Aspect Ratio, which in practical terms we know as 16/9. Now what would happen if our recording format change to the vertical format for cell phones? Simply in the same way, our resolution and aspect ratio would change. Now the width is 1080 pixels and the height is 1920 pixels, with an Aspect Ratio of 9/16. FPS or frames per second is the number of consecutive images or frames that are displayed each second. In the industry, they handled different frame rates. However, the higher we go from the FPS number, the smoother our viewing quality will be. Remember that within the industry there are already some standard values. The most common are 25 FPS, 30 FPS or 60 FPS. We're almost ready to start. Always remember these values of resolution, FPS, and Aspect Ratio at the time of recording to be able to configure them in our editing project.
8. Exploring the Media Tab: Media import and clip organization in DaVinci Resolve. The media tab is divided into five areas. The media storage shows the connected drives or volumes and the files inside them. The viewer is for previewing our clips. The media pool contains all of the media with which we are going to work and our current project, it can also be organized in bins. Media pool is also mirrored in the Edit tab. We can drag and drop media files from the drives in the media storage into the media pool, the metadata, what is metadata? Is data about data, in this case, data associated with media files such as clip duration, resolution, FPS. This area is for viewing or adding metadata. And here we can check audio levels.
9. Importing Media: To import the media, we can do it in two ways. The first is by searching the material on our computer through Explorer on Windows or the Finder on Mac, and dragging it directly to the media storage. DaVinci automatically recognizes the source path. The other option, click on DaVinci Resolve preferences. Media storage. Here we are going to define which is our root or base where the material is located. A great recommendation is that this location is on a Solid State Drive to improve editing performance significantly. Once we visualize the media and identify the most suitable clips for our addition, we proceed to import them into the media pool. We can drag and drop media files from the drives in the media storage into the media pool. The more organized the material is before editing, the better. It will save us hours later. Click on metadata. As we already know, we can know all the information associated with the clip in this section. So let's talk about Smart Bins. First of all, what is a bin? A bin is something like a cabinet with compartments to organize each file or media file that we will use in the edition. We select a clip that we want to sort. In the drop-down menu. Click on all groups, in the keywords part, we can write information that allows us to identify what the clip contains. We write BEACH. We can also assign a color to the clip. Let's observe that in the part of the Smart Bin, we have all the labels that we have previously defined. Right-click. Add Smart Bin to create folders with our files from any metadata value. For example, we select keywords that contain the word MOUNTAIN. And thus we have created our first Smart Bin. To create a simple Bin in master, right-click New Folder. And we simply drag the clips we want. That's it.
10. Exploring the Edit Tab: Click on cut to switch to the cut tab. This tab is basically for quick editing with very simple tools widely used in sectors such as journalism or news. In this class, we are not going to go deeper on this section since our goal is to take advantage of the professional tools that DaVinci has at our disposal. For this, we click on the Edit tab. This part is where we are going to spend the most of our time because this is where the magic happens. This page is divided mainly into five sections. The media pool contains all of our clips, folders, and files we imported using the media tab. In the source viewer, we can operate with a clip before inserting it into the timeline. We can mark in and out points, apply filters... Record, it shows us our assembly. The result of what we're doing. Timeline is where we organize our montage, removing one content, putting it in another, all over a time that we determine. Its unit is a frame and its measurement system is called timecode. The timeline contains audio and video tracks. DaVinci Resolve is characterized by using dynamic buttons meaning, every time we click on, opens or hides the application. We can modify the size of our workspace as we want. In case we make a mess with the windows. Click on Workspace, RESET UI layout. To create a timeline, we simply drag each clip to the timeline section.
11. Optimized Media: Depending on the technical specs of our computer and the media file types we are using, some clips may not playback smoothly. Not all of us can afford to pay for the computer with the most sophisticated graphic features. However, DaVinci Resolve has thought of everything and offers us a solution. For example, let's see what happens to this clip in UHD or 2160p. when we hit play We can observe some jumps affecting the editing experience. How can we improve that performance? Click on File, Project Settings. And in the master setting option. We go to optimized media. We choose automatically. Here we choose a format to optimize. With DNXHR LB. It would be fine for our future purposes. And to finish, we indicate in which location of our system the optimized render will be made. Call them the OPTIMIZED MEDIA folder, for instance. Now right-click on the clip and then generate optimized media. This process takes a few minutes. Perfect. If we play the clip again and we see that our clip works satisfactory. If we want to know what was generated in the path we defined. We can see a series of DaVinci's own files that represent the render of our clip. Having said all that, it is important to clarify that this process does not affect the original nature of the material. It is only a conversion to a lighter format at the time of editing.
12. Project Backups: We're almost ready to start editing just one more thing, save our project. Many people neglect this step, but it is vitally important if we do not want headaches later. In DaVinci Resolve preferences. Project save and load. In the user's tab. Let's check the project backups option. We define how often we want the action to take place and the location. To see the history of saved projects, we choose File Project Manager. Right-click on the desired project, projects backups. And here we see the saving date. To be even more sure we confirm in the path of our system that the copies are being made. Why is this important? Because if something technical fails, we can go back in time and recover the addition and thus not lose our work. There is also the possibility of exporting our project as an alternative backup. Right-click on the desired project. To export project. And choose the location. If we would like to import them, click on File, Import Project, and choose the path. And there it is.
13. Planning - Hands-On Project : Although planning comes from the production stage in this class, we are only going to talk about the processes involved in the post-production stage. For our project. We are going to choose the topic of "A day in my Life" For this, we should decompose the activities which we carry out on a particular day of our lives, preferably in order of occurrence. We can choose a weekday, the weekend, no matter what it is, the valuable thing is that it is something that makes us feel special in telling others whether it is exalting productivity, sports, or our culinary skills, for example. This would be my daily routine for the video. Regarding the style I would like something with calm music and no commentary. We can look for some references on YouTube for inspiration. First thing first, we should back up all of our recorded media to another disk. Now we should configure our project into DaVinci Resolve, File - Project Settings. In the master settings for this project, the resolution will be full HD with 30 FPS. Since most of the clips for this project are in 30 FPS. We will also set the optimized media format to DNXHR LB, and its location on a solid state drive. In the Media tab, we drag the clips to the media storage. We create a new bin with the name AUDIO. We filter the clips by MP3 and drag them to the audio folder. Next we create two new folders, essential to our organization. A-roll and B-roll. A-roll are all the main clips that tell the story. For example, in a cooking tutorial, all the shots were the chef speaks with the food. While B-roll is the auxiliary or a visual support for A-roll, it is used to make the video more enjoyable and moving. In the chefs example, it would be all the support shots of the food, the kitchen, and the landscape. Having said that, we look for the equivalent clips on our media storage and organize them by folders. The next step is to visualize our material, to assign it the key words that we defined in the script. We searched for all clips associated with the first activity in my waking up routine. Click on the clip with the alarm clock. In Metadata, all groups keyword. We write waking up. We do the same with another clip of the same topic. Then right-click on Smart Bins. Add Smart Bin name, waking up. In the drop-down menu, we choose keywords that contain the word WAKING UP. Create Smart Bin. A new bin is automatically created with the clips containing this key word. Instead of using keywords to organize, we can also do it by color. We can perform the same operation with all the activities of the day that we previously wrote in the script. The next step is optional. If our computer has processing limitations or we have 4k media, it is best to optimize it. Select all clips, right-click Generate Optimized Media. After each stage or during the process, we can check the tasks that we are completing in the template.
14. Timeline Options: On the Edit tab, we can also import footage. Just drag the clip from our browser. It can be any valid file, audio, video, or images. Click on the Timeline View option to define the setup that makes us feel more comfortable to edit, either activating the video frames or the waveform, which can be quite useful.
15. Introduction to Editing: Let's identify the clips from their icons as shown on the screen. Audio Bins, Sequences, Clips. Click on the three dots and then click on show full clip audio waveform. Now let's have the audio form in the source window. This will allow us to make subclips much faster in the case of an interview, for example. We create a segment of the clip with the world famous MARK IN and MARK OUT or with the I and O keys. Note that the selected area is highlighted above the rest. ALT+I. And ALT+O to clear the marks, or ALT+ X to clear all inputs selections. To select only the video, click on the video icon. And for the audio click on the audio icon. We can create sub clips dragging a segment from the source to the media pool. To make the windows as large as possible, we can use the full screen mode, press Command or Ctrl+F, and to exit, press Escape or this icon. Finally, we can hide the source window with this button. In the editing world, J-K-L keyboard shortcuts are known as the keys for controlling video playback speed, as shown in the picture. In the editing software, click on playback and we get the whole list with its respective shortcuts. Let's start with the basics. Spacebar play or stop. And J play backwards. JJ play backwards at double speed. Click on A1 to drag only the audio. And V1 for video only. Let's understand the timeline as a Tetris, where the clips are blocks that can be moved to our disposition. To lock a track and leave it fixed. Click on the padlock icon. To delete the clip. Right-click, Delete Selected, or press the Backspace key.
16. Introduction to Editing 2: Without further ado, let's get started. Let's create a new bin. Right-click Add Bin, name the bin and press enter. We add material to the bin. Then we create a new Timeline, defining the timecode and name. From the Media Tab. We can also know the metadata of the clips by sliding to the right. These are the three most perform actions in the edition, Insert Clip, Overwrite Clip, and Replace the Clip. Drag from the center of the source viewer into the record or viewer window, but don't yet release the mouse button. A menu called Edit Overlay appears with the most common editing features. Let's see them one by one with examples. Insert function adds the clip to the timeline at the location of the playhead. The insert function edit splits whatever media is already in the timeline. In this part we can control the timeline zoom Overwrite function covers up a clip in the timeline using a new clip. In other words, eliminates whatever media was in the timeline previously. Let's make space to understand the following. Replace function, substitutes a specific clip in the timeline with the new clip from the source window. Fit to fill function, changes the speed of a clip to fit in the indicated space. This function can increase as it realizes the duration of the clip depending on the space to be filled. Place on Top, overlaps clips onto the first empty track, above for video and below for audio. Append at End function adds the clip from the source window after the last clip in the timeline. Ripple Overwrite, replaces a clip of one length with a clip of another, and DaVinci Resolve automatically ripples the timeline to accommodate the difference. It seems like a lot of information. Don't worry. We can remember the shortcuts whenever we want in this section.
17. Trimming: Before going into the trimming operation into DaVinci Resolve, let's first understand the concept behind trimming. Trim is an operation to add or trim frames of a clip. Just that. How does it work? Well, the theory is simple. If we have a clip 1 with a duration T, with a defined head and tail. This duration can be adjusted whenever and when it is within the operating range less than T. The operation can be done from the beginning of the clip or the end of it. In DaVinci Resolve this operation is performed with the Trim Edit Mode option. Shortcut T in this location. When we are at the end of the clip. We know it by the red line. DaVinci does not allow us to continue. There is nowhere. However, we can adjust to be a shorter duration to the left. The trim operation can also be done between the clips by selecting or not selecting the audio. in this case.
18. Blade Edit Mode & Scene Detection: If we have a very long clip, we can cut it into several pieces for better handling and editing. DaVinci provides a tool called Blade that helps us a lot. Blade is used to cut and separate clips. Click on Blade Edit Mode. With the Blade Edit Mode tool selected anywhere we click in the timeline will divide that clip. DaVinci has an automated option to make cuts based on the scenes in the clip. In the Media tab, we select the clip we need to split apart in the media storage. It only works from the media storage, not from the Media Pool. Then right-click on the file and choose Scene Cut Detection. The Scene Detect window opens up. In this case we have three different scenes. Let's look at how DaVinci's artificial intelligence works. Click on Auto Scene Detect. The application will take a while to complete the process. Once finished, click on Add Cuts to Media Pool. As we can see, DaVinci generated three independent clips. Each one with a different scene. Very accurate.
19. Markers: Markers and annotations are elements that we can insert in clips or in the timeline to remember something, they are fully customizable. From the drop-down menu choose Annotations. In this example, we will make an annotation, the moment the pen touches the paper. A blue marker is added in the selected clip at the current playhead position. Double-click the blue marker to open the marker dialogue to customize with additional metadata. We add the clip to the timeline and see that the marker remains. We duplicate the clip two more times and put markers at the beginning of each segment. To see a list of all the markers in the timeline, we go to Edit Index and see each of the markers organized by timecode. This can be very useful for identifying key moments and very long sequences.
20. Assembling - Hands-On Project : A great tip that could save us a lot of time in the edition, is the customization of the shortcuts. A vast majority of keys can be customized to the location that best suits us. It is a good practice to execute the commands with the left hand so that the right-hand never leaves the mouse. Of course, if you are right-handed, let's go to DaVinci Resolve - Keyboard Customization. Here we can see the keys that have assigned commands and those that don't. In the command section, all commands here, we look for any DaVinci Resolve instructions that we want to assign to a key. Let's see my favorites. Feel free to choose the ones you want. We are going to choose Insert Selected Clips to Timeline to the F2 key. And Insert Selected Clips with Handles to F3. One of the most common Split Clip to F4. In the plus sign, we can add more than one key for the same command. Another well-known command is Freeze Frame on the F5 key. Now let's validate the correction operation of the shortcuts that we just created. We select the clips from the Waking Up Bin, followed by the F2 key. It immediately creates a new sequence or a timeline with the media. But this time our clips have neither head nor tail. Remember the handles are very important when we want to use transitions and other effects. If we do the same operation. But this time with the F3 key, our media will have handles. We also mentioned the Blade Edit Mode that allowed us to make precise segment cuts. But with the mouse. However, with the F4 key as we assigned it, these cuts are made much easier. To use Freeze Frame. We select the clip in the timeline and place the playhead in the frame. We want to freeze and press the F5 key. We began the assembling stage of the sequence or Rough Cut. What we have to do is load all the material stored in our smart bins in order on the timeline. Remember that there are many ways to add the media in the timeline in this particular situation when the clips or are already organized chronologically, we can do it Bin by Bin selecting all the clips and then F3 key to insert the clips with handles very quickly to generate the rough cut. For greater customization. In the Rough Cut, we can segment the content by Colors. Right-click on the clip. Clip color. We can also use markers as elements that provide us with all kinds of quality information for our addition. Where to put the titles, transitions, music, which shots are missing, which should be changed, etc. It is convenient to be comfortable with our workspace, the layout of the menus, and the style of the timeline. When we already have a first structure with the majority of the material to be edited, we can proceed to the refinement stage where we seek to give paste to the addition. A key tool at this time is the use of the Blade and Trim Mode accompanied by the selection of the music. Audio clips can be inserted in the same way as video clips. Later we'll, we'll see my favorite technique. This is what our sequence should look like with the basic settings in the audio and video. We could say that the message we want to convey has already been given. We just need to make it up with music titles and transitions. For good order we are going to copy this sequence. We will call one version Rough Cut and the other Refine Cut. On the ladder, we will make the modifications of the polishing stage.
21. Basic Titles: We have to understand titles as an effect. On the media tab. Click on the Effects Library. Titles. There are two types of titles here. The Simple Titles and the Fusion Titles. To add titles, simply drag and drop the title into the timeline, and it is done on a video track. To hide them. Click on this icon. their duration can be extended as much as we want. Titles can be edited into the timeline like any other clip. Click on the inspector to make a customization of text parameters, size, style, position, among others. Producing a good title is a creative endeavor. Here is an example of the most basic things we can modify. Don't worry. We will see more examples of how this shows up throughout the class.
22. Render Settings: When we add effects in the Edit line, in some cases, the use of render is needed for smooth playback. A green status indicator shows us that we have enough GPU for processing. However, red indicates that playback is slower than real time. This part shows that our computer is having problems playing the footage, meaning our machine is struggling. The recommendation is to enable the render cache. Right-click on the clip, Render Cache Fusion Output, on. And then click on Playback. Render Cache, User. Wait until the red bar above in the timeline turns blue, communicating it is optimized for playback. Now the state is green and improving the work experience.
23. Fusion Titles: Fusion titles is a collection of pre-built title templates assembled and fusion. As with simple titles, fusion titles allow a high degree of customization, including animation in some cases. Remember that this type of title requires more graphic processing. So it is important to configure the rendering options properly. In the Fusion Tab, we can find the model of nodes that make up the applied titles. Do not panic. It is only a reference so that we know it and know that it exists and where it is. Let's look at this short sample of various Fusion Titles and action.
24. Subtitles: To add subtitles to the timeline, we should create a new subtitle track. Right-click, Add Subtitle Track. Then click on Effect Library. Scroll down to Subtitle, and then drag and drop on the timeline. Subtitles can be customizable. In the inspector. We have the font, color, size, position, time in, time out. If we wanted to do it manually. As a preamble of the exportation process, click on the Delivery Tab and we are going to export the subtitles. In Custom tab, under Subtitle Settings. Check, export subtitle, and choose as a separate file. It will make it very useful to upload it to YouTube separately. Choose the option SRT. It is a highly compatible format. And check Subtitle 1. We have to export the video too, so that DaVinci lets US export the subtitles. We put a name and Add to Render Queue. Click on Start Render. The result is a video file, we'll deal with this soon. And a subtitle file with an SRT extension. This file contains the exact time code where we want the captions to appear in our video. Let's look at the final result.
25. Transitions: Let's talk about transitions. What is a transition? Well, it is a step between two video clips. There are hundreds of them of all kinds. Within this group, we could include crossfade, which can be from black to black or between images. We are going to select these two clips. Click on Timeline, Add transition. The result is the most generic transitions of all. At each point of the selection. And the beginning, between one clip and the other. And at the endpoint. As with effects, in the inspector. Transitions can be configured in various aesthetic aspects. Another way to apply transitions is in Effects Library. Video transitions. Here is a great collection that DaVinci pre-built for us. Feel free to explore all of them and see which one best suits our project. Remember that editing is a creative process. Let's choose, for example, Cross Dissolve. We can drag any video transition to any edit point in the timeline. In the inspector. We can also change the type of transition to use. Let's try some, Blur Dissolve, is a significant change. Dip to Color Dissolve. Here we can choose the color.
26. Importing Transitions: If we want to stylize our edition, or we consider that we need something more professional. We can download fancy transitions from the internet and import them into DaVinci Resolve. Several free and paid websites offer packages of modern and sophisticated templates. I will leave you a link in the project description where you can find different templates. To import a template. First, we should know the path where DaVinci Resolve stores the transitions. Let's go to Fusion tab. Edit templates. Transitions. Click on the three dots, and then click on the Show Folder. Here we should copy our transitions downloaded from the internet. But first we should close DaVinci Resolve. Now let's copy all the transitions. Open DaVinci again. And in the Edit tab. Click on the Effects Library, Video Transitions. And at the bottom in Fusion Transitions, we can see the new transitions added. Choose the transition and then drag and drop it between the clips. This type of fusion transition consumes a high percentage of the graphic processing of our computer. We can also edit certain parameters in the inspector. Let's check the result.
27. Creative Editing Techniques: Generally, montage is defined as the sequential placement of different shots or scenes. The union between the shots can be by a cut or by transitions. Next, we will see some techniques used for the sake of the narrative clarity and moving emphasis. Standard Cut It is the most basic It consists of mixing the last frame of one scene and the beginning frame of the next jump cut. It is about making small cuts in time to give dynamism to the scene. Wipe, it is a transition that progressively reveals the video of the next scene until it is completed. Fade in, progressively reduce the brightness of the outgoing scene and then increase the brightness of the incoming seen or Fade In a solid color like black or white. Ideal for context changes or closing stories. J and L Cuts. Use the audio from one scene over the video of another. L cut video proceeds the audio. J cuts audio precedes the video. The sound acts as a conductive element towards the next scene. Cutting on action. Cut at the point of action. Use the action elements as an explosion, a kick to move on to the next scene. Parallel Editing, They are scenes that occur at the same time but in different locations. Ideal to appreciate different stories simultaneously.
28. Effects Part 1: In the next video, we are going to use some effects and how they would be used within a sequence. Click on Effects Library, Open FX. And again, there is a collection of effects that DaVinci settled for us. Don't hesitate to try them in our sequences. Most of them are used by various YouTube channels nowadays. Let's make a split-screen effect. Very versatile in modern editions. Let's choose grid and drag it directly to the clip. In the inspector. Open FX tab. Diminish the number of cells. When we mount an effect on a clip, this FX icon appears. Now in the Video tab. We make the following size and position adjustments on the video clip. They can also be done manually in the transform option on the left side. If we want to cut the clip visually, we select the Crop option. To copy the effect applied in one clip to another. Right-click on the clip without effect. Paste attributes. We confirm the origin and source from one to two and select plug-ins and apply. We do the same with the following clips. We adjust clip number two to the right, and at the end, we put a track above Video 1. So we generate a very basic split-screen effect. To remove an effect. Right-click here, Remove Attributes. Selecting the desired attributes. Let's try some effects to see their aesthetics. Box Blur. Invert Color. Light Rays. Abstraction. Mirrors. Imagine how we can adapt them to our addition at the right time. It is important to say that not all of the effects of the library are available in the free version. Some of the more sophisticated ones will only be in the DaVinci Resolve Studio version.
29. Effects Part 2: A very frequent effect in editing is the speed change in the footage. Right-click on the desired clip. Change Clip Speed, de-select Ripple Sequence, and adjust the speed as a percentage. And change. If we increase the speed of the clip, the duration decreases. If we carry out the same process with the same speed change at 300%. But this time we select Ripple Sequence. The result has no gaps. Double-click on the clock icon to see the type of speed change applied to the clip. To remove the effect, right-click on the clip, Remove Attributes. Select Retime Effects. Now our clip has a speed of 100%, its original speed real time. Let's try some effects who see their aesthetics. Reverse Speed. Our clip goes in the opposite direction. Freeze-frame, freezes only the frame where the playhead is.
30. Countdown Timer: Have you ever heard about the Pomodoro technique? Have you seen the videos titled study with me on YouTube? These videos are based on the Pomodoro technique, which is a time management method that can help us to increase our productivity. These videos are very simple and consists of three elements. A calm background image, low-fi music, and a countdown timer. As we may have already realized, we only need the last ingredient. In this video, we are going to do a countdown timer. Click on Effect Library, Titles, Text+. We drag it to the timeline as if it is a title and adjust the duration. This time in the Inspector, we are going to change its nature. Right-click here. Timecode. Now some makeup. We can adjust to be hours, minutes, seconds, or even frames. When we are sure it looks good. Right-click on the title, New Compound Clip and create. Now right-click on the title again. Change Clip Speed and select Reverse Speed. We are applying a speed change effect so that the count goes backwards.
31. Dynamic Zoom: Let's create a new bin with the name DYNAMIC. Let's import these three clips and drag them in the timeline. Having selected the clip, we go to the inspector and activate the Dynamic Zoom Option. Dynamic zoom adds a smooth zoom effect to the clip. Makes it fast to do a pan and scan effects to zoom into or out of a clip. There are different types of dynamism. In this part, we activate the manual controls of dynamic zoom. A green square appears on the inside. And a red square on the outside. The green box is our starting point. And the red box is our ending point. Meaning, all the video that is inside this green box is what we will see at the beginning of the clip. And everything that is inside the red box is what we will see towards the end of the clip. Just like that. What happens if we click on SWAP? Effectively, the arrangement of our boxes is changed, the red one is inside and the green one outside. The zoom is now from the outside to the inside. If we want to return to the default values, DaVinci Resolve offers us this icon to do so. These boxes allow us to adjust the size and position, which would represent a more energetic change. As we saw before, there are several types of speed, Linear or constant speed. Ease In. There is a progressive increase in speed as the clip goes on. Ease Out. It's the opposite of Ease In, there is a progressive decrease in speed as the clip goes on. Ease In Out, progressively increases the speed until the middle of the clip and then it's going to slow down. Let's see the following examples. Now, this one.
32. Color Correction: Once we have a defined edit line, click on the color button to go to the Color tab. DaVinci has pioneered in the development of colored tools in the industry. DaVinci color correction tools is a sophisticated and powerful set that takes creativity to unimaginable possibilities. This can be daunting, but it is very important to clarify that the approach of this class to color correction is a mere introduction with very practical and useful functions enough to beautify our clips. The color tab is divided into several areas. In the gallery. The saved styles will be stored so that they can be copied to other clips in the timeline. The viewer shows the frame in which the playhead is located. The note editor shows the nodes of image adjustments. The timeline corresponds to the same assembly line as the edit tab. In the palette. We find adjustments for color processing. Here we can find the tracking controls, curves, and video scopes. Let's remember the dynamic ability to hide the menus to improve the visibility in the workspace. When we talk about color grading, we surely hear the expression LUTs. LUTs stands for Lock Up Tables. The easiest way to understand it is as a filter, which gives a certain look or particular color style to our clip. With just passing the mouse pointer, we see the results on the clip. DaVinci has several free templates. Later we will see where to get more LUTs and their application. So what is a node? A node is the equivalent of layers in other composition software. It represents each color correction or effect that as applied to a clip. If we apply a cut in edition, it will be reflected in the Color tab. Aggressive color changes can be made, modifying the gain in the palette section in primaries wheels. Let's move the gain to the red. For example. A colored box appears in this part, indicating that the color of the clip was modified. To restore the original color. Right-click here. Reset Node Grade. When there is a transition, making a color correction can be difficult as there are two overlapping clips. Click on Unmix to just disguise the transition. In our edition, it will remain intact. Here comes the magic. Is there a way to do an automatic color correction? Yes, there is. Click on Auto Balance. Next we see how DaVinci Resolve applies a color correction that highlights beauty by making all the necessary adjustments on its own. And it works in most cases. Magnificent! Click on Bypass Color Grades to see before and after the color application. Original, modified. If we liked how the result was, we can save it to apply it later to all similar clips. Right-click on the Viewer, Grab Still, and a new filter appears in the gallery. Drag and drop and the other clips. Lastly, we can compare the color difference of one clip with the next in diverse directions.
33. Importing LUTs: In color grading, we are altering each video clip, seeking the same aesthetic coherence. As we have seen. It is a process that can be time-consuming and complex at a professional level. As an alternative, we can search and download LUTs on the Internet that makes this process much easier for us and makes our videos much more attractive, at least from the perspective of colorimetry. A free website that can help us is [freshluts.com](http://freshluts.com/) where we can find LUTs of all styles. Let's choose hypnosis and download it. It will have a .cube extension. To import the LUT in DaVinci, we should locate the file in the specific path. Click on File, Project Settings, Open LUT folder. And here is the path we copy the files and click on Update Lists. To verify we go to LUTs and look for the folder. And there is our LUTs.
34. Subscribe Button - Chroma Key: Creating a chart in chroma in DaVinci Resolve. In this way is really easy and we can quickly embellish and increase the engagement of our YouTube channel. Chroma key as a technique for making a uniform color in an image transparent and replacing it with a video source or other image. For the objective of this class, we have a video with an animation of the YouTube subscribe button in a green background. The first thing to do is drag this clip on a track above our content clip. Then we go to the Color tab. Right-click on the Node editor. Add Node Corrector. To add a new type of node. We connect it in the green point to the other green point. That connection represents the union of the video signal. Click on Qualifier and select 3D, and then draw a small line in any green part. Automatically, the software will distinguish what is chroma and what is not. To preserve the logo and generate transparency, we should flip that around. Click on Invert. Right-click on the Node Editor. Add Alpha Output. The blue dots represent a connection with an alpha signal for isolation. We are almost ready. If we zoom in a bit, we see slight inaccuracies in the cut. To eliminate them. Check Despill. Let's go back to the Edit tab and look at the final result.
35. Blurring Objects: Disguise a face, a brand logo, or any element is a very necessary action in editing, we're going to be talking about how to blur objects in DaVinci Resolve. In the middle of the toolbar, click on the Power Window Button. With this tool, we draw the area that we want to hide. To be more precise, we choose the sphere or a curve. We want to hide this number from the plane for security reasons. Let's say. First of all, we should be in the first frame of the timeline where the object to be hidden appears. This will avoid headaches at the time of tracking. We highlight in detail the area of the flight license plate. Above the Node Editor. Click on the Open FX button. Here we have a list with different types of blur. Let's drag the Box Blur effect to the node. The result of our object has been hidden. Now make up a little. In the Settings tab we can soften the effect. We can also try Mosaic Blur to generate a slightly more invasive effect. Let's apply the same effect for the background plane. For that, we should create a new node. In the Node graph. Right-click on the Node Editor, Add Node, Add Serial. On this node, we will apply the correction effect for the second plane. Remember to be located in the first frame of the timeline. Again, we select the area to hide and apply the effect to the node and adjust it. In the toolbar. Click on the Tracker button. Make sure the play head in the tracker panel is at the start of the clip. The tracker can track different features of objects. Begin tracking by clicking the track forward icon. This process requires some patience because every time our object is covered by another unwanted element, the tracking process will stop. To activate the tracking from the new position without losing the previous progress. Click on a frame Corrector 2, which is the current node. We correct the position and then click on the track forward icon again. We repeat the previous one and another time until we achieve the required result. To finish the tracking process. When we have finished with the tracking of our object, we select the node and in the Settings tab we select the Blender at level 1. Here is the final result.
36. Audio Editing: DaVinci Resolve includes two types of audio editing, a very basic but functional one that can be found on the Edit tab. And another with all professional capabilities on the Fairlight tab. For the purposes of this class, we will see the audio editing functionality of the Edit tab. For this exercise, we have additional clips that represent the clicking sound. We drag the audio clip to the timeline. We modify the timeline view to have the audio wave form. As we can see, there are two markers when the pencil touches the paper and when not. The goal is to adjust the sound effect between these two points. The audio mixer is a measurement instrument that allows us to adjust the overall level of the mix. But, how do we know what is the right mix level? Each audio track in the timeline matches an individual channel in the mixer. The unit of measurement is the decibel. The following levels are a reference measure. It is not mandatory to obey with the letter, in the case of YouTube or an amateur video, only one thing any audio levels above 0 decibels produces clipping. The recommendations are that spoken dialogue should be between -10 dB and -12 dB. And the background music should fall between -20dB and -30 dB. Let's observe the audio levels in real time. In this way, we can increase or decrease them. Now let's do a little edit. Let's divide the clip between the range previously defined by the markers and lower the volume at the ends. Now there is only audio at the moment it is being written. Option two. We create four keyframes with the Alt+K command in the following way, and we manipulate them as needed. Let's put some music. Now right-click on the audio clip. Normalize Audio Levels. Here DaVinci Resolve automatically levels are audio clip according to different modes. In this case, we choose Sample Peak Program. It is a standard measure in a mid-range. And Normalize. Click on the letter S for Solo. This option only enables the selected audio track, while M stands for Mute, and it disables the audio output in the selected clip. In the world of audio as in the video one, there are also transitions. Select the audio clip, and then click on Timeline. Add Audio Only Transition. A crossfade appears at the input and another at the output of the clip.
37. Audio Effects: Remember that good music with appropriate sound effects defines the tone of the content generating an impact on our audience. To apply audio effects in DaVinci Resolve, we go to Effect Library, Audio FX. Here we find a list of pre-made effects. Let's explore some of them. The Distortion Effect has several types. LoFi Radio. Megaphone. The way to erase an audio effect is the same as we already knew. Right-click. Remove Attributes. Audio Attributes. The pitch is the degree of highness or lowness of a tone. Another widely used effect is the Reverb that simulates as if our voice were with the acoustic conditions of a specific place. Currently there is a great variety of paid or free music libraries. The YouTube Music Library is a very good option for our videos. Remember to always be aware of intellectual property rights. As expected DaVinci Resolve also has a Sound Library. Click on Sound Library. Download. We fill out the data, Download the file and install it. We restart the application, and we go back to the Sound Library. Now we can search and import any effect we need.
38. Deliver Tab: We have finally reached the last tab of DaVinci Resolve, Delivery tab. This is where once we finished our program and we are ready to share it with the outside world and post it on a social network like our YouTube channel. This part, known as Render Settings contains the customizable settings that determine how the clip is rendered out of the application. The viewer shows the clip from the timeline. The Render Queue contains all of the jobs waiting to render. At the top of the Render Settings, click on the Custom Button. This is the most complete option that allows us to manually configure all the export parameters, very convenient if the other templates do not satisfy our needs. DaVinci thinks about us and cares for us as well. We also have an exclusive option to export to YouTube or Vimeo or other software in the industry. In this particular case, we can upload the rendered files automatically into YouTube. To connect a DaVinci Resolve with our YouTube account. Go to DaVinci Resolve preferences. Internet accounts. Click on the Sign In button and enter the account information and click on Save. Here we can enter the name of the file we want to export. Then in the Browse button, choose a location for the output file. The resolution and frame rate parameters are already defined from the beginning of the project. Later, I will provide a basic explanation of the missing parameters, format, and codecs. At the bottom of the Render Settings Panel. Click on Add to Render Queue Button. The job is added to the Render Queue on the right side of the window, and click on Start Render. We see a progress bar of the render with the percentage and the remaining time. When the job is finished, we can delete it status in the Render Queue, deleted from the system or find its location. Now let's imagine for a moment and empty box, and let's say that the box is our final exported file. We are going to put an element called Video Codec and another called Audio Codec. And that box will be called Format. Then it would look like H.264 for the Video Codec and AAC for the Audio Codec with a Format or Container, .MP4 or .MOV To materialize the concept incorporated, let's search in Google, recommended upload encoding settings for YouTube. Now let's look at what parameters they recommend. To keep it simple, lets understand the Bitrate as a unit of measure that determines the quality of the image or the level of detail that an image holds. Therefore, the higher the Bitrate, the higher the image quality and the larger the final file size. Again, in DaVinci Resolve at the top of the Render Settings. Click on the YouTube button. We can set the parameters as they appear on the screen. Those parameters are commonly used for web streaming videos. In the case that we want more detail in the Custom Tab. We can modify the quality or Bitrate by specific values. One important point is unchecking the option, Use Optimized Media and Use Render Cached Images. This will prevent our final result from being affected by low quality media. If we would like to save these characteristics in a preset. We go to the three dots, Save As New Preset, and we choose a name, and OK. In these same three dots, we could modify the preset or delete it.
39. Polishing - Hands-On Project : We have reached the last part of the PAP framework. This section is probably where we spend the most time. We are going to want our video to look fantastic and we are going to try many colors, songs, Effects, fonts, transitions. One of the things I liked the most about the PAP framework is its efficiency. The first two stages are usually quick if we have good references and a clear idea in our mind, leaving enough time for this inventive stage such as polishing. Before starting to add titles and effects, we should verify the render settings. This can be done in playback Render cache. We are going to start by adding the titles that will represent each activity of the daily routine. In effect, library, we're going to choose a simple title, but with a bit of animation, we don't want to saturate the image with 3D elements. In the inspector, as we already know, we can modify any effect selected in the timeline. In Main Text we write WAKING UP and in secondary texts to the time of day. In the Audio Bin, we add an alarm clock sound effects. Another good way to use the markers is to synchronize the video with the audio. In this example, we have a marker in the video just when the clock goes from 5:59 to 6:00 and another in the audio clip when the alarm sound starts. We simply drag one of the clips until they are perfectly aligned, with the Snapping Option active, this process will be more precise. We can continue to refine the sequence by adding more audio effects where we consider, as well as the core music tracks. In many cases the music will mark the rhythm, the intention in our edition. So we should make sure to choose it as the best match to what we are showing. As the intention in this video is that there is no voice-over, we are going to give a lot of importance to the music. In the same way that most Hollywood movie trailers do, a technique called Rhythm in Film Editing. The first thing is to establish some markers in the audio clip and where the beat or any acoustic element indicates a change. Then we put a different video clip at the beginning of each marker, we can choose the type of cut or transition that we like the most, either the standard Cut or the classic Fade In-Out. For this occasion we are going to choose the Screen Split. Simply, we use the Transform and Crop functions to divide the screen into three parts, Where an independent video will appear successively to the rhythm of the music. A widely used shortcut to be able to hide a clip without having to delete it is the D key. Let's see the result. We are going to use a transition that we imported earlier in this part. Let's be careful not to abuse the use of transitions, they can make the visual experience very extravagant. In the digital world, there is so much information that we can discrete it to identify trends that suggest a better engagement with the audience. A great tip is to follow the timeline structure in most of the videos we post a YouTube. It consists of four elements. Channel logo. It is the part that will be repeated at the beginning of each video. Sometimes you can put it after the introduction. It can have the logo of your channel or header. Intro. The general idea is to create interest. This section is like a video snack. Within the first 10 to 20 seconds, explain exactly what is going to happen. Try to get people to want to watch the entire video. The Video Content, here we will find the main content of our video itself, whatever you want to share, a top 10, a gameplay, vlogs, etc. Call to Action. This is the part where you invite the audience to subscribe to your channel, leave a comment, like your page or direct them to another value offering product. Well, let's start with the Intro. We are going to make an Intro with the title of the video between Letterbox Cinema Format and then a quick recap of some highlights. We create a bin named Intro to import the logo, the Animated Cinematic Green Screen, and a support video. Then in a new timeline, we can drag the logo of our channel and a reference video. In the Video 3 track the Chroma Clip. Then we add a title and Video 2. Now in the Color tab with the chroma key clip selected. We do the whole process to generate the transparency as we already know. Again, in the Edit tab, we modify the name of the video title with "My Productive Day", and adjusted aesthetic details. Okay, it looks good. Now from the Refine Cut sequence, we select 3 highlights to copy in the introduction sequence. We can do it with the copy-paste function, Ctrl + C or Command + C to copy and Ctrl + V or Command + V to paste. We adjust the new clips to generate the Split-Screen effect again as follows. Once we are ready, we returned to the Refine Cut sequence to add our introduction to the beginning. Now let's see another way to add content from one timeline to another. With this function, we activate the source window, where we are going to set our introduction and click on Insert Clip or F9. We see that it was like a compound clip. To decompose it, right-click, decompose in place. Very well. We already have the intro of our video, we can add music to it, using the same technique that we did in the video content Editing with Rhythm. Well, our addition is almost ready. According to our template, we need to make color and audio corrections to finish. We selected this clip from the last part to give it a dimmer tone, since it is supposed to be at night and should be coherently integrated with the other clips. In the Color tab, we can directly modify your gain towards a particular color. We can also do it in the Primaries Bars. Now in the Edit tab, we go to the Audio Settings, click on Mixer. We see that the levels are saturated, meaning above the recommended levels. We select all the clips of our sequence with Ctrl + A or Command + A for Mac. Then right-click on any audio clip, Normalize Audio Levels. Sample Peak Program. Now we verify that the levels are at adequate levels. With the audio effects that we import, we should be careful if they are a monophonic. With headphones, we can only hear the sound from the right or left. Fortunately, this situation is solved very easily by copying the same information through the left and right channels. Right-click on the audio clip. Clip attributes. In this case, the clip is Stereo and there is no problem. But if it appeared Mono, all we had to do is make it Stereo, repeating the same audio information on both sides. Let's quickly review how it looks and what editing elements we have used. Okay, perfect. Looks great. And it also follows the recommended structure for YouTube. We have reached the last part of our creative journey, the Final Export. In the Delivery tab, we select the options that we already studied in the previous lesson. We put a name and we generate the final render.
40. Final Thoughts: Thank you so much for watching this class. I hope you enjoyed it. The elements you have learned can help you to get started in the world of content creation and edit your videos without limits. I encourage you to complete the Class Project and share it with the community. If you have any questions or need more tips, please let me know on the discussion board. I'm happy to help. I wish you a lovely, productive year.
Simplicity Academy, The Psychology of Simple Learning
