• to the Kdenlive tutorial
• to the Flowblade Movie Editor tutorial
• to the Openshot Video Editor tutorial
• to the Cinelerra tutorial
• to the Pitivi Video Editor tutorial

You can also consult the page on the comparison of Kdenlive, Flowblade, Openshot and Pitivi as well as the page on their installation on a Linux system.

Quick assembly lexicon

Linear, non-linear editing : video editing in the analog era is called linear, in fact the raw video was on a film and the editing was manual with scissor cutting of the film to select the interesting sequences and rearrange them manually. It was no longer possible (or at least very difficult) to return to the original video, you advanced in a linear manner with no possible return. Unlike the non-linear mode, made possible by digital where you can very well return. All current video editing software is non-linear video editing software.

Timeline : this is a representation of the editing on a time axis, in good French we will speak of a "chronological frieze"

Rushes : these are the raw videos imported when the project was created

Clips : these are small video sequences from rushes that we manipulate on the timeline

Rough cut : rough cut is the first step in editing, it consists of selecting the clips from the rushes that we are going to use on the timeline.

Trim (or trimming): this is a technique which consists of lengthening or shortening a clip of the timeline from the beginning or the end, in this case there can be several scenarios:

• if you lengthened your clip it may overlap
• on the previous clip if you extended from the beginning
• on the next clip if you extended from the end
• If you shortened your clip, there is a gap in the timeline between the shortened clip
• and the previous clip if you shortened from the beginning
• and the next clip if you shortened from the end

We will talk about ripple editing (insertion):

• If you lengthened your clip, subsequent clips are pushed back on the timeline to make room for the lengthened clip.
• if you shortened your clip, the gap in the timeline whether before or after the shortened clip is automatically filled

We will talk about roll assembly (crushing):

• if you have lengthened your clip at its end, the next clip is shortened by the same amount and there is no translation of the clips
• if you lengthened your clip from the beginning, the previous clip is shortened by the same amount and there is no clip translation.

• sharp transitions: in this case we go directly from one clip to another without any further ado (and in this case without animation), it is the most used transition which suggests a continuity in time and space
• fade-to-black transitions: which, as the name suggests, will gradually fade from black to the image or vice versa, often marking a break in time and space,
• crossfade transitions: the two clips mix to move from one to the other, this can be enhanced by a geometric figure (such as a circle, spiral, cloud, explosion, etc.) or a scan (image translation, etc.), this also most often marks a break in time and space.

General assembly principles

The rough cut

The title

The creation of the credits (opening and ending) is a relatively independent phase, it can be done after the rough cut, after the creation of the bear or during the video layout; it consists of creating the opening and ending credits, it also consists of creating the subtitles if necessary (which will most often be created during the layout phase).

Creation of the bear

This step consists of rearranging the clips in a specific order which is not necessarily chronological order, it depends on what you want to achieve in the end. For any video, you will need to think about this beforehand and create a semblance of a storyboard. The art of editing lies in placing them in the right order, the right rhythm, the right duration, etc. This cannot be improvised and comes with time, there are quite a few sites on the internet that explain this very well by giving some good advice.

During this step there may be some cutting and extensions, that is to say that we can shorten some clips (or even delete them completely) or on the contrary lengthen some clips.

Video mockup

This is the step that will give substance to the video, this is where the actual editing is really done. All the ingredients are there, the clips, the tools, the effects, the compositions and the transitions, all that remains is to mix it all together to create the final video.

In practice, we will add transitions between clips, add effects to some clips, move or resize some more clips. It is difficult to list in a linear way the actions that will be carried out because it depends a lot on what you want to do and your level of mastery. This is certainly the most laborious phase but has the advantage of being iterative, we can easily go back if we are not satisfied with the result and start again as many times as necessary.

Video Calibration

It is often the last step before rendering, calibration has two objectives:

• homogenize the video or part of the video so that the light, contrast and colors are the same while the rushes were not shot in the same conditions of time, light,
• provide a rendering and a particular touch to give an atmosphere or a style to the video

This is not necessarily the easiest step, beginners can skip it, it is aimed at editors who are starting to have some experience.

The rendering