

Video or motion-picture editing used to be the domain solely of professionals, a highly labor- and skill-intensive craft that typically entailed extensive equipment and training and in its more sophisticated forms video editing is still a high-skill professional occupation. And beyond this there is a galaxy of 'effects' and enhancements that can be applied to video footage, just as we have come to expect in editing digital still photos with tools like Photoshop.

Video clips from entirely separate sources can be intercut to help make a point or tell a story. When available, shots from different perspectives can be intercut, as in classic film and TV production. Raw segments can be shortened, excerpted or joined together with appropriate transitions opening titles and captions can be added often a voiceover narration or a musical track is appropriate for information or atmosphere. However, raw video footage is very often less than useful or effective in its immediately-captured form it typically needs to be (or could benefit from being) edited. 20 minutes spent on YouTube, or any other social media platform, should convince you of this explosion in videography in the present digital era.

Video cameras, computers with web cams and screen-capture software, and video-capable mobile phones now make it possible for a vastly wider group than ever before to capture raw video footage - of political events, computer software demonstrations, a concert, a trip to Iceland, your cats, or anything else under the sun conceivably worth preserving and presenting in video.
