This material is not fully accessible and is not part of the accessible exam.

Before you start editing

Often, it is necessary to edit the recorded video. In the easiest case, this involves a single video file (a “clip” in video editing jargon) with an unnecessary part that you want to cut out, or the volume levels might change disturbingly between different scenes and you want to smooth this out. More ambitious video projects can contain material from several different sources in tens or hundreds of separate clips that need to be combined into a single video. In this case, prepare for more work, because editing a video can be very time-consuming!

As with any other project, a good script will help keep things under control. Make sure your video files are in good order and that the computer you are using to edit the video has enough free storage space.

Video captions

According to the accessibility requirements of the Act on the Provision of Digital Services, videos must have captions of they are published in an online service for public use. Stored videos must be equipped with captions within 14 days of publication. Finnish videos must have Finnish captions, Swedish videos Swedish captions, and English videos English captions.

Live video broadcasts and videos available in a closed environment for a limited time, such as individual Moodle courses with a limited audience, are not required to have captions.

You can create your own captions with video editing software, such as ScreenPal, available at the University. Instructions for its use are available from Helpdesk.

For general instructions on video captions, see Helpdesk’s page on captions.

Editing software

Most video editors are non-destructive in nature, which means that the editor does not modify the recorded video files as such, but leaves the original videos intact. The editing software creates a “project file” of the individual video clips, and the changes made in the editor, any added subtitles and other modifications are saved in the project, which is then exported as the new video file in the desired format.

Unlike many other programs, video editors do not damage original files, but rather refer to them. That is why you should also be careful where you initially save the videos because moving them from one place to another might cause some projects to stop working. On the bright side, if anything goes wrong in editing and you do not notice in time, you can simply create a new reference to the original video file within the project and make the necessary changes.

Video editing with ScreenPal

The previous chapter dealt with creating a screen capture video using ScreenPal, but the programme can also be used to import a file created in another programme and edit it in the ScreenPal editor. It might help to have a browser window with the Helpdesk’s ScreenPal help page.

The instructions are mostly in video format because the issue at hand is a bit more complicated and a short video will clarify it more easily! So, watch the below video and read the few explanatory pieces of text with pictures.

P.6 Editing with ScreenPal – text equivalent

Watch the video above, Basic video editing guide (5:29)

1. Clicking on a video timeline opens the Tools menu, where you can choose from a number of effects and actions that can be applied to the video. For example, to cut out any part of the video, select Cut and then paint the area that you want to remove. The different colours in the timeline correlate with the Tools menu and tell you what effect has been applied.
   
2. Effects can also be deleted afterwards by clicking on their colour-coded position in the timeline, selecting the effect icon from the shortcut menu that opens, and selecting Remove. This means you can also restore any part of the video you delete using Cut.
   
3. By clicking on the magnifying glass in the lower right corner, you can select how close to the timeline to zoom, making it easier to choose parts of a long video more precisely. Another way to select a point in the timeline more accurately is using the left and right arrow buttons on the keyboard instead of the mouse.
   

Other options

Windows now has the simple built-in video application Video editor. You can find it by searching for ”Video” in the Windows search box, for example. The program is practically part of the Windows Photos image viewer, meaning it can also be started from there, although that is somewhat unintuitive.

Simple edits, such as removing unnecessary parts, are easy to do using the Trim and Split functions. Unfortunately, audio processing is very basic in this program.

In Windows 11, Microsoft offers a slightly more advanced video editor called Clipchamp.

Apple, Android and Linux

Users of Apple devices are fortunate to have access to the free and user-friendly, yet fairly versatile iMovie for light editing. The ScreenPal program discussed in this manual is also available for Mac, iPhone and iPad.

ScreenPal is also available for free for Android devices and Chromebooks.

There are several free, open-source video editing programs available for Linux computers, of which Kdenlive (also available for installation on UH workstations from Software Center) is recommended for more demanding work and Shotcut for light editing.