Editing Production

After wrapping up our first day of filming, I couldn’t wait to dive into editing. Editing is where the magic happens. The editing process is what turns random footage into an actual story that connects with people. The goal was to really bring out the emotion of the song and make sure that the visuals flowed smoothly with the audio. I used two different editing apps, one for piecing everything together, and the other focused more on color grading and aesthetics. Even though I thought it’d be quick, just getting the basics down took me around two hours. Lining up clips to match the music was harder than I expected. Some cuts felt awkward or too jumpy, and that totally ruined the mood. To fix it, I used beat-matching techniques, which helped the visuals hit right on each beat or lyric drop. This instantly made the transitions feel smoother and gave the whole thing more emotion. One of the most fun (but challenging) parts was color grading. The original clips looked okay, but they didn’t reflect the darker, moodier vibe of the song. I adjusted brightness, contrast, and saturation to get this almost cinematic tone that made the visuals pop more. I also added subtle transitions like crossfades and dissolves to keep things flowing without it feeling too over-edited. Consistency was another thing I had to work on—some scenes had different lighting or angles that felt kind of off when placed next to each other. It took some trial and error, but eventually I made them feel like they belonged together. I also had to think about pacing a lot, making sure the visuals didn’t feel rushed or too slow. Faster sections had more quick cuts and tight angles, while slower moments had longer shots that really let the emotion sink in. There were a few technical setbacks, too, like crashes and laggy previews (which were so annoying). But there were also little moments of creative magic, like when a clip accidentally synced perfectly with the beat. That reminded me why I love this whole process, even when it’s stressful. I also showed a rough draft to a few people and got helpful feedback on where things felt off or could be stronger emotionally. By the end of the session, I was drained but so proud of the progress. Watching the almost-finished version made me realize how far it had come from just raw clips; it was actually starting to feel like a real music video.