My Video Editing Workflow

A guide to my simple, flow-focused editing style, born from the philosophy that quantity leads to quality.

Note: This guide covers the "how" and "why" behind my creative choices, not the technical basics. It assumes you already know how to perform standard edits like cutting, keyframing, and adding audio in your preferred software.

The "Quantity → Quality" Philosophy

My editing style is, on the surface, very simple: I get raw footage, cut unnecessary parts, stitch the clips together, add some zooms and pans, choose music, and layer in a few sound and visual effects. The feeling and flow of the final product is what I aim to perfect, NOT the raw beauty or elegance or fanciness or anything else.

One of my core "commandments" is that 99% of my content, especially YouTube Shorts, is from raw, unstaged gameplay. I never use paid actors or set up scenarios, even when my comments are full of "staged!" accusations. This commitment to authenticity forces me to find the story within the chaos of a real game.

This leads to my core belief: it's not "Quality > Quantity," but "Quantity → Quality." By producing a high volume of content (over 150 shorts and counting), I've refined my simple style to be highly effective. The focus is always on Flow, an idea heavily inspired by Technoblade (R.I.P). His editing was just cuts and zooms, but every single one served a purpose and was executed to perfection. That's the goal.

1. Predict and Manipulate the Viewer's Gaze

I borrowed this rule from animation. It's annoying and uncomfortable to have to flick your eyes all over the screen just to keep up with the action. My primary goal is to solve this. Every cut, every piece of text, and every effect must appear exactly where the viewer is already looking. You must either move the Point of Interest (POI) to follow the viewer's focus or manipulate the viewer's focus onto the POI.

My method for this is very hands-on. I rewatch my clip during the editing process and consciously observe where my own eyes are looking. If I'm focused on the intended POI, great. If not, I ask myself: "How can I urge my eyes to look where they're supposed to?" This thought process drives most of my editing decisions.

Here are some practical techniques I use to guide the viewer's gaze:

  • Jump Cuts: I cut directly to where the POI is or where it's about to be. If a new threat enters the screen, I'll often cut to a tighter shot and track them immediately.
  • Subtle Zooms: Similar to a jump cut, but less jarring. A slow, subtle zoom towards an emerging POI can gently guide the viewer's attention without them even noticing.
  • Guiding Text: Text is a powerful tool for directing focus. For example, if a player is about to fall from the sky, I'll place text where they are going to land. The viewer's eyes are drawn to the text, and by the time they've read it, the player has arrived right where they're looking. I then remove the text.
  • Subtle SFX: While I use this rarely due to my "raw clip" rule, a small sound cue can signal that a new POI is about to appear from off-screen, preparing the viewer, or accentuate any POI's perceived emotion.

2. Music, Feel, and Sync

Music is the backbone of most of my shorts; I only omit it when I want to accentuate the raw impact of an action. The process of choosing music is based on intuition and a well-organized library.

I maintain a huge playlist of songs that I update daily. Around halfway through cutting my clips, I'll start looking for a track. This is where my custom music player, FNote v2, comes in handy. It has powerful filtering features like a search bar, tags (for genre, use-case, etc.), and markers on each song that pinpoint the beat drop or most popular segment.

The selection process is mostly trial and error and "feeling." I try to find a song with the same vibe as the video, fall back on an ol' reliable track that I know works, or occasionally use something that's trending (though I prefer not to chase trends). Once a song is chosen, I sync the on-screen action to the music as best I can, ensuring the climax of the clip aligns perfectly with the climax of the song without sacrificing the video's natural rhythm.

3. Miscellaneous SFX and VFX

My use of SFX and VFX is sparse but deliberate, designed to add emphasis without cluttering the video.

  • Sound Effects (SFX): I stick to ol' reliable sounds. A Vine Boom to accentuate a POI, a Discord Leave sound for when a player rage quits, or Minecraft Enderman sounds for hackers teleporting around. These are always synced to the action in the clip first, and the music second.
  • Visual Effects (VFX): My VFX are mostly memes. I might drop in an Enderman PNG or a "Goku counter pose" image when I successfully bait a counter. It's all about adding a layer of humor or context that the community understands.
  • Color & Framing: For truly epic moments, like a well-executed team combo, I'll do some light color manipulation—bumping the contrast or tweaking the brightness. I also add black bars (cinematic cropping) to build suspense during tense moments.

A final, crucial tip for both: always fade them out. A sudden stop in a sound effect or a visual disappearing instantly is jarring. A quick fade on the volume or opacity makes everything feel much smoother and more professional.