With the rise of micro-content on the internet, especially with the massive wave brought by TikTok, everyone felt compelled to level up their content quality. As an amateur content creator, I am grateful that TikTok has built-in editing tools.
However, there are numerous times that I find it difficult to edit my videos on TikTok because of the limited editing tools. I cannot create what I envisioned my content to be, so I resort to using external editing software to cater to my needs.
Fortunately, a video editing app is being promoted as TikTok’s free editing software called CapCut. It has numerous video editing tools that help me finish my micro-content. Learn about the features of the app and how to download it on your phone.
- Editing A Video Using TikTok’s Sister App
- Starting A New Project Using The All-In-One App
- Editing The Video From A Long List Of Available Tools
- Enhancing My Project With Other Elements
Editing A Video Using TikTok’s Sister App
It is no doubt that there is competition in terms of content production alongside the popularity rise of TikTok. The app provides everyone an opportunity to create our content in bites. As an amateur content creator, I felt challenged to do well by creating quality content with videos standing out from the rest.
This challenge prompted me to explore and familiarize myself with different video editing tools and software to be equipped with the skills necessary to produce fantastic videos. With limited editing tools on TikTok, I looked into other video editing apps to help me with my content.
I am grateful that Tiktok is also promoting a mobile app that can be used, and it is called CapCut. The app was previously released as Viamaker, but it was eventually bought by Bytedance, the company that launched TikTok.
The CapCut app suits my needs as an amateur creator as it offers complex editing tools that are easy to use. The app’s description as a free all-in-one free video editing app is true as everything that I need to create incredible videos are available.
Starting With The All-In-One Editing App
Since TikTok also promotes the app as a perfect match for video editing, the CapCut also receives massive likes from TikTok users. CapCut recorded over 400 million downloads across the world with millions of active daily users.
For starters, I fell in love with the app after learning that it is free. Everything on the app is free to use, so there are no premium subscriptions to pay for or any in-app purchases. It is a great help for those who do not wish to spend extra money on quality editing tools for their content.
The CapCut app is available to download on both Google Play Store and iOS App Store. Upon installing, the app prompted me to read and agree with its Terms and Conditions. It is also easy to sign up for an account on the app; I only needed to connect to any Facebook account.
Starting A New Project Using The All-In-One App
I like how the app does not require much information to sign up because after linking my Facebook account, I can immediately start with a project or the video I wish to edit. It just requires me to grant permission to access my photos, media, and files.
The app has an incredibly clean user interface that makes it easy to navigate and helps beginners. Starting the project, I need to click on the scissors icon at the lower left of the screen. After clicking the New project button at the center of the screen, it will lead to the saved videos on my devices.
Then, I need to choose which video I want to use. It is also possible to use multiple videos if necessary by selecting the videos and clicking Add. I like how the app allows me to immediately edit out the irrelevant parts of a particular video recording through the crop option before choosing them.
When I started with the app, I just used the available stock video on the app since I wanted to explore it first. A list of stock clips is categorized into Youth With You (a television show), cut-out text, and New Year’s Eve Celebration. Lastly, I can also choose photos aside from videos to include in the project.
Creating The Project Cover
Once I added a video clip or photos, the interface would work like any other video editing app out there. It has the original video with frames panning with the corresponding timestamp, a large screen where the edited version plays, and editing tools on the bottom of the screen.
Even though there are numerous tools available, I immediately see the Cover tool. This option always me to create a thumbnail or cover for the project, which I usually do from the beginning of the project.
The Cover tool allows me to crop a frame from the video, use it as a cover, or upload a photo that I wish to use as the thumbnail. It is also possible to edit the image by adding text to the frame wherein there are options for style, effect, bubble, color, stroke, background, spacing, bold, italic, and opacity.
Editing The Video From A Long List Of Available Tools
The app highlights the complexity of its video editing tools, which I can attest to be true. After creating the cover for my project, I started editing the video through the Edit button at the lower left part of the screen. Do not be shocked that there are over 20 tools under the Edit button.
I can easily split the video without missing any second or frame with the seamless split tool. There is also the speed option where I can make the video play as slow as 0.1x or as fast as 3.0x, but it is possible to differentiate the speed in each part or frame. Also, I can adjust the volume of the audio.
I use the Animation feature the most because I like to add some dramatic effect to my project. There are three main animations available: in, out, and combo. It is possible to set the duration of the animation to perfectly time when and on what part of the video clip I wish the animation to happen.
After splitting the video clip, I can delete some parts that may be irrelevant to the final output. One thing that amazes me the most about the editing tools is that I can remove the background of the entire video. Using AI technology, the app removes the background of the clip, but it requires a few minutes to process.
Continuing To Edit The Video
As I mentioned, there are about 20 tools on the Edit button, so I suggest exploring the app yourself because it is better to know what CapCut offers. But, here are some of the other helpful tools that I love on the app.
The video can have its style by changing the people on the clip into a babyface, 3D cartoon, big head, cartoon, sketch, comic, etc. I can be as playful as it gets with this feature. It is possible to change the opacity of the video and even stabilize the shaky frames of the clip.
Interestingly, I can reverse the entire video with the reverse feature. If you see videos played from the end, it can be done on the CapCut app. There are only a few editing apps that offer this kind of feature; that is why I am so ecstatic.
Enhancing My Project With Other Elements
Extracting the audio is one of the best editing features of the app because I can easily remove the original audio and change it to something else. I can add or upload a voiceover and an extracted audio from other files.
CapCut also has a long list of available sound effects to improve my content. The sound effects include food, ambiance, animals, musical instruments, laugh, transition, and many more. Moreover, I can add royalty-free music from the app’s library.
Text is important in video content because it can help to relay a message to the audience. There are so many creative options to add text to the video file. It is easy to put text in each frame of the clip. I can also use some text templates available on the app.
For a free app, it amazes me that it has a feature for auto-captioning. It is rare to find a video editing app with this feature. The app only requires me to turn the video’s audio a little louder.
Learning About The Other Features
To further edit the video, I can enhance my project by using other tools like stickers, overlay, effects, filters, format, canvas, etc. I bet you can already see how true is CapCut to being an all-in-one video editing app.
There are two more features that I love about the app. The first one is it autosaves the projects, which is helpful in case I accidentally close the app while editing the video. I can retrieve them easily after opening the app and clicking the unfinished project.
Like any other video editing tool, the app has an export feature to finalize the project. But, I like how I can choose the resolution and the exported video file’s frame rate. I can assure the quality of the final output.
Conclusion
CapCut is a free video editing app that perfectly matches the demand for TikTok content. In this app, I have a long list of available video editing tools that are free to use. For a free app, the CapCut is indeed among the top video editing apps available out there.
