Hi Reader,

have you ever tried making videos? And did the videos look way worse than the idea in your head? I know that feeling! 🫣 The learning curve for editing videos is steep, but luckily some tools make it easier.

Today I’m gonna spill the beans on my current video-making toolkit that powers my YouTube channel. 🚀 Recently, I started creating vlogs about my journey to my first half-marathon 🏃🏻‍♀️ and I’m learning how to make videos, so I promise all these recommendations will be beginner-friendly.

CapCut – mobile and desktop apps

Is anyone else frustrated with the native Instagram editor? It does the job if you want to create something ridiculously simple like my pinned intro post, but if I want to make a more complex video like my 2023 recap reel, the editing process can get frustrating. 🫠

Enter – CapCut!​

The mobile app is user-friendly and offers what a regular video editing software on your computer would offer. And it’s free? I’ll take it!

That’s not all, my friends. It has a desktop version that blew my socks off. I used to edit videos in DaVinci Resolve and the experience was miserable. But ever since I edit in CapCut, I’m having fun – losing myself in creative work for hours type of fun. 😍

You can easily use animations, effects, and improvements (my favorite feature is to enhance voice – it’s not flawless, but definitely better than what I'd be able to do with my lack of skills in this area).

Anyway, take a look at some of my YouTube videos to see what you can make with CapCut even if you are a complete video-making beginner like me. 😬

Canva

For video? Yes! You can create simple videos or b-roll clips that you can use for your videos. For example, in this video, I used a clip of pouring vine followed by another clip of pouring water which I put together into one b-roll clip as seen in the video.

I didn’t need to film it or use an external video bank such as Envato Elements or Storyblocks. Canva has a royalty-free video bank where you can find clips or even whole templates. And many people don’t know about that and only use it for designs! 😮

Another example, I was able to create this clip by using a mobile phone frame and I inserted a screen recording from my phone. Now, I won’t be earning an Oscar for it any time soon, but it does the job and looks better than a black screen with only the screen recording.

If you have Canva PRO, you can use any videos. As a Canva Free user, you can only use the videos without the crown or pay a one-time fee for using it. 🫡

Epidemic Sound

If you have ever tried looking for royalty-free music that wouldn’t get flagged for copyright violation, you know it can be a mission. 🫠 I almost lost my beans while going through SoundCloud trying to find royalty-free music that I like and where the links still work! 😫

How does it work with Epidemic Sound? You sign up (use the free trial to check it out), link your YouTube or Instagram, pick your songs, download them, and you are done! On YouTube, it gets automatically recognized, no need to write song attribution information in the video description like in the good ol' days.

And the best thing? You don’t have to keep paying to keep using the songs – in case your budget gets tight, you can cancel the membership without the fear of your videos getting flagged for copyright violation later. 😬

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I’ll be testing more video tools in the future – in particular, the upcoming YouTube Create editor app once it’s available on iOS (now it’s Android-only and in a test mode). 🫡

What are some of the tools you use? Let me know your tips or whether you found my tips useful. 🥰

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Stay creative,

Lenka xx

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