Day 9: Choosing Your Editing Platform

Why CapCut?

• Perfect balance: Powerful features + ease of use
• Free to download and use: Amazing! All basic features you need for social media, YouTube, commercials included
• For most people getting started: Really great combo

CapCut Pro Subscription (Optional)

Like most software nowadays, CapCut does have pro subscription offer you can upgrade to if you want.

Upgrading unlocks:

• Handful of advanced features
• Additional templates and transitions
• Few other things

These are really nice, and I think worth the price, but NOT absolutely necessary for video editing.

For most part, I try to focus on teaching just free features, but from time to time you'll see me show something only in pro that might be useful for specific people.

Anthony's Situation

• Most of day-to-day life centered around creating content
• Creating commercial content for clients
• Travel videos for social media pages
• Educational content for courses and YouTube channel
• All content in line with particular business I'm running
• Goal is to make money with content I'm creating

Due to all those reasons, I find myself editing 99% of content using desktop editing programs.

Choose Smartphone Editing If:

• Plan to shoot all content on smartphone
• Goal is to create simple videos for social media channels
• Some other aspect of your hobby

Benefits:

• Save money by getting free app
• Save time it takes to learn desktop apps
• Shoot and edit all content in same exact device

Choose Desktop Editing If:

• Goal is to start some form of business with content
• Large YouTube channel you want to monetize
• Video production company
• Marketing agency
• Some other serious goal

You'll likely find yourself gravitating towards desktop simply for:

• Added functionality
• Power you can unlock

Granted, you will have to spend bit more time learning, but worth it because what you're trying to accomplish with content could potentially make you lot of money.

❌ Old Workflow (Painful!)

1. Import footage into program
2. Drag A-roll (main talking portion) onto timeline
3. Color correct/grade manually: Using lumetri color effect, base correction panel, curves editor
4. Audio enhancement manually: Drag 3 effects - single band compressor (modify settings), parametric equalizer (modify settings), hard limiter
5. Cut up A-roll - cut out mistakes, align sections to include in final edit
6. Add effects/graphics/B-roll/text animations/background cards: BY FAR LONGEST PART!
   • Export small section to After Effects
   • Manually create custom animation/graphic (can take HOURS)
   • Re-export from After Effects
   • Bring back into Premiere Pro
   • Repeat over and over and over for every text animation, graphic, custom effect
   • This process could sometimes take DAYS depending on video length
7. Add sound effects
8. Add subtle background song
9. Export video

"As you can imagine, this was ton of work, but I got addicted to professional quality final videos had, and I think that's one of main reasons our business, ContentCreator.com, took off so quickly. Our content just kind of looked good and stood out from lot of other online creators."

✓ New Workflow (10X Faster!)

1. Import footage and drag into timeline (same)
2. Color correction: Simply drop custom color correction template (LUT) on footage - immediately looks 10x better without complex manual work!
3. Audio: Drag 3 audio presets onto footage - crystal clear sound
4. Same cutting and trimming as before
5. But NOW instead of Premiere ↔ After Effects back and forth:
   • Pull from huge library of editing templates at my disposal
   • Need text animation? Simply drag and drop preset onto timeline
   • All I do is change text and make customizations
   • Even better: When need similar text animation throughout video, hold Alt + drag previous template up = instant duplicate!
   • Do this over and over for all areas needing text
   • Process that was normally 4-5 hours → shaved down to 15-30 minutes
6. Preset background cards - pull right into project
7. Beautiful graphic presets - make content 10x more engaging
8. Super unique effects - drop on B-roll to make it stand out
9. Animation presets - quickly move templates on/off screen (10x more professional than pop up/pop off)
10. Stack all these on top of each other: Unlimited unique combinations and complex edits through combining simple ingredients that take seconds!

What I love: These templates honestly look BETTER than what I would normally whip up doing custom stuff in After Effects!

1. Motion Graphic Templates (Most Used)

Range from simple text animations to more complex graphic compositions.

What's great: Fully customizable files - drop on timeline, customize elements (text, font, color, way things animate in, etc.)

Names by program:

• Premiere Pro: Motion Graphic Template files
• Final Cut Pro: Motion Graphic Templates or Motion Templates
• DaVinci Resolve: Macros

These are favorites because fully customizable, but keep in mind they are program specific. Make sure download right template for editing program you're using.

2. Overlay Assets

At core: Simply video files we can drag and drop onto timeline.

Examples:

• Animated arrow
• Subscribe button
• Film mat played over clip
• Animated background
• Gorgeous lens flare

Different from Motion Graphic Templates: Don't have built-in features that are directly customizable (they're literally video files).

3. Animation Presets

Kind of cool - if drag on timeline, don't show up, don't do anything.

But if drag on top of something already on timeline: Trigger some sort of preset motion with that thing.

Example: Want background to swipe off screen? Drag animation preset over clip → boom, super professional animation!

4. Transition Templates

Color swipe transition is good example.

5. Color Grading Templates (LUTs)

LUTs work in all editing programs - simple one-click color grading presets.

Two types:

• Corrective LUTs: Take log or flat footage back to looking super professional and dynamic (brings footage that doesn't look normal back to looking as eye would see it)
• Creative LUTs: Take clip that already looks corrected and give it unique secondary look or color grade

6. General Effect Presets

• Audio effect presets - instantly clean up audio to crystal clear
• Creative effects - retro vintage VHS look

Typically program specific - Final Cut Pro preset won't work in Premiere Pro. But usually if created for one program, probably created for others too (want it downloaded as many times as possible).

7. Full Project Templates

Example: Dynamic intro template.

Entire project basically already made for you. All you do is replace video files with your own footage → voila, professional looking video with almost no editing required!

Great for people totally new to editing.

Remember: We control exposure through shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.

There is no perfect setting. They're always gonna change based on amount of light in scene.

On smartphone: Aperture is fixed so it's all up to shutter speed and ISO.

Ideally: Use 2x rule for shutter speed to keep gorgeous motion blur. While shooting, use histogram to measure exposure.

Too dark? Add light to scene OR increase ISO (careful - adds digital noise, hurts quality)

Too bright? Use ND filter to cut light hitting sensor. No ND filter? Over-crank shutter speed (brings down exposure but sacrifices motion blur)

Always stay away from auto mode if goal is most cinematic footage possible. Ensures no strange jumps in exposure (don't see in professional content).

Remember: 24fps is industry standard for regular speed footage. Key word: REGULAR SPEED.

You cannot turn 24fps footage into true slow motion. If try to slow down, footage will look choppy and unprofessional.

Other part of mistake: Shooting in one frame rate but editing in another.

Shoot in 30fps + edit in 24fps timeline → final video will look choppy and unprofessional due to frame dropping.

Exception: NOT the case when shoot in 60, 120, or 240fps and edit in same 24fps timeline (frames dropped more evenly spaced - human eye can't pick up awkward gaps).

General rule: Shoot most content in 24fps. If plan on slowing down footage, shoot in 60, 120, or 240fps.

How to Create Depth

• Lighting
• Movements
• Set design

Anthony's favorite/easiest way: Exaggerate 3D space by clearly showing foreground, subject, and background.

Bad example: Subject blends with background - no physical space between two.

Better: Clearly defined subject + background by increasing distance (improves depth of image).

Even better: Film from different perspective that introduces element much closer to camera = foreground, adds entirely new layer.

Remind yourself while shooting to look for elements to film up against - naturally increases depth and makes films pop.

Lighting Isn't Just About Gear

Also how we strategically approach using natural light to advantage.

Can't go out and film at 1pm when sun highest in sky and expect content to look like Hollywood film no matter how expensive camera is.

Need to:

• Avoid harsh shadows
• Add diffusion to light sources
• Try best to film during golden hour (sunrise and sunset)

Before hitting record: Double check, heck even triple check white balance.

Always ask yourself: What color temperature is light in my scene?

• Warm and orange? Keep white balance lower in 3,000-4,000 Kelvin range
• Not orange? Likely white light - requires white balance in 5,000 Kelvin range

If you constantly get numbers mixed up (like Anthony):

Remember white balance is all about getting WHITES in scene to look white on camera. Forget what numbers mean - scroll through white balance values until whites in scene actually look white on monitor.

No white objects in scene? Add one (white sheet of paper) OR focus on skin tones of subject and scroll until skin tones look human-like on monitor.

Something as simple as:

• Liquid pouring sound as actually pour coffee
• Subtle whoosh noise as camera quickly moves past object

"Believe me, I know how irrelevant it can feel but viewers will subconsciously interpret videos as much more lifelike."

This is one of biggest things that separates good content creators from great content creators.

If Just Starting

Best thing to make content look 10x better: Simplify movements.

Clean and smooth almost always looks better than overexerting yourself on particular movement that requires more advanced gear and skills.

Remember: Movement meant to enhance scene you're filming, NOT be primary focus.

Second filmmaker pushes it too far with movement and movement itself becomes distraction → you've lost viewer.

Quote: "The best lighting and movement goes unnoticed by audience." Ironic because as filmmakers we want to blow people away, but story needs to be focus. Great lighting/movement just make story more believable.

Remember: 80-90% of movements should be simple and easy to digest. Crazy movements only reserved for when: (a) absolutely know can pull off final look and (b) story absolutely warrants that style movement.

Not always possible to get right up next to subjects and fill frame depending on gear or other factors, but that's no reason to give up on shot.

There's always going to be more gear we wish we had to make certain shot possible, but content creation is all about knowing what is possible with what we have and getting creative to make shot into something you like.

Always try to fill frame when creating content. If can't do it while filming, remember you can always reframe shots while editing to improve final look.

Real Example

Recently saw video posted in Facebook community where every single transition between clips was either fade to black OR super zoom.

Imagine watching entire 2-minute video where every cut looked like that. Super distracting - probably not gonna watch video.

I get it though - super easy to get in habit of throwing preset transitions over every cut, but it will really make content look amateur.

99% of content I create and all filmmakers I look up to is based on standard cuts where one clip immediately transitions to next - highly recommend same approach.

If you think this will take all life out of video and need trendy transition to add spice back in: All that proves is you need to focus more on planning shots and creating story before even start editing.

Other Parts of Over-Editing

Few other things I see all the time:

• Videos that are 100% slow motion clips
• Videos that really overuse warp stabilization (look glitchy/made of jello)
• General lack of attention to detail

All things you really want to focus on and avoid when edit content.

I know that's lot to juggle all at once but if continually push yourself to improve as editor, you'll look back at this and wonder how you ever could have overused fade to black. Believe me, I know this is true because happened to me.

If you already like PCs → stick with PC

If you already like Macs → stick with Macs

If you don't know what you like, keep watching - we're going to cover what's way more important: the individual components that make up computer.

Minimum Specs to Look For

• Storage: At least 500GB SSD
• CPU: Minimum 6 cores
  • Ideally Apple Silicon chip (probably little out of this price range)
  • Intel i5, i7, or i9
  • AMD Ryzen 5, 7, or 9
• RAM: Really want at least 32GB, but 16GB acceptable for super tight budget
• GPU: Either dedicated GPU with at least 2GB VRAM OR integrated GPU

Under $1,000: Used Market

Highly recommend keeping eye on market of used computers in your area.

With how much has changed in past few years, incredible deals you can find on powerful computers that sold for thousands just few years ago. Slightly dated but still very capable of editing professional content.

Anthony's examples:

• 27" iMac Pro with 64GB RAM + 12-core CPU → sold for $900 (would absolutely serve any beginner/intermediate editor extremely well)
• 2019 MacBook Pro with 34GB RAM → sold for $600

Baseline recommendations (for Intel/AMD computers):

• 32GB RAM
• CPU with at least 6-8 cores
• GPU with at least 1.5GB VRAM

This will edit 4K just fine with little to no lag.

$1,500-$2,000: New MacBook Pros

Highly recommend new line of MacBook Pros with M2 chips.

13" MacBook Pro (great option):

• Upgrade from 8GB to 16GB unified RAM
• Increase SSD from 256GB to 512GB (read/write speeds of 512 SSD significantly faster than smaller SSD)
• Price: $1,700
• Will cut through 4K footage like butter, even higher resolutions with little to no problems

If you love PCs:

Lenovo Slim 7 (very popular laptop in video editing world) - similar price:

• 8-core AMD Ryzen CPU
• 16GB RAM
• AMD GPU with 8GB VRAM
• Larger 16" display (great for editing)

If it were me, would still opt for Mac (better performance with M2 chip), but hey, if you love PCs, that's your call.

$2,500+: Professional Tier

Best thing to do: Upgrade screen real estate and jump to 16" option for MacBook Pros.

Baseline 16" MacBook Pro:

• 12-core CPU
• 19-core GPU
• 16GB unified memory

Extremely powerful - almost more power than most people editing basic videos would ever need.

Only people who should go beyond this: Those working with seriously complex edits in very heavy footage like 6K, 8K, and up.

Q: Mac or PC?

For most people, I'd recommend Macs considering advancements with new chips. Doesn't mean I hate PCs - PC market going to expand faster in next few years (need to compete with Apple). Right now Apple has edge on most fronts outside customization options (PCs always win there).

If you like building computers → PCs. If want to buy something that works really well out of box → Mac.

Q: Laptop or Desktop?

Comes down to lifestyle and personal preference. Plan on traveling and editing on go or working primarily from one office location?

Anthony's evolution: Past 5 years desktop guy (felt power from desktop couldn't be matched). With pandemic, not traveling much. Now planning to travel more + laptops extremely capable at great prices. Can get external monitor, plug laptop in when in office.

Q: Color accuracy of displays?

Definitely something to keep eye on - how well colors on screen represent colors camera captured.

Good news: All computers recommended today have great color accurate displays. Most computers above $1,500 will have highly developed, bright, accurate displays.

Bad news: Also depends on what people watching your content on (you have no control). So not something to lose hours of sleep over.

Q: External hard drive recommendations?

For inexpensive backup drives: Seagate 16TB HDD drives

For faster drives (storing footage actively editing): Glyph SSD drives

• Anthony: Script, shoot, edit content all by myself
• Paul: Work on website, run social media ads

All we really did was work on adding more videos to course (only course was 14 Day Filmmaker at time), occasionally shoot additional ads to scale sales.

With that simple system: Able to hit multiple seven figures within first year. It was great.

Crucial Box #1: Categorize Content

In designing this tool, we knew we had to check off few crucial boxes. One was ability to see all different categories of content we work on in their own individual sections.

Examples:

• YouTube content
• Social media
• 14 Day Filmmaker (how we organize courses and content we're working on)
• 30 Day Course Creator
• 14 Day YouTuber
• All that fun stuff

The Workflow Sequence (Example: YouTube Content)

When we click on one category, we see really easy to follow sequence that project will follow:

1. Think Tank: Whenever I wake up in middle of night and have idea for video, I put it in Think Tank so don't forget. When tasked with starting next YouTube video, just choose from Think Tank.
2. Scripting Process: Once choose it, literally just drag over → updates to show how long it's been at that stage
3. Script Review: Once fully scripted, goes here where someone else gets tagged to read through, make sure sounds good
4. Production: Once start shooting, goes into production
5. Ready for Edit: Done being shot and ready to get edited
   • What's really cool: If work with editors, they don't need to even ask you. They can just log in and see "what's at top of ready for edit - that's my priority"
6. Edit: They let me know they've started by putting into edit
7. Edit Review: When done, move to edit review - I can come in, give feedback, let them know if changes needed
   • If changes → goes back into edit
   • More often → goes into ready for publish
8. Ready for Publish: This is our queue we build up (hopefully have lot of content ready - that's what I like!)
9. Published: Eventually when published, bring into published - archive of all videos we've done

Really cool. Each of our different content categories has its own unique channel like this where we can see all different videos being worked on right now.

Example: "How to Create Cinematic Podcast Studio"

If I click on this video, all this information pops up with tons of extra abilities:

Detailed Description:

• Click pencil, write detailed description of idea
• Usually start with: Hook → Problem we're solving → Describe → Bullets to cover (like camera gear) → Common questions → Outro
• Give it as much detail as needed

File Attachments: Can attach any files if wanted

Assignment: Who should do this task? Can plug to any person on team → they get notified. Can tag people, all that fun stuff.

Subtasks: Can create subtasks

• Example for YouTube video: Add subtask "design thumbnail"
• Assign to graphic designers on team (or do myself)
• Give them insight: "This is what I want thumbnail to look like"
• Hit submit → now have main task + additional subtasks

Time Tracking (Anthony Loves This!)

Especially working with team of people we pay sometimes hourly wages: Really nice to have them able to log their time.

• Can start timer → literally starts clock, tracks their time
• OR come in after fact and log how much time worked + description of what got done
• Super helpful

Comments & Communication

To keep communication as streamlined as possible: Area down here where can leave comments, have actual conversation with who's ever associated with task, make sure send them out so everything gets seen.

Ton more we could talk about just within this little task, but I'll stop there - for most people, that's really all you'll need.

"All Tasks" View

Click on "all tasks" → see card view that organizes literally everything from every single channel.

Example: Ready to Edit section shows:

• Additional projects
• Tagged as: social media, 14 Day YouTuber, YouTube channel, more social media
• Organizes literally everything from every category

Super helpful: I can come in on random day and:

• See exactly how many videos ready to be published across all channels
• Make sure nothing's been sitting not getting worked on
• Prioritize things by reorganizing cards

Very, very helpful.

How It Works

1. Click on video
2. Set date (example: upcoming Monday the 27th)
3. Updates automatically
4. Look at calendar view → there's that video with publish date

Super helpful because: Can literally assign all different content you're working on different published dates. Come to calendar view → have crystal clear vision of all content coming from your company.

Websites & Sales Funnels

Every business needs professional website and sales funnel. Content Creator Machine handles both perfectly.

• Super easy to use visual builder interface (anyone can master in matter of hours)
• Templatized entire sites and funnels you can install with click of button
• Course creation landing pages and funnels
• Checkout pages, opt-in forms for building email lists
• Influencer funnels for attracting brand deals, sponsorships
• Freelance websites (content strategists, wedding videographers, real estate creators, marketing agencies)
• Can even steal exact website Anthony uses for his own production company

Course Creation Business

Handles all aspects:

• Hosting course itself
• Processing payments
• Handling subscriptions
• Even hosting and managing epic course communities

CRM & Email Management

Replace expensive and hard to use CRM and email software - Content Creator Machine does all this incredibly well.

• Build and manage email lists
• Design sophisticated email flows
• Manage customers all in one place

Unlike most CRM/email softwares that charge more as email list grows: Price of Content Creator Machine never changes no matter how many contacts on list.

Prior to using Content Creator Machine for email, we used to pay ActiveCampaign over $24,000 per year. Pretty insane considering Content Creator Machine is less than $100/month.

Social Integration & Automation

Incredible tool:

• Sync up all accounts in one place
• Schedule and manage all posts across all platforms
• Organize direct messages and communication with followers/potential clients all in one space
• Replace ManyChat for comment and DM automation

For Freelancers

• Built-in proposal templates
• Custom invoices clients can pay online
• Contract templates for easy e-signatures (protecting both you and business)
• Project management tool built-in (streamlining operations)
• Unlimited video hosting for sharing content with clients, customers, course students

Normally: Content Creator Machine costs $97/month or $970/year

But if you join right now:

Lock in $75/month or $750/year FOREVER