--- title: 'How to Start Video Editing from Zero in 2026 - Basic to Advanced Guide' source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=hshbHUgmYhk' video_id: 'hshbHUgmYhk' date: 2026-08-05 duration_sec: 1047 --- # How to Start Video Editing from Zero in 2026 - Basic to Advanced Guide > Source: [How to Start Video Editing from Zero in 2026 - Basic to Advanced Guide](https://youtube.com/watch?v=hshbHUgmYhk) ## Summary This video provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to starting a career in video editing from scratch, covering mindset, software selection, basic terminology, practice routines, asset sourcing, continuous learning, and monetization strategies. The creator emphasizes that editing is about conveying emotions through storytelling, not just applying effects, and outlines a structured path from beginner to professional. ### Key Points - **Mindset: Editing is Emotional Storytelling** [00:28] — Editing is not about flashy effects; it's about visually representing emotions using storytelling. 90% of self-proclaimed editors learned in reverse and lack this understanding. Focus on five core elements: pacing, music, color/lighting, text/fonts, and sound design. - **Pacing and Music Control Emotion** [01:20] — Pacing (rhythm) is crucial; slow pacing builds tension, fast pacing creates excitement. Music sets the mood: piano evokes nostalgia, strings inspire hope, bass drops energize, silence creates seriousness. Sound effects (sound design) add realism and attention, distinct from background music. - **Epidemic Sound for Royalty-Free Assets** [03:27] — Epidemic Sound offers 500+ tracks and 200,000+ sound effects, safe from copyright issues. It allows searching by genre, mood, theme, and artist. The AI 'Adapt' feature suggests audio based on your project. Professional editors use it to speed up work 10x; costs ₹200/month. - **Color and Lighting Influence Emotion** [04:46] — Colors and lighting subconsciously affect viewer emotions. Warm grading creates comfort; cool tones convey sadness. Lighting changes can shift the mood of a scene dramatically. - **Typography Conveys Emotion** [05:29] — Fonts and text styles matter: bold fonts (like Alex Hormozi) for authority, light fonts for premium feel, animated text for energy (like Mr. Beast). - **Software Selection: Phone and Desktop** [05:43] — Phone: CapCut (banned in India, needs VPN), Alight Motion (recommended, includes motion graphics). Desktop: DaVinci Resolve (free, powerful), Premiere Pro (industry standard but complex), Final Cut Pro (Mac only), Filmora (recommended for beginners, AI features, available on phone). - **Learn Basic Editing Terms** [08:23] — Key terms: import (bringing assets into software), timeline (editing space), layers (stacked elements, top layer visible), trimming (removing from ends), cut (removing middle), transition (scene change), effects (VFX, transform, motion). Keyframes remember properties for animation. - **Practice in Stages** [11:21] — Start with mechanical editing (merge, trim, cut, sync to beat). Then intermediate: color correction, audio remixing, speed ramping, basic text motion, sound design. Finally professional: storytelling structure, motion graphics, filmmaking editing. Don't rush; practice on your own recordings to understand creator challenges. - **Sourcing Assets: Record Yourself** [13:11] — Best practice is to record your own footage and voiceovers to understand the creator's perspective. Alternatively, use free clips from Pexels or Pixabay, and free sound effects packs from the description. - **Keep Learning Continuously** [14:14] — Editing is a skill that requires constant upgrading. Learn motion graphics, then 3D editing (e.g., Blender). Follow Twitter and Discord communities to stay updated on new styles. - **Start Earning: Portfolio First** [14:55] — Build a portfolio website (not Google Drive) to showcase your work. Use AI tools like ChatGPT to help create it. Then earn through freelancing (Fiverr, Upwork), cold emailing, jobs (₹20k/month for beginners), selling digital products (project files), mentorship, or starting an editing agency. ### Conclusion The video provides a complete roadmap from zero to professional video editor, emphasizing emotional storytelling, structured practice, and multiple income streams. The key takeaway is to start creating and continuously improve, with the promise that following this guide will make you a successful editor. ## Transcript Video editing is such a skill that you how to learn this skill? How to start? Which software should I use? Where to get assets? Which ? How to find a client? And so on. I know, you also have thousands of questions in your mind right now. But believe me, after watching this video you will not need to watch any other video related to video editing. Because I have divided this video into six steps. follow it step by step, you will definitely become a video editor. So let's start with step number one mindset. I know I know you guys want to go straight into editing software and use different tools to make weird things fly across the screen. But that is not video editing. And 90% of the people who are currently in the market and call themselves video editors also do not know video editing. The reason is very simple. They have learned editing in reverse. If you ask them to create any effect, they will do it. edit, they will hug you. Check this out once. This is the HDFC Millennia Credit Card. Reports show over 80% of urban spending is Both these reels have the same voice over. But you might have liked this reel more. There were more Alldo effects in this reel. Do you know the reason this reel made you feel emotions and that is exactly what editing is. Editing is a way to visually represent emotions using storytelling. So learn the tools later. First learn to create emotions. To create emotions, you simply need to focus on five core elements. The first is pacing. Pacing simply means the rhythm of the video. Ending plays the biggest role in shaving facing emotions. Check this out once. This is the largest mall in America in the entire country center. But Today Mall, both of these are challenge type videos. But Rehan Teran has kept slow facing and Mr you feel excited in Mr. Beast's video. feel both then we can keep the pacing medium. The second element is music. It would be easier to show this than to explain it. So check this out once. So check this out once. Open Kangnam Star. background music. As a result, the emotion of the entire scene changed. The tragic scene was If there is a piano in the background music, it will give a vibe of nostalgia and sadness. As the strings build up, it will give a vibe of hope and inspiration. If there is a bass drop, And if there is silence then it will represent seriousness and tension. The Background music and sound designing are two different things. While background music controls the mood of the video, sound designing or sound effects control realism and attention. For example, if you watch Reels or Mr. Bees videos, you will hear multiple sound effects every second. That too at very high volume. which Mr. Beast needs. If you watch documentaries, they have and sound effects with maximum ambience which make the scene feel more real and make you feel the depth of the scene. feel more real and make you feel the depth of the scene. Like epidemic sound. This is a site which has more than 500 tracks and more than 2 lakh sound effects. Which you can use in your videos without any fear of copyright. In Epidemic, there is a safe creator gets the option to list down all his social media handles. problem. The special thing about Epidemic is that here you can search for your favorite track according to genre, mood, theme, artist etc. And if you find Epidemic's library amazing, then upload your video. And their AI will detect the video and automatically add sound effects and background music accordingly. Which you can also change later on as per your requirement. Using the Adapt feature, you feature, you can only explain about your project. And you will be suggested sound effects and background music accordingly. The every professional editor has a subscription to Epidemic, which speeds up their work by 10x. You can access Epidemi for just ₹200 per month. use the link in the description and use my coupon code, you will be able to next element that controls emotions is color and lightning. You may not realize it but the colors you see on the screen Due to which you are able to feel the edits even more emotionally. For example, if I turn off some of the lights in my studio, what I am saying will sound And if I make the scene a little warmer in color grading, then you will feel comfort and warmth. As if the spring season has arrived. learning great editing. But as soon as gold colours are used, the wife changes. It seems as if I do n't know how much sorrow there is in life. I have to learn editing because I have to earn money. What days have come for me. And so on. So I hope you have understood the role of color and lights in editing. After this, the next element is text and fonts. Typography also helps convey emotions. If you want to use bold text like Alex Phamoze. If you want to give a premium feel then keep it light filled like Don Koi and if you want to make it feel energetic then keep animated text like Mr. Bees you understand how to manipulate emotions, you need to move on to the next step software. There are only a few software available in the market for editing. There are separate apps for phones and separate apps for desktops. But let me give you an overview of which one to choose. So first of all let's start with the phone. You have all these options in the phone. Capkut, inshot, VN, KineMaster, Film and Allied Motion. Now, Capkut and Allied Motion Right Now are the most used in the market. Because Capkut offers an easy-to-use interface. And it also has many effects and But its problem is that it is banned in India. Therefore, it has to be used by installing VPN. And at the time of export, there are many times problems here. The second best option is Allied Motion. Because inside Allied Motion you also get a camera. This means that along with normal editing, you will also be able to create high level motion graphics in it. And right now 90% of phone editors are using this app. And it is not even banned in India. So there is no hassle of VPA here also. Now if we talk about desktop, then all these features are available in desktop. CPC PC, Adobe Premiere Pro, DVD, Final Cut Pro and Filmora. Let me explain these in a little detail. Same problem with cpc pc. That means this is also banned in India, so you will definitely face problems here. Premiere Pro is the most commonly used editing tool. Because AOB company has its own ecosystem. Where they have products for And when most people are doing teamwork, But I would never suggest Premiere Pro to beginners because its interface is a bit complicated and you will quit before you even learn. only those with a MacBook can access it. Then comes Darwin. Dwi again I do because the editing is done on a note by note basis. For those who don't know, let me tell you that two villains exist in the world of editing. One is called Layers and the other is called Notes. Layers are easy and notes are difficult. Just understand this much for now. Now after all this, the editing software that remains is Filmora. And to be honest, I suggest this software to every beginner because I also started editing with this. Like Capt, you also get all the presets and templates inside Filmora. all the tools and features are also available. And like these, you can also do color grading inside it. And like Final Cut Pro, it is also very easy to use. But above all, this editing software has integrated AI. That means edited. And you can speed up your editing. But in reality, for beginners, I do n't think there is any software better than Filmora. You can even access Filmora on your phone. So if you are confused really suggest that you Which will become a little easier. Now that the editing software is clear, let's move on to the next step: learning the basics. Once you have selected a software, the next thing to do is to learn the software. But if you go to any software right now, you will be confused because you will not understand anything. So let me first explain some basic editing terms to you guys. After which I will also tell you some basic editing tools so that when you open the software, your face does not look like this. Ok? So the first word is import, which simply means word is import, which simply means software, a separate place is decided for import which is called import panel. All the that are in the gallery will come inside this panel after which you can start working. The second word is timeline. You cannot edit an asset after it has been imported. You need to place your assets in a space where you can see every single frame. This space is called the timeline. From where you can see the running time and each frame of your asset in detail and edit it. The third word is layer. Yes, this is the same villain we talked about in the beginning. they will appear one above the other. And we call these tribes layers. In all editing software except End Daw, editing is done using layers. The concept is very simple. The layer that is on top will be visible to people. The fourth word is trimming. Whenever you delete a clip from the end or the beginning, it is a segment from the middle of a clip, it is called a cut. The fifth word is transition. Shifting from one scene to another is called transition. Now you can create this with the camera also. Like it was done in the movie Chennai Express. Or you can also use transition effects which are normally separate section for this is given in every editing software. The sixth word is effects. Any audio or visual change is called an effect. Now there are many types of effects. One is VFX effects which you see in science fiction movies. One is transform effects, that is, zooming in, zooming out any object or focusing on a specific place. And then there are motion effects that are normally applied to text and subtitles. Like you just saw. These were some basic keywords that won't make you feel stupid the next time you watch an editing-related keywords that may not be useful to you right now but you will hear a lot about them. Such as key frames. A keyframe is basically a bookmark that remembers all the properties of your current frame. And when you make some changes in the timeline by inserting someone else's frame, then the other frame remembers the new properties. When you run the end timeline, you get to see some new animations. In this way it is used in advanced level editing or let's say you guys know some basic things about editing. Now you can open your software and start editing on it. If you have chosen any software from CPCT or Filmora then you will get its tutorial on my channel itself. But even if you have chosen some other software, there is nothing to worry about. There software, there is nothing to worry about. There understand the interface of at least some editing software and start working. Once you understand the software. Then you have to go to the next step which is practicing. No skill comes without practice. Forget about end editing, it will ever come. Unless you make 10-15 stupid videos. There is also a way to practice editing also tell you from where I got the materials for editing. Start with mechanical editing. That means just merge the clips, trim them, cut them, sync them according to the beat and try to sync them with the voice over. understand the game of filters. And learn to export properly. There is comfortable with the editing software. Learn enough editing to be able to edit videos of at least Daily Because there is nothing fancy in his editing. Basic editing is done but it is very professional. For this again you will After this you have to go to intermediate level editing which includes color correction, audio remixing, speed ramping, basic text motion and sound designing. Do n't make the mistake of learning editing too quickly. Take your time on everything. Understand the psychology behind it and practice on different clips. Once you learn all these things, then you will be able to edit long form blogs and reels with subtitles. With this you can easily earn ₹10 to ₹2000 per month. I will tell you how to do this later but before that look at the next level. Professional editing. In this stage you have to learn story telling structure, motion graphics, film making editing and all these things. This is the last stage of editing. After which you will be able to call yourself a professional editor. The problem in the market right now is that people learn to create motion graphics directly and make a few cuts. Due to which neither their base is strong nor the motion graphics are made so well that someone can call them editors. 99% of the editors in the market are like this right now. Therefore, if moves forward by learning the levels of editing, then he will stand out from the competition. The filter will be out. And it will grow and earn the most. Now the question arises that from where to get the editing assets? So the best option for this is to record yourself and edit it. Now understand the reason behind why I am saying this. Tomorrow you guys are going to become editors and work with creators or film makers. And if you don't know the problems a creator faces how many good shots a filmmaker has to trim or cut, then you will never be able to make a good edit. Understand it in this way. When you record yourself, record your own voice over , then you will know how the person stammers, when he takes space. And when you edit it, desired output is. And the asset you have is so useless. On the other hand, if you sit down to edit a video made by someone else, you will not have to go through that struggle. not be able to understand the mindset of the creator. As a result you will not be able to work with the team. But if you're not comfortable recording yourself, you can grab clips from Pixels or Pix Base. You free sound effects pack from the link given in my description. Five: Keep Learning. So editing is a job where you can never say that skill which has to be upgraded every now and then. Those who know normal editing learn motion graphics. Those who know motion graphics learn 3D editing. shift to Blender for editing. is no stopping point. So if you have decided to become an editor then always keep this in mind that you can't stop learning. For learning, you can shift to Twitter or Discord. Because whenever a new editing style comes, it you see it on YouTube. Even on Discord, you'll find plenty of editing that will help you grow even more. Step Six: Start Earning. Once you clear stage four. After that you have to start your earning because if you do n't earn then what is the use of learning editing but how do editors earn? Well, editors have many options to earn. But before telling you all those options, you all will have to do one thing which is making a portfolio. All skilled editors are very lazy in building their portfolio. But without this, forget that you will ever be able to earn. Now, one mistake that editors are still making is uploading some of their work on Google Drive and calling it their portfolio. By doing this you would have got a job in 2020, but today if you In the age of AI, you can create your own website just by writing text. So create your own portfolio website and upload your work on it. With a little can get it done by Chat Repeat. And then earn by sharing your portfolio. Earning editors have a lot of ways to do it. The first way is freelancing. You can create your ID on sites like Fiverr, Hub and YouTube Jobs. And from there you can start earning by working for a client. The relying on fiber, you can reach out to the people you want to work with by cold emailing and work with them. You can also get money on project basis. You can also get money on salary basis. If you have even three or four regular You will find clients on Instagram and YouTube. Every day someone is looking for a greater editor. And I am saying this thing with confirmation. The third way is job. Nowadays, there beginner editor is getting salary of 20,000 in corporate. The fourth way is selling digital projects. Editors have the selling project files, and almost every editor does this because it generates an extra passive income for the editors. The fifth way is mentorship. People who have been editing for a long time also look into teaching editing. And after training a lot of people, they sometimes even hire them with themselves. The editing agency. This is the best business with big clients by adding multiple editors and keep your commission in between. There are literally million dollar video editing agencies in the market and you can start one too. So, these were some major ways to earn as an editor. Now in this video we have seen the entire process from the basics of editing to learning editing. Now what you have to do is start creating and make sure that before you start creating anything, you must watch this video of mine because this video has helped more than 7 million people to learn editing. See you learn editing. See you in the next video.