YouTube - EDITING Videos

Enough watching videos! It's time to unleash the power of your creativity.

Don't get me wrong - I enjoy a good video, but today I want to show you how to EDIT video using YouTube. As a warning - this a longer "how-to" and will be available as part of the summer Pirate Tips Live opportunity (more details soon).
Before you make a video you need to make a plan for the video (storyboard) and shoot the video. Once you have done that we are ready to edit.
Let's start by finding the editor.
Go to http://www.youtube.com/editor.
You will see that the video editor has the basic functions you will need:

• Videos (from your collection of videos)
• Creative Commons material
• Images
• Music
• Transitions
• Titles

With these tools (and a little creativity) we can create simple videos.
Our basic process would be to:

• Upload video and images to use in the project
• Pull the video and images into the timeline
• Add transitions
• Add music
• Add titles
• Publish the project

On a personal note - this is my process for editing video - I like to pull the "story" together, add the transitions, find some music that works, and add titles. I'll walk you through the steps in that order.

Upload video and images to use in the project

When you visit the youtube page (and you are logged in) you will notice the Upload button in the upper right corner of the window.

Clicking the button will take you to the upload page. There are a few important things to notice on this page. I'd like to focus on the four numbered items in the image below. PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF ITEM 2 - YOU WILL WANT TO SET THIS BEFORE UPLOADING.

1. Upload Instructions - here is a link to help. If you are having trouble this link will help. It is broken down clearly. Most people will not need to go here, but you might want to know about it. :-)
2. Setting your video access level. There are three levels - Public, Unlisted, and Private. Public means it is available to anyone on the internet. Unlisted means it is available to anyone with the link, but will not show in search results. Private is only available to you and those you grant access to (they can't share the link). If you are loading "raw" video to make a larger project you will want this set to private. 
3. Import Videos - here you can import videos you may have uploaded to Google Plus (+).
4. Create Videos - here you have links to record from your webcam (to capture video or record narration), upload images to make a photo slideshow (automatically adds pan and zoom and transitions to your images), do a live video hangout (worth it's own post - more later), or jump to the video editor.

Once I finish my upload I am ready to edit the video, so I will click on the Video editor button in the lower right corner and you will see the video editor window. See the image below for a quick description of what is there.

The next step is simply dragging the video clips down to the timeline in the order you want them to appear. Let's start with a description of the editing window. See the image below and numbered descriptions.

1. Preview window - shows you what the video looks like so far.
2. Library tabs - select an icon to view that library - icons described below
3. Library content - displays the videos, images, music, etc. available to add to your project.
4. Timeline - this is where you arrange the order of your project from left to right, much light constructing a sentence.
5. The zoom tool - allows you to "zoom in" or "zoom out" on the timeline. Zooming in allows you to more easily find a specific moment in a video. Zooming out allows you to look at the order of the project as a whole.

Let's look at the Library tabs...

From left to right:

• Video - Here you will find the video you uploaded. To upload additional video you will need to revisit the upload window (button in the upper right corner).
• Creative Commons licensed videos - Here you can search any of the videos that have been uploaded and shared for use. There is a lot here...
• Images - Here you can view any images you have uploaded or upload additional images.
• Music - YouTube provides a great selection of music that you can use without violating copyright.
• Transitions - These can be added to the beginning or end of any clip. Adding them between two clips will link the two clips and apply the transition. More in the next section...
• Titles - These are the words you see on the screen - title of the movie, credits, etc. You can add sub-titles or closed captioning but there is a different page for that (so they can be turned off by the viewer).

Pull the video and images into the timeline

As the timeline suggests, I can simply drag the content I want to the timeline to add it to the project. Anything added to the video line will show the video and play the associated audio. I can add video to the audio line, but it will only play the audio from the video clip.

Once I drag a clip to the timeline it will begin to play. The Library area of the window will now display settings and options for the video clip. (There are several new tabs at the top of this window.)
Any time you click on one of the video clips in the timeline you will see these options.

From here you can add filters...
To apply the filter, click on the filter you like. To remove the effect, click the filter a second time.

Add text to the clip (adds the text for the duration of the clip)...
Set your options and enter your text.

Adjust the audio...
Make some basic adjustments to the audio track.

Add transitions

I'm not going to say much here - just a short lecture. Watch a TV show. Most of the editing you see will be cuts - no dissolve, no spin, no blur, etc. Transitions should be saved for beginning a scene, ending a scene, and showing the passage of time. It can be fun, but does it help to communicate or just draw attention away from the content? Enough said. :-)
The default transition is a cut. To add a different transition drag the transition to the point on the timeline where you want to add it.

Add music

To add music find something you like and drag it to the audio line. You can sort by genre and search by keyword. Any music protected by copyright will be flagged and removed by YouTube.
Simply drag the music you want to the audio track (below the video track).

Add titles

Next we can add some titles.  These are titles that display over a color background. Just like audio or video, drag the title you want down to the timeline.
NOTE - If you drop the titles "onto" a video it will become a text overlay that lasts the duration of the entire clip (just like adding text above).

Publish the project

Finally, you are ready to publish. In the upper right corner of the window you should see a blue button labeled "Create video" - click it to publish your creation.

One last note - one of the things you might need to do occasionally is create a vide, then use that video to create another video, etc. Once you create the video it will be available in your library of video.