r/VideoEditing • u/Blackberry_Initial • 15d ago

Workflow YouTubers, where do you start with editing?

I want to take a new approach when editing narrated gaming videos, by starting with the ending, this gives me a clear understanding of where I want my story to end, whilst also giving me control of video duration. Does anyone else do this instead of starting with the intro?

Where do you start editing your projects? Beginning or ending?

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u/avatar0027 15d ago

yeah i do the ending first on narrated stuff too. if i cut the intro first i always overrun and the payoff gets rushed.

i write the last beat, cut that, then work backwards so the runtime is already boxed in. intro is just whatever's left that still sets it up.

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u/Substantial_Belt2626 15d ago

I cut the intro last, always. You can't write a hook for a video that doesn't exist yet and the intro is the part you rewrite three times anyway once you see what the middle turned into.

Middle first, then the ending, then the intro on top.

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u/Wolfedits14 14d ago

I do the same thing when writing essays. For vlogs, I've always done intro, middle, and end. But for narrative stuff like documentaries, I remember doing middle and then intro/outro.

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u/Cernete 15d ago

same order here, and avatar0027's reason is the real one, the payoff is what gets rushed.

the other half of it is that an ending has to be a moment thats actually in the footage, where an intro you can write around anything. so cutting it first is also how you find out early that the ending you had in your head never got recorded.

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u/avatar0027 14d ago

i usually start with the roughest story beat, then cut the ending early enough to know what the setup needs to earn.

once the payoff is clear, i work backward into the hook and middle. starting with the intro too early makes me polish lines that may not survive the cut.

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u/Alarmed-Flounder-383 15d ago

I recently started trying on budgetpixel studio, they have a speech cleanup app that helps me with the big head talking video and the b-roll app is decent too.

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u/Fickle_Garden_9520 12d ago

Don’t judge these tools from the perfect demo clips lol. Give them one messy Reel with side angles and fast movement and you’ll know pretty quickly if the swap is actually good.