Video Editing Courses for Beginners: Complete Guide. (2024)
A Quick Intro To Video Editing Courses:
So, you’re looking for a video editing course? You’ve come to the right place!
Video editing courses are a great way to learn the skills you need to become a full fledged editor.
With over 172,000,000 google searches for the term “Online Video Editing Course” it can be pretty daunting finding the right course for you.
We’ve gone through the top online video editing courses on the world’s leading skill sharing platforms so you don’t have to… you can thank us later.
We’ve rated each course on price, ratings, detail, and scope leaving only the best courses.
From YouTube and Skill Share to Coursera and Udemy, this complete list of video editing courses is ideal for anyone at the beginning of their video editing journey.
Quick Disclaimer: We’ve focused only on editing courses for Premier Pro, Final Cut and Davinci Resolve!
What’s in this blog? (click to jump)
1. Intro To Video Editing
2. Quick Video Editing FAQs
3. Best Free Video Editing Courses
4. Best Paid Video Editing Courses + Certificate
5. Conclusion
Quick Video Editing Course FAQs
Before we jump into the complete list of video editing courses, I wanted to do a bit of house keeping by answering some of the most commonly asked questions about video editing courses.
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When people speak about video editing they mean lots of different things. For some people, video editing is simply slighlty altering a video on a phone using a siple editing app before posting the video to social media. When we speak about video editing, we mean the art of using editing softwares to alter, construct and create great films and videos from raw footage.
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Yes, video editing is a valuable skill in 2024. With the rise of digital media, video content is more important than ever. Learning video editing can open up career opportunities in various fields like film, marketing, and social media.
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No, you don't need prior experience for most beginner video editing courses. These courses are designed to teach you from the basics. However, having a basic understanding of computers can be helpful.
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To do a video editing course, you'll need a computer with sufficient power to run editing software, and a stable internet connection for online courses. Some courses might require specific software installations or they may ask you to download creative assets to work on.
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The video editing software you'll use depends on the course. Common choices are Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, and DaVinci Resolve. The course description should specify which software is used.
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A video editing course can take anywhere between 10 minutes all the way up to 45 hours for a course. It all depends on the detail and intended level of proficiency you’re looking for at the end.
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Fining a good free video editing course can be hard. There are lots of videos online claiming to teach you but finding the right one that’s worth the time requires going through each course to see what they’re claiming to teach you. Our blog below has some great free courses for you to look through.
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A beginner course is a great way to get started and could be the beginning of a brilliant career as. video editor. We recommend doing a beginner editing course followed by at least 10 passion projects before getting an entry level job.
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Video editing courses vary in price from free, to a one of fee of up to £200 for the video editing course. Some platforms actually charge a monthly subscription so you’re charged more if you take longer.
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A beginner video editor can get paid about £150 per day for working on basic edits. Experienced editors can get anywhere between £200 - £1,200 per day for editing depending on the project.
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In our opinion Adobe Premier Pro is the best software for beginners to learn on. It’s usability is great, and one you’ve learnt the basics you can pick up the advanced techniques very quickly. That being said, Final Cut Pr and AVID are both used extensively in the industry.
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There are lots of ways to become a video editor. Firstly, you could go to university and study the art. Secondly, you could do a beginner video editing course and start doing your own projects. Third, you could do an internship where you are taught in exchange for cheaper labour. We think the beginner editing course is the best way.
6 Video Editing Courses For Beginners (2024
Now we’ve got the basics out of the way it’s time to go through each of the video editing courses in a bit of detail. For more details on each course simply click the link in the description to go through to the courses landing page.
Quick Jump:
Best Free Online Video Editing Courses (2024)
If you are determined and willing to take a bit of a longer route, then a free video editing course could be the right option for you.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of free video editing courses out there to choose from each offering a different level of detail.
Quick List
1. Editing For Beginners. (11 minutes)
2. Learn Premier Pro for Beginners. (17 minutes)
3. Learn How To Use Final Cut Pro. (24 minutes)
4. Coursera: Mastering Final Cut Pro + Certificate. (4 hours)
Here’s our top 4 free video editing courses available right now…
1. Think Media: Editing For Beginners.
Where: YouTube
Length: 11 Minutes
Difficulty: Very Easy
Who is this For: Absolute beginners
What Software: Adobe Premier Pro
Cost: Free
A bit of extra info:
Think Media offer some great video editing courses on their YouTube channel. With millions of subscribers they obviously know what they’re doing! This super short intro to video editing get’s anyone with a laptop to at least a basic understanding of how to get an editing software up and running and beginning an edit.
What will you learn?
How to organise your files.
How to start a video edit.
How to spice up your videos
How to add text to a video.
Exporting videos.
2. Vince Opra: Premier Pro Tutorial For Beginners.
Where: YouTube
Length: 17 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Who is this For: Absolute beginners
What Software: Adobe Premier Pro
Cost: Free
A bit of extra info:
Another Premier Pro tutorial here but trust us when we say this is a good one. As a super simple guide to editing, this course takes you from no knowledge in video editing on premier pro, to a basic understanding of video editing on Premier Pro in 17 minutes. The video has over 3 million views in just over 2 years so it’s doing something right.
What will you learn?
Creating a new project.
Creating sequences.
Importing media into a timeline.
Learning essential editing tools.
Shortcuts.
How to add effects.
Add text.
Add and edit audio to your video.
How to do a basic colour grade.
Export your video.
3. Primal Video: Complete Final Cut Tutorial For Beginners.
Where: YouTube
Length: 25 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Who is this For: Absolute beginners
What Software: Final Cut Pro
A bit of extra info:
Here we have a solid Apple Final Cut Pro tutorial from one of YouTubes best video editing channels. With over 1.5 million subscribers they’ve honed their craft at taking people from beginners to intermediate in no time at all.
What will you learn?
How to create a library in Final Cut Pro
How to create a project in Final Cut Pro
How to edit in Final Cut Pro
How to add b-roll in Final Cut Pro
How to add titles in Final Cut Pro
How to add transitions & effects in Final Cut Pro
How to adjust speed in Final Cut Pro
How to add music in Final Cut Pro
How to adjust audio levels in Final Cut Pro
How to color grade in Final Cut Pro
How to export videos in Final Cut Pro
What to do after exporting in Final Cut Pro
How to edit faster
4. Coursera: Mastering Final Cut Pro + Certificate
Where: Coursera
Length: 40 hours
Difficulty: Easy-Moderate
Who is this For: Absolute beginners
What Software: Final Cut Pro
Cost: Free
A bit of extra info:
This is a bit of a beefy one! Hosted on Coursera this course takes you from beginner all the way through to being a pretty damn good editor using Final Cut Pro. This is a bigger undertaking that the previous introductions to video editing. What we like about this course is that you get a LinkedIn enabled certificate at the end to show you’ve got the qualification.
What will you learn?
Importing, organising, starting a project.
Video Editing
Audio Editing
Transitions, effects transforming.
Titles and motion graphics
Colour correction.
Media management and exporting
360 video
Best Paid Online Video Editing Courses + Certificate (2024)
For some people, a more detailed structured appraoch to learning is needed. That’s where the paid courses come in to play.
There are hundreds of paid courses out there, and lots of them are great. We’ve gone through what we think are the best value for money and look to set you up the best as a paid video editor in the future.
Quick List
1. Adobe Premier Pro Masterclass: Video Editing in Premier. (25 Hours)
2. Final Cut Pro X Essential Training (10 hours)
Here’s our top 5 free video editing courses available right now…
5. Phil Ebiner: Adobe Premiere Pro CC Masterclass: Video Editing in Premiere.
Where: Udemy
Length: 25.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy-Moderate
Who is this For: Absolute beginners
What Software: Adobe Premier Pro
Cost: £59.99
A bit of extra info:
Before I go on about this particular course, Phil Ebinar, the host and creator of this course has a YouTube channel where you can see if you like his style of teaching before you pay.
Back to this course… This is Udemys flagship video editing course and for good reason. Phil takes you from absolute beginner all the way through to being a very competent video editor capable of putting together videos people would pay for. He has a collection of digital assets for you to download and use as a part of the course which is super helpful in getting hands on experience as you learn.
What will you learn?
Premier Pro Basics
Editing Basics
Adding style to your videos
Adding video and audio transitions
How to edit audio in premier pro
How to add titles and graphics to premier pro
Colour corrections and colour grading
Video speed
Green Screen
Advanced premier pro skills
Advanced colour grading
How to use stock in your videos
6. Nick Harauz: Final Cut Pro X Essential Training + Certificate.
Where: LinkedIn Learning
Length: 10 hours
Difficulty: Easy-Moderate
Who is this For: Absolute beginners
What Software: Apple Final Cut Pro X
Cost: £34.99
A bit of extra info:
This is THE course recommended by the Apple website for learning how to use Final Cut Pro. So if this video isn’t good enough, then I don’t know what is! This online course isn’t the world’s most excititing but it does give a very thorough breakdown of how to use the software. In the end of the day, we are talking about learning how to us ea software, we want the information clearly and easily… hold the bells and whistles.
What will you learn?
Getting to know the editing environment
Ingesting Assets
Organising assets
Basic editing - laying the foundations
Refining the edit using trim tools
Working with speed and transforming clips.
Basic audio editing
Multicam editing and 360
Working with effects
Working with titles & graphics
Basic colour correction
Sharing and exporting
Conclusion: Should you bother paying for a video editing course online?
As you can see there are heaps of great courses out there, both free and paid.
In our opinion, we believe the best way to push forward with video editing is to start with a free course on YouTube before singing up to a longer paid course.
Why bother with a paid course?
Often, the paid courses aren’t in it for just views and views alone, they want their audience to feel like they’ve had great Value For Money. That’s how they get their repeat work, by people enjoying the course, leaving a review which signals to the next person that their course is worth paying for.
The paid courses are much more in depth, they offer digital assets for you to work with and they focus on details that the free courses often overlook!
Our opinion…
Paid courses are great, but try a few free courses first to make sure you enjoy it. Plus having a bit of knowlegd often makes the paid courses feel slighlty less overwhelming.
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