Beginner Editing Advice with YouTube’s Top Editor

I don't like over editing that kind of Screams insecurity that your video is not good enough the most important thing in any edit is you have to be confident in the video that you're making and that people will enjoy it you edited for these big YouTubers what would you say makes a simple edit powerful change you click on this video with this piece of information and at the end of it you understand something new every cut that I make has to be heading towards that change editing can't be avoided and there are a lot of

people that despise it what are like the top things you would tell him to learn that's a great question I think you had to just press record hey what's up think media Omar here and I'm so excited to be interviewing I would say YouTube's number one editor this is Hayden Hiller Smith how many videos have you edited over across I think definitely at least 6 or 700 at this point and we're talking YouTube edits many of them are YouTube edits understanding the psychology the principles around videos that get edited for these big YouTubers uh to

name some um you Logan Paul yeah Logan Paul I think it's like Mr Beast as well I think those are like the two most popular ones there is only a very few instances that you don't have to edit videos on YouTube mhm I.E live streams yeah but for the most part editing can't be avoided no it's part of the process it's part of the process and there are a lot of people that despise it or it takes them so long I seem to be the one exception in all of this where it's like I hate

the pre-production part I hate the production part all I want is give me the footage and leave me alone and I'll give you something great I seem to be the exception to the rule where most people seem to love those parts oh God I have to edit it but I think what it is for me is that I think I was doing the pre-production and production part but I ended up having the most fun in uh making it all work in the post production in the editing and so that's why I've always found it surprising

of like why people struggle to find the fun part of it but I think it's because there's just a lot of uh Brute Force stuff that we have to get through to boring stuff like let's just say uh like you filmed your ray roll and it's like hey guys I'm doing it hey guys hey guys and then you have to get through that stuff and that's and like already you're starting off on a bad foot and it's like okay I'm already hating this process whereas for me it's like yeah I hate that process as well

but then what it means I get excited about the part where it's like I got everything I need and I'm just like okay everything I've got Now is really awkward how can I then make this work and feel great and just so solving those problems start like starting from essentially nothing and trying to make something out of it is the process that I have the most fun in figuring out it's like not having having no idea what to do and then moment you go oh this works that's awesome you just said just give me the

the CLI the video give me the footage and I'll make a great video mhm what would you say on a basic level makes a great video I would say I think the big thing I talk about the most is I think I'm very hyperfocused on the storytelling aspect towards it when you say storytelling cuz I just like what do you mean by storytelling change it is you click on this video with this piece of information and at the end of it you understand something new that's good every cut that I make has to be heading

towards that change and I think and then what I'm trying to inform that story and it can just be in edits like this of like of this where if us just having having a chat like this okay so they have they start with this understanding and and then want them to come out with this what does this mean do we have to do potentially Fast Cuts to talk about the excitement of how of my energy do we maybe do we hold on to me and so we can then really then see actually enjoy the passion

that he has as he's trying to find the word to describe it those are the things I like to talk about uh I've Just Seen youve nodded head multiple times and so it would be okay that's great let's let's get the moments where I say something interesting and you nod you're really conscious about it now it's really funny you nod great I got to get those nods in to help a need and that's sort of things that I think about and it's all heading towards that moment of change like what happens okay so if he's

building up to a really great moment should should we have some music that kind of maybe swells up a little bit do does he does he say something great that then drops like a beat of a new song those are the things and then when you those signals tell you that that was important information for you to retain and like that's the fun part of it of like how can I communicate the clearest message of change uh for the audience and that can be figured out in editing you're speaking so much of like feel like

I don't know somebody who's getting an editing like feel what do you mean feel I just need to edit up my mistakes tone emotions feeling it it it's it's a cliche in the film industry but a lot of people's inspiration is Walter much and he is like one of like like the veteran classic editors in Hollywood and everything he talks about is emotion how does this feel how is this meant to feel and how what do I do so to really sure that that is what you do feel and and that done in tone that

is done in the feeling that is done with just the emotion and I think that's the thing that I that's why I enjoy it is because my priority is emotion uh whereas I think a lot of people just struggle or don't invest time into that part of it and everything outside of that part is very boring and tedious and like frustrating to do yeah I mean but like I feel like it takes a a little bit of self-awareness absolutely what would you say makes a simple edit powerful I think just intention I think for me

I'm kind my sort of like Personal Agenda is I'm don't like over editing uh if you're throwing really aggressive colorful subtitles that come in with motion blur uh you're cutting fast you're you're cutting to like 20 different Motion Graphics you're cutting to this you're cutting to this and it just seems a bit chaotic and I think what that does is that kind of Screams insecurity that your video is not good enough whereas I think intention of like I can trust my audiences that they can ingest this video and they will enjoy it and they will

retain the information I want them to have that intention is you will feel that confidence but then with the over editing you feel the insecurity and so I think the most important thing in any edits is you have to be confident in the video that you're making and that people will enjoy it that's really good that's stuff that's kind of beyond the edit you know being confident in the edit if you want to level up your content with the use of royalty free music then look no further than epidemic sound they're one of our favorite

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on just check out the link down in the description below thank you epidemic sound for sponsoring this video if you were giving advice for somebody who is new to editing what are like the the top things you would tell them to learn so that they can be more proficient and maybe enjoy it more H that's a great question I think if I was to start editing today knowing absolutely nothing what would be the best thing for me to learn I would say honestly making sure the cuts are clean m I think we often attribute of

like let me get this clip Cuts let me get and have this clip cuts and this clip and we just kind of put them together kind of like Tetris pieces yeah but Tetris has all these different shapes and so you got to be able to start bending these uh pieces of footage around so they kind of like work with each other a little bit more and kind of what I'm talking about really is sort of like the J cut in terms of let's just say I finished this sentence Y and I would say in terms

of the audio underneath should start just a few more frames before the video part comes back in and having those fade in and out on on on either of those ends and what that then means is is that just the cuts are able to feel a lot more smoother like I would say everyone who's watching this try it now where get two bits of your clips of just talking put them right next to each other and then like just test how that feels and now try this J Cut Thing having any audio start just a

little bit and then the video just a little bit after that audio and then add in those little those little Fades and it just feels smoother arrogantly of course that's one of the most basic concepts but I think that's the thing that's the mistake that I do see a lot with a lot of editors I do see that clipping I would say yeah and so I think that's actually one of the most one of the first important things to learn objectively what is the best editing software for beginners I would actually say Final Cut Pro

but that's a little outdated I think the first the best editing software for beginners right now is cap cut I mean a lot of new editors are coming from Tik Tok and discovering cap cut on their phone and now they're moving on to desktop and of course if you've already got Familiar of learning film making from there that's a much more easier translation uh if I was starting editing yeah I'd say cap cut would be the thing I'll first adopt but then the suggestion is do everything you can to reach its limits on that and

then graduate to either Adobe Premier Pro Da Vinci or even Final Cut what are you using uh personally I use Final Cuts but with clients I use Premier Pro what would be the reason for that I think Final Cuts really bad with coll oration okay uh it's not built for that it's built for you the Creator to do all all of it yourself whereas Premier Pro is built for sharing your project you can really get into the details whereas you're relatively limited on Final cart but in terms of efficiency for me final cart's like efficient

for me because I've learned that that's the one I've spent the most of my time in but for working with people Premier Pro is far superior somebody was like okay I'm kind of ready to find an editor how would you advise somebody to find an editor I often say it's great that right now everyone can be an editor but right now the worst thing is that everyone can say they're an editor yeah and so actual good talent is incredibly hard to find amongst the huge ocean of people saying that they are an editor when they

might not know as much as they claim they do right I find editors through social media so I've trained my algorithms to find editors W and so and I think the smart editors know how to Market themselves and so they talk about hey check out this edit I did with EXC Creator they then do videos like like you should know this editing trick to do this and like and then like those are really well made and I go and I reach out to them personally say hey do you want a job yeah and so I

think the best way to find editors right now is through social media there are of course job websites but they're still developing and so right now I the best way to find an editor is to train your algorithm for that to find them for you dude that's really good plug in your your podcast and and all the things you got going on my main channel was Smith but my current passion project is the editing podcast and like we do weekly shows bringing in all the best editors from film tv YouTube and even Tik Tok and

I love the fact that we can all just nerd out about editing on that platform and so yeah the editing podcast is the best place to learn about editing right now dude I appreciate that thank you so much thanks so much