Tips for Making an Epic Video Montage
Whether it’s for that vacation you just took, sorority recruitment promotions, or you just want to show off all of your fun adventures, a video montage is a great way to showcase the great times that you’ve had! Here are my tips for making the best montage ever!
1. Taking good footage
The raw footage that you take will be the foundation for your montage, so it needs to be quality material. The most important thing to remember is to always, always, shoot horizontally! Try to shoot everything on the same device, whether it be a cell phone, camera, or camcorder so that the dimensions of the footage and the quality is the same across all clips. Take a good mix of panning, zoom-in, walking, and still shots so you have a variety to choose from. Take many videos so that your montage will show the full spectrum of your adventures, but also don’t forget to have fun!
2. Choosing music
Choose your music before you start editing. If you are planning on uploading your video montage to social media, you HAVE to make sure that you have the rights to use the music that you’ve chosen. Most popular songs are copyrighted, meaning that legally you are not allowed to use them in your video (even if you credit the owner in the video description). Look into music copyright laws if you want more information. SoundCloud remixes are a good option to use because they are less likely to be copyrighted. Remember to choose music that matches the vibe/mood that you want your video to have.
3. Editing your video
I use iMovie to edit my videos because it is already installed on my computer and it’s super easy to use. When you import clips to iMovie it puts them in your media gallery in chronological order. A good first step is to edit the length of your individual clips. Make sure they feature the best, most action packed moments. Then, put your clips into the workstation in the order that you want them to be in. I like to order my clips so that they tell a story. Mute all your clips so that you will be able to hear the music while you’re editing. Use the “stabilize shaky video” feature on clips that are shaky. Then drag the music files into the workstation.
4. Using the speed tool and music fade
Use the speed tool to make clips either faster or slower to match the tempo of the music. This step involves a lot of stop-and-start editing, and it’s the most time consuming. You’ll have to go back and forth between editing and watching the video to make sure the timing is how you want it to be. You can also use the speed tool on the music itself to make the song faster or slower. If you want more than one song in your montage, experiment with overlapping the songs and the music fade feature.
5. Final touches
Now that your video is nearly complete, it’s time to add the finishing touches. You can add transitions, titles, and sound effects if you like. Usually, I don’t add transitions because I like the choppy-ness of one clip changing immediately to the next. Adding “titles” lets you put text over the video. I keep text to a minimum, adding it only at the beginning and end of the video montage. I don’t really add sound effects, but I do like to put scrolling credits at the end of my videos.
So, there you have it – my tips for making an epic video montage. Keep in mind, I’m not an expert, and these are tips not rules. Feel free to take all of the creative freedoms that you want while editing your video! Happy editing!