Click, Cut, Create: The Future of Video Editing

I still remember my first video made with Windows Movie Maker back in the early 2000s (I'm feeling old)... editing those shaky family home videos, filmed by the only family member who had the only phone with an actual camera feature (a VGA one, but still). It was more of a slide show than an actual video.

Video editing has changed a lot since its early days. If you don't edit videos regularly or have only used simple filters on Instagram and Snapchat, you might not realize how much the technology has improved.

Let's jump right into what the future holds for video editing and every wannabe Spielbergs out there.

AI-U Ready for This?

The first extra large slice of the future 'video editing pie' has to be AI, our tech friend who is more than ready to make all our editing life just a tad simpler. Forget about spending hours sorting through an entire day's shoot because sophisticated algorithms have arrived on the scene that can:

• Pick out the best moments from the footage
• Create rough edits (automatically!) based on your set parameters
• Smoothen out those pixels with color correction and noise reduction

Next time you're working in Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro X, let the AI do its thing and let you flex your creative muscles where they matter. For example, adding cinematic slow pans to your drone shots rather than wasting time trying to fix a poorly lit frame.

Virtual Reality: It's Here and It's Unreal

It isn't a new trend by any stretch, but it is gaining momentum. Now, you can immerse viewers in 360° videos that make them feel as if they've been transported to another universe entirely, right from the comfort of their couch.

Editing these immersive visuals requires specialized tools, techniques, and a broader imagination to truly harness the potential of full 360-degree spatial awareness.

The Augmented Side of Things

Having a Pokemon suddenly pop up in your living room was not only an exciting moment for all those 90s kids but also a step towards how AR has leveled up from its sci-fi roots. Video editing fluidly merging with reality is a major big deal!

With AR, editors now have the chance to blend virtual elements into real-world footage seamlessly. Think of showcasing real-estate properties enhanced with virtual furniture or adding special effects that look almost palpable.

Web Browser Video Editors

Not all of us have a powerful computer for heavy-duty video editing software, and that's okay. For any amateur videographer or someone who's not yet ready to commit to professional editing software, web browser video editors offer a glimmer of hope.

With a web browser video editor, there's no need for local file storage or endless rendering times; everything's processed in the cloud. Plus, forget about losing work due to system crashes (been there). All edits are saved instantly online.

Social Media Ready Videos

Now, this one isn't a prediction; it's happening already and will only continue to surge. Each social platform is unique in its video formats, dimensions, and lengths (TikTok's split-second videos are surely different from YouTube’s longer cuts). In line with that, the future of video editing has to keep up with these ever-changing demands.

Video editors will increasingly cater to producing 'social media ready' clips– square for Instagram posts, vertical for IG and Snapchat stories, shorter versions for Twitter blasts... well, you get the drift.

AI Voice-Overs and Subtitling

I'm 99% sure that you've already seen a YouTube video with an AI voice that you mistook for a human narrator (Yep, it happens!). Although it happens to be a work in progress, AI voice-overs are starting to sound uncannily human. They're streamlined and time-efficient and provide you with numerous tonal options without having to hire someone to get behind the mic.

AI is also sprinting ahead in perfectly syncing subtitles with speech (regardless of speed or delivery). Think about the amount of time we'll save not having to adjust the timing manually. Yes, accuracy still needs some fine-tuning, but once perfected? There's gonna be a drastic drop in many of our work hours.

Text-Based Editing

Can't be bothered to scrub through timelines? Text-based video editing is an emerging technology that just might simplify our lives in the near future. Simply jump directly to parts of a clip featuring specific words or phrases, just like finding instances of text in a Word document (Ctrl+F, anyone?) Yes, that's exactly what we're moving towards: editing via transcription.

Want to take out a speaker from that mammoth two-hour seminar who used the phrase 'paradigm shift' one too many times? Find it and snip it just like that.

Deep Fakes and Face Swaps

This aspect tends to sit on the fine line between cool tech breakthroughs and ethically problematic uses. Advanced software can now replace faces completely from one person onto another's body in a video. This technology has been a hot topic, used in comedic fashion or controversial ways, and undeniably demonstrates the growing capabilities of video editing.

While this area also needed to be regulated strictly for ethical use, we can't deny the wow factor of it in terms of technological progression.

Interactive Video Editing

Synchronize your exercise videos with your smartwatch or turn that cooking tutorial into an interactive experience by syncing instructions directly to your smart kitchen (yes, it exists). These are just a few of the exciting possibilities that interactive video editing offers.

You can create videos that respond to user actions, perform actions like branching (choosing different paths in the video), shop directly from a product review video, or even change elements within the videos based on audience preferences.

Fusing these 'Choose-Your-Own-Adventure' mechanics with movies and gaming will open up possibilities for whole new forms of media content. Can we just take a moment to picture how Netflix's interactive episode of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch was created?

What About the Video Editors?

We can't talk about the future of video editing without discussing those behind the lens, our video editors. No matter how much technology evolves, a human touch will always be essential. The intricate decisions that lead to storytelling and evoking feelings are often too complex (at least for now) for AI or software alone.

However, this surge in tech doesn’t mean unemployment is looming on the horizon for all creative minds out there working as video editors...although there might be a slight shift in the required skill set. Surely being proficient with Adobe After Effects won't be enough, editors will need to develop new skills in AI programming, 360-degree video editing, AR and VR content creation, and managing cloud-based editing suites.

Even with all these advancements, the need for human intuition, decision-making skills, and, ultimately, creativity will never lose their charm or importance. Remember: technology is an assistant, not a substitute for human creativity.

Keep Calm and Click "Export"

So, is it time to press the panic button with all these accelerating changes? Not at all. Trust me; you're not going to wake up tomorrow and suddenly have to edit a 360-degree video using AI tools in a virtual reality environment. (If that's happening, please tell me where you work—I want in.)

These changes are ongoing; they're evolutionary, not revolutionary. Steps towards these technologies have been smoothly integrated into our workflows for years now – and just like how we made the leap from VCR to DVD or from landline to smartphone, we'll take all of this in stride as well.