Best Video Editing Approaches for a Total Newbie on Apple Devices?

[HappyDude20]

Nephew of mine wants to edit videos for social media. Not sure but am guessing YouTube over TikTok or maybe both but not sure.

He’s 14 and tells me of a YouTuber named Jack Gordon who does informative videos that he enjoys.

Not sure if iMovie on MacOS or iOS or iPadOS would be best or perhaps LumaFusion or maybe even Final Cut X or whatever the Adobe version is.

Point is, he tells me this JackGordon YouTube channel is his inspiration and I’m currently watching a few of his videos and his editing skills are pretty impressive.

 

[0128672]

I'd recommend starting with iMovie on both Mac and iOS/iPadOS. The Mac version has more features than the mobile versions, but they're free. It's a good way for him to find out if he enjoys doing it before investing in more expensive software.

 

[JW5566]

Yes, as above, iMovie is a good place to start as it's free and does the basics well. If your nephew then wants to get into it more you can look at other options. But I definitely wouldn't jump in with Final Cut, whilst it's great software, it's not cheap for something that might be a passing interest. And Premiere costs even more, over a period of time.

 

[Omega Mac]

Any recommendations for something in-between iMovie and Final Cut pro

I'd like to be able to dissolve layers and have a few more layers/elements to interact. I don't remember iMovie being so limited but it's a long time since I had to use it.

 

[ian87w]

Nephew of mine wants to edit videos for social media. Not sure but am guessing YouTube over TikTok or maybe both but not sure.

He’s 14 and tells me of a YouTuber named Jack Gordon who does informative videos that he enjoys.

Not sure if iMovie on MacOS or iOS or iPadOS would be best or perhaps LumaFusion or maybe even Final Cut X or whatever the Adobe version is.

Point is, he tells me this JackGordon YouTube channel is his inspiration and I’m currently watching a few of his videos and his editing skills are pretty impressive.

For Youtube with traditional 16:9 aspect ratio, iMovie is a good starting point. It's free, and available on macOS and iOS. Once he's comfortable with the concept of video editing, and if he's on iOS/iPadOS, LumaFusion is a very inexpensive way to hugely upgrade and get into advance video editing.

For TikTok, the app's built-in video editor is actually quite amazing, with a lot of easy to use effects and filters. There's a reason everybody is using it, even for their IG/FB/YT shorts.

I personally use VLLO on my phone (both Android and iOS). It's not as advance as LumaFusion, but it's cheaper and more functional and flexible than iMovie. And it has a lot of copyright free music.

 

[HappyDude20]

For Youtube with traditional 16:9 aspect ratio, iMovie is a good starting point. It's free, and available on macOS and iOS. Once he's comfortable with the concept of video editing, and if he's on iOS/iPadOS, LumaFusion is a very inexpensive way to hugely upgrade and get into advance video editing.

For TikTok, the app's built-in video editor is actually quite amazing, with a lot of easy to use effects and filters. There's a reason everybody is using it, even for their IG/FB/YT shorts.

I personally use VLLO on my phone (both Android and iOS). It's not as advance as LumaFusion, but it's cheaper and more functional and flexible than iMovie. And it has a lot of copyright free music.

Does using the TikTok editing portion of the app in any way watermark itself?

I’d hate to edit something on TikTok only to find the video being limited in its scope of use once I decide to share it via other social media sharing sites.

 

[ian87w]

Does using the TikTok editing portion of the app in any way watermark itself?

I’d hate to edit something on TikTok only to find the video being limited in its scope of use once I decide to share it via other social media sharing sites.

Yes, TikTok has watermark on the video of TikTok and your user/channel name I think. It’s not a big deal though if you will be posting the video in social media anyway, as that can just promote your TikTok channel.

 

[HappyDude20]

Yes, TikTok has watermark on the video of TikTok and your user/channel name I think. It’s not a big deal though if you will be posting the video in social media anyway, as that can just promote your TikTok channel.

Yeah but Instagram shadow bans and discourages views that have the TikTok watermark. Cause it’s their obvious serious competition.

 

[ian87w]

Yeah but Instagram shadow bans and discourages views that have the TikTok watermark. Cause it’s their obvious serious competition.

That doesn’t stop pretty much many IG users to do so . If you are after views and serious engagement on your IG account, then use a standalone video editor. Casual users wouldn’t be bothered with shadow bans.

 

[HappyDude20]

That doesn’t stop pretty much many IG users to do so . If you are after views and serious engagement on your IG account, then use a standalone video editor. Casual users wouldn’t be bothered with shadow bans.

Yeah I’m pretty sure he doesn’t just want to be a casual user

 

[dandeco]

Any recommendations for something in-between iMovie and Final Cut pro

I'd like to be able to dissolve layers and have a few more layers/elements to interact. I don't remember iMovie being so limited but it's a long time since I had to use it.

I would recommend looking at Adobe Premiere Elements, Cyberlink PowerDirector or NCH VideoPad for that. (PowerDirector has been available as a Mac version for over a year and a half now.)

 

[Omega Mac]

@dandeco Much appreciated. Thanks!