If you need something done professionally, hire a professional. This goes for video editing as much as it applies to plumbing and handling a legal matter. If you want to leave a professional impression with your potential clients, hire a professional video editor.
To be fair though, it does depend on the type of job you need done as to whether you truly need a professional for all situations. You could go to YouTube and learn how to fix a leaky faucet, just as you can find resources to teach you how to do video editing.
But to attain the knowledge and experience required to do a truly professional job doesn’t happen after watching a couple of YouTube videos. Just as it depends on the depth of the plumbing issue, the type of edit you’ll need will determine whether or not you absolutely should hire a professional.
Training Videos
For instance, if you want a training video edited that you plan to use in-house, you may get away with cutting it yourself. Put in some titles, edit out the bad stuff and you’ll have a basic video that your employees can view.
Then again, there’s the viewability issue. Is a rudimentary video going to capture the viewer’s interest long enough for them to absorb the material? Would motion graphics better help to keep them engaged? Perhaps.
The length of the video is also a factor. If you’re showing employees a 30 minute video, you need something to break things up. Either take a physical break or you need to make the video somewhat compelling. You may need some tasteful special effects, motion graphics, music, creative titling, computer graphics, plus other elements to make this a watchable video that will engage your employees, rather than bore them. These are elements that would be hard to achieve by yourself if you don’t have the right knowledge.
Promotional Videos
If you need a promotional video production for your company, you definitely need to have this professionally edited. Viewers of your video will judge your company based on the quality of your video because a great video translates to a great company. And the opposite is also true. At least in the mind of the viewer. And that’s all that counts!
Hire a professional video editor
You need to have the correct amount and combination of elements that only an experienced editor will know to include. For instance, you want the pacing to be appropriate. You want the right combination of quick cuts and a slow down so that people can absorb the material.
Even though a promotional video is supposed to get people excited, people still have to take a breather and not have everything come at them like a barrage of stampeding horses. I suspect you have been subject to one of those videos where you’ve been knocked over by the special effects, fast cuts, loud music, etc. only to wonder what the heck you’ve just watched. That’s the opposite effect that you want for your promotional video. It should be fast moving, but digestible. It should have motion graphics, but done appropriately and sparingly.
To get a better idea of what we’re talking about, here’s our Chicago Video Editing Demo:
