Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have heard about the hit sensation TikTok. The app showcases user-created videos of all shapes and sizes, ranging from cool dances to tutorials and other weird, whacky videos that keep users entertained for hours on end. It’s YouTube for the younger generation, allowing users to create cool-looking short videos using a suite of built-in editing tools and filters. But, if you want to stand out from the crowd, how can you take your TikToks to the next level?
While there isn’t a shortage of video editing apps available on Google Play and the App Store, the best path for budding videographers to take is to make the move to desktop. Desktop editing software is much more capable than what you’ll find on mobile, providing better tools and finer control over your edit, and you’ll get much more screen space to work with too.
Importantly, it also allows you to break free from TikTok’s video recording tools, instead being able to use any camera to shoot video via the native camera app on your smartphone. It’ll not only allow for higher resolution, smoother video capture, but it’ll look much better compared to recording video within the TikTok app itself.
The question is, where do you begin with desktop editing software? It comes in all shapes and sizes, and much like with mobile apps, not all editing software is up to the task.
For the budding videographer making the shift from mobile to desktop, Movavi’s Video Editor is the ideal choice, offering a user-friendly interface, capable tools – complete with dedicated tutorials on how to get the most out of them – and a range of professionally created graphics and effects, all available at the click of a button.
Once you’ve shot all the elements of your TikTok on your phone and transferred them to your PC or Mac, it’s as simple as dragging-and-dropping the clips into Movavi to import them. After a short processing process, the clips are ready for timeline editing.
From the timeline you can rearrange the sequence of clips, delete segments and, importantly, trim your video so transitions and cuts look as clean and smooth as possible. You can trim clips on a per-frame basis in Movavi, providing granular control over your edits simply not possible on a touchscreen.
Once you’re happy with the sequence of your TikTok, it’s time to delve into some of the more advanced tools available in Movavi Video Editor. One area you’ll want to check out is the effects tab, located on the left, providing a category-organised overview of available effects and filters. When you’ve found an effect you like the look of, simply drag-and-drop it onto the relevant clip. It’ll be applied instantly, with no need to tweak settings or adjust parameters, and if it’s not quite right, it’s just as simple to remove the effect too.
One of the most popular filters on TikTok is Green Screen, known in the editing world as chromakeying, essentially allowing you to remove the background of a video and replace it with an image or a video. It’s easy to see why it’s popular, but the problem is that TikTok’s implementation is basic, and the effects are usually pretty messy.
That’s not the case with Movavi’s chromakeying tool. If you’ve shot a video on a plain background – green or blue are ideal, but other bright colours should work too – then you can use Chromakey to remove that colour from your video. The end result is a better-quality greenscreen effect with well-defined edges and the ability to tweak advanced settings to perfect the effect where necessary.
Closed captions, used across TikTok in a bid to be more inclusive for those that are hard of hearing, are also easier to generate using Movavi’s collection of text-based tools.
You’ll also find a wide variety of stickers that you can add to your videos, advanced video pan effects, split-screen capabilities, a range of eye-catching transitions and many other tools and effects not available on TikTok that’ll help your video stand out from the crowd. And, if you’re really dedicated to creating a viral masterpiece, you’ve also got access to professionally created themes, effects and transitions via the Movavi Effects Store.
Once you’re happy with your edit, it’s as simple as clicking the Export button, changing the output dimensions to 1080 x 1920 (for 16:9 portrait video) and waiting for your video to be exported, a process that shouldn’t take too long given the 60-second limit on videos uploaded to TikTok. The video is then ready to be transferred back to your smartphone and posted on TikTok, ready to share with the social network’s massive online community.
If you’re serious about creating high-quality, engaging videos and want to learn while you edit, Movavi Video Editor is the ideal bit of kit. It’s designed not only to be user-friendly and intuitive, but the suite of in-depth tutorials on offer means it’s perfect for those learning the ropes of video editing. You can download a free trial of Movavi Video Editor from Movavi right now, and if it’s the right fit for your needs, you can pick up a yearly license for as little as £55.95.