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There are a lot of tutorials on video editing you can watch for free on YouTube.
But what if you don’t want to spend time searching through all the bad videos in order to find a good one? And what if you want to take a more structured approach to learn video editing?
In that case, there are some great paid courses available online, which I’ll cover in this article.
So whether you edit on Mac, PC, or on your phone, here are some of the best places to learn video editing online for beginners.
1. Video Editing: How to Edit Your Film with Jack Coyne (on Moment)
Course details: 46 minutes | 6 lectures | All Levels
This course by Jack Coyne is a great introduction to video editing in general.
Whereas most of the other courses on this list are tied to tutorials for a specific program, this course teaches you video editing skills, you can use across multiple video editing programs.
In other words, it doesn’t require that you use a specific piece of software, but instead teaches you the fundamental principles for editing professional looking videos.
Jack has a background in film school, and has edited videos for famous YouTuber Casey Neistat, before he started his own video production company.
This course is best, if you already have a basic understanding of the video program, you’re going to work in, and have create a video or two, and you want to take it to the next level.
If you’re starting your own YouTube channel or want to become a vlogger, this is definitely the course for you.
2. Premiere Pro CC for Beginners: Video Editing in Premiere with Phil Ebiner (on Udemy)
Course details: 12 total hours | 131 lectures | All Levels
This course by Phil Ebiner is a great introduction to Adobe Premiere Pro if you are a beginner.
It requires you to have Adobe Premiere Pro installed, and you can usually get a free trial period if you want to test it out.
The course will take you all the way from beginner to the producer of your first short documentary film.
You also get some footage to practice on.
Other essential things you’ll learn include:
- Professional video editing techniques
- How to set the right project settings
- How to export your videos
- How to color grade your footage
- How to add visual effects and stabilize footage
- How to create motion titles
- How to edit green screen footage
3. Video Editing in DaVinci Resolve 16/17: Beginner to Advanced with Louay Zambarakji (on Udemy)
Course details: 10.5 hours | 208 lectures | All Levels
This course by Louay Zambarakji is a great walkthrough of the free DaVinci Resolve color grading and video editing suite from Blackmagic Design.
Louay walks you through how to download and install the program, and use it for the first time.
The course takes you all the way from beginner to advanced student, and you’ll learn the ins- and out of video editing and color grading in the program.
Plus, you get some footage to practice on.
Other essential things you’ll learn include:
- The workflow of DaVinci Resolve
- Professional video editing techniques
- How to set the right project settings
- How to export your videos
- How to color correct and color grade your footage
- How to add visual effects and cool transitions
- How to create motion graphics
- How to use nodes
4. iMovie – Video editing for beginners on Mac OS (on Udemy)
Course details: 3 hours | 26 lectures | All Levels
This course by Colin Marks is a great introduction to iMovie even if you’re a complete beginner.
If you own a Mac, you should already have iMovie installed. If not, you can download it here for free.
The course takes you from beginner to competent user of iMovie in just three hours, so you’re ready to make your own videos.
Colin Marks does a great job at explaining video editing terms to non-video editors.
You also get some sample footage to practice on.
Other essential things you’ll learn include:
- Video editing basics
- The layout and workflow in iMovie
- How to organize your footage
- How to import footage, images, and audio into iMovie
- How to fine-tune your video clips in the timeline
- How to export your video
5. The Complete Final Cut Pro X Course Beginner To Intermediate (on Udemy)
Course details: 4.5 total hours | 50 lectures | All Levels
If you want to step up your game and move from iMovie to the more professional editing program Final Cut Pro X (for Mac), this course by Joe Parys is the way to go.
It requires you to have Final Cut Pro X installed, which you can purchase here. Usually, you can get a 90-day free trial to test it out too.
The course will take you all the way from beginner to the producer of your first couple of projects.
You also get some footage to practice on.
Other essential things you’ll learn include:
- Professional video editing techniques
- How to create cool transitions for videos for YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok
- How to create speed ramps and speed ramp transitions
- How to export your videos
- How to color correct and color grade your footage
- How to add visual effects and stabilize footage
- How to create motion titles
- How to edit green screen footage
6. Motion Graphics & Video Editing Theory – After Effects Crash Course (on Skillshare)
Course details: 4 hours 36 minutes | 24 lectures (in total) | All Levels
Adobe After Effects is an extremely powerful tool for creating everything from visual effects to motion graphics.
This crash course by Lindsay Marsh (part 1) and Ryan Collins (part 2) focuses on the latter, and gives you a quick introduction to After Effects and motion graphic elements such as logo animation, typography, and creating successful video ads for social media.
You also get some free resources for sketching, brainstorming, and concept development.
The crash course includes:
- A course guide
- How to create compelling videos that sell
- Frame Rates
- Resolution
- Storyboarding
- Layout
- Compositions
- Keyframes
- Timeline
- Easy Ease
- Text
- Solids
- Shapes
- Track Matte
- Masks
- Camera Basics
- Null Objects
- Wiggle
- Effects
- Glitch Effect
7. KineMaster, Powerful Smartphone Video Editing (Android, iOS) (on Udemy)
Course details: 1.5 hours | 14 lectures | All Levels
KineMaster is a powerful video editing app for smartphones, and it’s available for both iOS and Android.
The course takes you from beginner to experienced user of the Kinemaster app in just about 90 minutes, so you can make your own videos.
It’s a great walkthrough, though I wish he had chosen some real-life video footage instead of video game footage for his examples.
That being said, the techniques he teaches can easily be applied to any kind of footage.
Other essential things you’ll learn include:
- The KineMaster user interface and controls
- How to choose resolution and frame rate
- Basic video editing skills
- Color keying (green screen footage)
- Using animations
- Audio settings and Effects
8. Adobe Premiere Rush CC: Video Editing for Beginners (on Udemy)
Course details: 34 minutes | 12 lectures | Beginner
Adobe Premiere Rush is a powerful video editing app for smartphones, and it’s available for both iOS and Android and desktops.
This course by Johnny Sturgeon is great if you’re new to video editing and Premiere Rush, which is a scaled-down version of Premiere Pro.
Johnny Sturgeon walks you through all the aspects of the program you’ll need–from editing to exporting your video.
Essential things you’ll learn include:
- The in and outs of Adobe Premiere Rush
- How to create a new project
- How to edit, arrange clips, and work with multiple layers
- How to create graphics, titles, and text
- How to add transitions
- Basic color correction and color grading of your footage
- How to add effects
- How to alter the speed of your video clips
- How to adjust audio
- How to export your video and upload it to social media
Conclusion
I hope you find these courses useful.
If there’s a specific course topic you’d wish I’d covered, let me know in the comments below. I might know where to find it.
About the author:
Jan Sørup is a videographer and photographer from Denmark. He owns filmdaft.com and the Danish company Apertura, which produces video content for big companies in Denmark and Scandinavia. Jan has a background in music, has drawn webcomics, and is a former lecturer at the University of Copenhagen.