David Rotan: Hi! I am David Rotan, Video Production Manager with Monkeysee.

com. Now that we've captured all of our video from our camcorder into our editing program, let's actually start editing and cutting our video together.

I am going to drag this whole video clip down here. I reach up here to the original clip list and drag it down here, and this is called the Timeline. All of a sudden there is a blue bar that just popped up.

Almost all, virtually all editing programs consist of a bin window where it will show, all of your raw footage that you've captured from your camera. It has a preview window that shows you the particular clip that you are working on or editing and cutting, and then it has a timeline, down here at the bottom we see a big bar where it's spread out with little pointers and a counter, where we can scroll through using our mouse.

But if we move it like this, it goes very fast and we can find particular portions of that clip that we want to use. So again, I am using iMovie HD, but your program might be a little different, you'll just want to read the manual or the help instructions, but it's all going to be generally the same.

So what we are wanting to do when editing is set in and out point which means the end points which means the end point just that, it's where we want to cut into that particular clip, it's where we are going to start watching the video. The outpoint is going to be where we end it, where we stop and we don't watch anymore of the clip after that portion.

So the easiest way on this program, I have decided I want to start my clip at around 2 minutes and 49 seconds in, as we see on the timeline. That's where I gave my best deliver in my video here on this particular clip. So I find right before I am starting to talk and I am using my mouse to drag all the way down to that mark that I made 2:49 and there we go.

I let go and it automatically cuts out all of the footage that I don't want before that particular moment in time, the 2:49 mark and so now it immediately starts right there. We've just set an in point.

[Video Playing: 00:02:32 - 00:02:36]Now we have to find an out point. So what I will do is scroll to where I want to cut this, so I'd say in there --[Video Playing: 00:02:46 - 00:02:48]And that's where I want to cut. I say, I am going to show you how to make the perfect PB and J. I can also use my arrow keys on my keyboard to go frame by frame if you notice here in the Preview window, back to before my head tilts down, I want to look for little things like that. You know it's all about the detail, the devils in the detail, same thing with editing. You know I want to cut as soon as I say the perfect PB and J. Boom! I want to cut to a close up of the ingredients that we are going to need.

So that's where I want to make my outpoint, I am going to do the same thing that I did in for the in point. I am going to come to the end of the clip down here in my timeline and I am going to drag it to my mark where I had it, right there and there we have it.

So now we want to add in another shot. I want to edit in a close up. Now first of all I should drag this down to my Timeline and there it is, it's highlighted in blue and I am going to drag it to where we want to start with our end point, and then again, I am just dragging the blue bar to set my end point.

[Video Playing: 00:04:02 - 00:04:08]Okay, I'll cut right there just for time sake and then we want to drag it back to the mark to set an outpoint, just like we did with the first clip, and there we have it, and you will see down here on your Timeline that the two separate clips are now put together just the portions between the in and the outpoint. So we watched it and we clicked our mouse down here in our Timeline, it would cut together seamlessly.

[Video Playing: 00:04:33 - 00:04:41]And that's the basic of editing your video. You have put together various clips just the portions of the clips that you want by setting in and out points, putting them together on your timeline. And again, almost all video editing programs are same; they all feature the same elements. Some common mistakes are making cuts within the same shot like wide shot to a wide shot, it just looks weird, it's a jump cut, is what we call it, because it just jumps. You know it's always best to make sure when you are cutting to a different shot, it's a different, completely different angle, like from a wide shot where you can see all of me standing here at the table, to a very close-up of the ingredients, the peanut butter and the jelly, that's just a natural cut.

Now had I went from a wide shot to wide shot, it would just look choppy. So those are come basic editing tips. Again, get familiar with the particular editing program that you are using at home and learn as much as you can about it, just by getting out there and shooting videos and playing around with it.