Wait, After Effects Isn’t A Video Editor?
Well in short, not really, it depends on how you define ‘video editor’. For the most part, people do not consider After Effects a video editor even though the literal meaning of video editor means ‘something that edits video’.
“Video editing is the process of manipulating and rearranging video shots to create a new work. Editing is usually considered to be one part of the post production process — other post-production tasks include titling, colour correction, sound mixing, etc.
Many people use the term editing to describe all their post-production work, especially in non-professional situations. Whether or not you choose to be picky about terminology is up to you.” – Media College
Let me explain why I believe After Effects isn’t a video editor. First off, you don’t arrange a movie in After Effects, you don’t do major edits and cuts in After Effects, and you don’t finalize your projects in After Effects. On top of that, After Effects gives you the very bare bones of features to actually ‘edit’ your clips. Yeah you can trim some stuff but the editing features aren’t really there compared to Final Cut or Premiere. You also have a huge lack of audio control in After Effects (anyone who has worked with audio in After Effects can tell you).
So if After Effects isn’t a video editor, what is it then?
Let Adobe answer that for you:
“Adobe® After Effects® software is the industry-leading solution for creating sophisticated motion graphics and cinematic visual effects. Transform moving images for delivery to theaters, living rooms, personal computers, and mobile devices.” – Adobe
As stated, you don’t edit a whole featured film in After Effects, you enhance and add to it. You use After Effects to create stunning motion graphics such as titles and animation or visual effects such as compositing work, explosions, lightning, etc. In a video editor, you slice things up, rearrange things, adjust audio, adjust panning, etc. Basically, you’re not really ‘creating’ anything, you’re editing already made content.
I get this frequent misconception a lot from my viewers and I just wanted to point some of the differences out. So the next time you ask about After Effects, avoid calling it a video editor. Of course you’re entitled to your own opinion so if you have something you want to add or remove, contribute your voice down below! Let me know what you think, what is After Effects?
That is a good explanation for people.
Thanks for your support and feedback comment!
So it really means i’ll have to pick every of the clip which needs extras into adobe after effects and include the sophiscated ingridients and then transfer it back to my video editor, is it?
Not if you use Adobe Premiere! The two applications (Ae and Pr) have something called Dynamic Link which you can transfer clips over without rendering them out.
Hi There.
Me & My dudes are doing a short film soon.
I’ve studied Adobe Photoshop & sometimes edits videos in Movie maker in windows.
As i am hard to edit videos in,”Sony Movie Studio Platinum 12.0″.
so i need to know from you is that,
which is the film editing software that is having lots of fx & also simple to use.
And one more thing is that,whether it is good to use film editor before we use aftar effects or aftar using aftar effects.??
Pls suggest me the best!!
Thanks in advance Bro.!!
Hello, I have used some video editors but I found Sony Vegas easy to use. I admit I was a little troubled at first because the editor I had used prior was different in how it was presented but I soon got the hang of it.
Hope this helps! 🙂
Good to know, i’m trying to get into visual enhancements in my videos, and this was the exact tutorial I’ve needed. Will definitely be checking out this piece of software.
http://www.stoneproductionsnashville.com/
Glad you found this useful!
Hmm if i want to cut a piece of animation for example and use effects on that then, i need another Video editing program then?
When it comes to video, I only use after effects. I make tv commercials , infomercials, real estate videos and music videos. I use Sequoia to edit my audio. Your article doesn’t explain anything. It’s just opinions. After effects is the only video editor you need. Get a better computer and learn how to work with thousands of layers.
Sorry buddy, After Effects is NOT a video editor and even Adobe themselves don’t market it as a video editor. That’s why they created Adobe Premiere. AE is strictly a composition and motion design tool. You won’t see any true studios or professionals slicing a commercial or movie in AE, but they will use Premiere/Avid.
Whether you say it is or it isn’t a video editor, it comes down to one simple question…
Q: Can you edit video with After Effects?
A: Yes
That’s just silly. Can you cut grass with a pocket knife? Yeah you can, but does it make it a lawnmower/grass cutter? You can paint a wall with ketchup, does it make it paint?
Just because you CAN do something with it, doesn’t make it a tool designed to do such a task.
So my thing is to edit photographies , short videos together and matching them with the beats ( the music, with effects and fast editing) , is it motion design, compositing or video editing ? I always called it video editing because I edit many shots together and cooking them with some vfx matching with the music , I can’t do that in première, it s not for that kind of stuff , but it s video editing…
What do you think
Absolutely, you are definitely “editing” video in After Effects as it’s a software to manipulate videos. You can of course slice things and move things around, but it’s not classified as what people think of as “video editor” because it’s designed for visual effects and motion graphics. They developed Dynamic Link to emphasize this workflow. You traditionally slice and edit the raw footage in something like Premiere, then when you nail down the shots, you bring those shots into After Effects for all the visual effects, compositing, etc. Of course both software can do a bit of both: Premiere has plugins to do minor vfx and AE can slice video, etc.
?????I’m new to Adobe AE but as for video editing it’s a no.
Definitely!
I am a user of premiere and a new learner of after effects but since we start text animation in after effect I remark that it has wonderful tools needed to animate text and graghics, thus, i use it for intro and the rest of my work i come bck to premiere. After effect creater but premiere edits.
That is exactly how they are structuring it. AE for creating motion graphics and adding visual effects, premiere for slicing the pieces together and rendering for delivery.
Nice information!
I was actually wondering about this, and this info gave me some time to think things over!
Thanks for writing this awesome passage, dude!
I’ve now decided to use Vegas as my editor and A.E. as just a software for spazzy effects 😀