The Handiest Trick for Efficient Video Editing

Marking your clips during your shoot can be crazy helpful when you’re sifting through footage in editing. One easy way to help your future self find a good clip during editing is to use a technique we’ve dubbed “the hand trick.”

The technique

When I’m shooting, as soon as I know I have a good take, I use my hand to cover the lens for a second or two. This makes my life so much easier when I’m scrubbing through my footage in editing. I’ll fast-forward the footage until I see my tiny hand over the lens, and then find my clip.

“When I’m shooting, as soon as I know I have a good take, I use my hand to cover the lens for a second or two.”

I learned about the hand trick from friends who make skateboarding videos. Since it can take a whole bunch of failed attempts to land a tough trick, the person shooting would use this handy technique to mark when the skater finally completed the move.

Every rose has its thorn

A word to the wise: don’t bite the hand that feeds.

My rule is to never EVER mark clips when I’m doing an interview or a testimonial. Once talents catch on to this pattern (and they will), they might become self-conscious when they don’t see the hand fly up to the lens. Trust me, I’ve learned this the hard way. So my philosophy is to only mark clips when you’re working with a scripted video.

Just because

And now, here are some hand puns about the hand trick:

The hand trick: helping you edit your videos faster, one hand at a time!
The hand trick: hands down the handiest trick to speed up your editing.
The hand trick: give your future self a helping hand.
The hand trick: giving you the upper hand in post-production.
The hand trick: get your hands dirty while shooting.

Okay, this list is out of hand.