Learning Video Editing shortcuts like a Pro!
As if learning to shoot videos wasn’t hard enough, I’ve been trying to learn how to edit videos as well. Initially as a way to support my local Under-8 football team kids by sending them sessions and later on producing my own videos and tutorials.
The problem I’ve discovered is not so much understanding the basics. What was causing me grief - and I am sure many others - was how bloody hard it is to edit videos so that they look half professional.
Dozens of tutorials later and hours practicing I got the basics right. Choose a story, choose a sound track, create a timeline. This is where the painful experience began for me. Having worked with computers for over 30 years I have some very old and bad habits in how I use the mouse and keyboard shortcuts.
Trying to grasp video editing not knowing the keyboard shortcuts is as painful as pulling teeth. Probably.
So I looked around for specialist keyboards (the ones you see in studios sometimes) and apart from looking awful, were also quite pricey. I also found something called Loupedeck but blimey, that costs nearly £500 quid so I immediately crossed that off my shopping list! This is still just a hobby for me so I didn’t think it was worth the investment. Maybe in a couple of years when my channel is super famous and I am getting millions of views 😂
Anyway, back to reality… I came across this little beauty. I use a Mac and Adobe Premiere Pro for this but they sell covers for other video editing software options such as DaVinci Resolve, FinalCut Pro as well as Photo editing software and even music software!
It is made by a company called EditorKeys and I can’t recommend them enough.
For £27.99 I was able to use keyboard shortcuts like a Pro! Within a month of using this keyboard cover, I started to realise that sometimes I forget to put it on and still remember the keys!
There is one little issue with it which is it makes using the keyboard for other tasks like sending an email, or writing an article rather unbearable. If you have a keyboard that lights up in the dark, this is also a potential issue as the cover dims that light considerably. But the solution is extremely simple, just remove the cover 😊.
There are many pieces of equipment that goes into producing a video and a heck of a lot of cash can be spent in the process. But out of all of the gear I’ve bought this is probably the cheapest and yet the one that has made the biggest difference in my workflow!
I’ve created and edited this video a lot faster than I used to, thanks to this keyboard cover. Take a look at the full review on my Youtube channel:
