5 Ways Video Editors Use AI to Maximize Workflow

Introduction

There´s a lot of talk about how AI video software is “revolutionizing the industry”..

If so.. How good are the tools available? And what tools can make your life easier?

I’m constantly trying out the AI tools I can find. And they have helped me to become more efficient.

In this post, I will show you the 5 ways AI can be used to improve your workflow. And explain how good and developed they currently are.

1. Automating Boring Tasks

If you can automate a task you used to do manually. That’s great news! Because time is money.

I think a lot will happen in regards to automation. Especially when it comes to organizing the footage and indexing files.

Also to some extent when it comes to making rough cuts. That depends what sort of films or videos you are creating.

Regardless, you will probably need to supervise the decisions made by the AI.

Personally, I would never want the AI to make my creative decisions anyway.

Tasks you can automate:

• Auto Reframing: Adjust the video for different aspect ratios (e.g., 16:9 to 9:16 for social media).

• Scene Detection: Identify and cut at natural scene transitions.

• Video Stabilization: Reduce shaky footage.

• Color Correction: Balancing exposure, contrast, saturation, and white balance.

• Auto Trimming: Detecting and removing silent or dead space in videos.

• Motion Tracking: Applying effects (e.g., text or animations) that follow a moving object in the video.

• Facial Recognition: Organizing or grouping clips based on who appears in them.

• AI-Powered Background Removal: Removing backgrounds without the need for green screens.

• Video stabilization: stabilizes shaky footage.

Tools to consider:

• Adobe Premiere Pro (with Adobe Sensei): Has auto-reframing for different aspect ratios, automated scene detection and color correction. The AI analyzes footage to track motion and crop. Keeping subjects in focus for formats like Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. The color correction tools suggest changes to exposure, contrast, and white balance.

• DaVinci Resolve (with Neural Engine): DaVinci Resolve uses Neural Engine for tasks like smart reframing, facial recognition for organizing clips, and automatic color matching. This could speed up your workflow. It can also auto-detect cuts within long video files.

• Autocut.ai: A dedicated AI tool for editing. With a focus on automatic video trimming. It scans the video content for pauses or dead space and can trim those sections for you. Perfect for quickly cutting out unwanted parts in vlog-style or interview-based content.

How Far Along Are The Tools?

• Adobe Premiere Pro: Adobe Sensei is very developed and integrated into Adobe’s system. But it requires a lot of manual oversight. The auto-reframing tool is reliable for simple shots. However, it struggles with complex motion. Like fast camera movements or subjects moving quickly in the frame. Scene detection works well for clear-cut edits. But requires adjustments in scenes with subtle transitions.

• DaVinci Resolve: Neural Engine is good for color grading and face recognition. The AI’s face recognition and tracking across clips for organization is actually very good. But for tasks like motion tracking and smart reframing, it depends on the complexity of the footage.

• Autocut.ai: Focuses on a specific task—automating dead space or filler words—and it does that well for simple projects. But less useful in creative workflows that require more nuanced decisions. About what to keep and what to cut.
  

Overall Status:

AI-powered tools for automating repetitive tasks work in some cases. But is defenitely not foolproof at this point.

You can save time but full automation is still many steps away from being perfect.

For optimal results you should strive to make AI you assistant, not replacement. read my article about AI vs Human Video editors here:

2. Audio Polishing

Fixing audio issues and improving sound quality can take a lot of time.

Ultimately, you want to avoid having to re-record things as much as possible.

What AI can do for you in regards to audio:

• Automatic Noise Reduction: AI instantly removes background noise like hums, wind, and static, enhancing audio clarity without manual input. Tools such as Adobe Podcast and Krisp excel in this task.

• Audio Level Balancing: AI balances audio levels, ensuring background music doesn’t overshadow dialogue. You can find the auto-ducking feature in tools like Adobe Premiere Pro and Audacity. (Used to be a pretty complex task)

• Voice Cloning for Corrections: AI voice generators clone voices, allowing easy corrections in dialogue without needing re-recording. Descript offers this feature for quick voiceover edits.

• Automatic Audio Syncing: AI syncs audio tracks with video footage. Saving time in multi-camera setups or when using external recorders. PluralEyes and DaVinci Resolve are popular options for this.

• Echo and Reverb Removal: AI-enhanced tools reduce unwanted echo and reverb, delivering cleaner audio. iZotope RX is a leading tool for this kind of audio cleanup.

Tools to consider:

• Adobe Audition (with Adobe Sensei): Can auto-clean audio tracks. Remove background noise, reduce reverb and balance sound levels. The “Auto-Ducking” feature balances voiceovers with background music. (Lowers the music volume when speech is detected.

• iZotope RX 10: Can reduce noise, remove clicks and repair corrupted audio. Great for removing unwanted sounds like hums, clicks or even environmental noises.

• Descript (with Overdub): Descript has an AI-powered voiceover tool called “Overdub”. Which allows you to clone a voice. You can use it to replace small sections of botched voiceovers without re-recording. Keep the voice consistent throughout the video.

How Developed Are The Tools?

• Adobe Audition: Audition’s AI is pretty good. Especially for balancing levels and reducing noise. But will need manual adjustments for pro results. Works well for minor fixes like removing ambient noise. But will struggle with complex audio distortion.
  

• iZotope RX 10: iZotope is one of the best tools for audio restoration. Its AI noise reduction is very effective. The software can handle big audio issues with minimal manual input. But severe audio problems may still require expert touch.
  

• Descript: Descript’s Overdub is good at cloning voices. Though better for fixing short sections rather than long voiceover tracks. Works well in many cases.. Slight differences in tone or inflection might be obviousy to trained ears.

Overall Status:

AI audio enhancement tools are mature and work well in most cases.

They’re good for simple noise reduction. Voice leveling and minor voiceover fixes.

But more complex audio issues still need human input. Cloned voices are good for minor corrections but not yet perfect for longer segments. And will be very hard to use on more dramatic performances.

3. Captioning and Subtitles

Adding captions and subtitles is key for engagement, especially on social media platforms.

AI captioning tools can transcribe speech and auto-add captions. They even detect speech patterns and know when to show the captions.

This makes it a lot easier to engage audiences who prefer watching videos without sound.

Tools to consider:

• Kapwing: has automatic caption generation powered by AI that transcribes speech. It also has customizations like styling captions to match brand.

• Rev.ai: offers automated transcription for adding subtitles and captions. Pretty accurate and supports several languages.

• YouTube Studio (Automatic Subtitles): YouTube uses Google’s speech recognition to auto-generate subtitles for uploaded videos. This is a great free option.

How Far Along Are The Tools?

• Kapwing: Good for quick caption generation and has basic editing for style and placement. But its AI struggles with heavily accented speech or background noise. Which can lead to errors. It’s a good choice for quick captioning but manual review is often needed for precision.

• Rev.ai: Rev is one of the most accurate AI transcription tools Ive found. Its auto-generated captions are usually perfect. With occasional errors with technical terms, multiple speakers or overlapping voices.
  

• YouTube Studio: Good for casual content but struggles with complex or fast-paced speech. While it’s helpful for accessibility on YouTube, pro-level videos often need additional editing.

Overall Status:

AI captioning tools are good but not perfect.

They’re great for generating initial drafts of captions. But still need human editing to fix mistakes especially with accents, technical terms or noisy backgrounds.

On the other side, its usually quick and easy to edit the mistakes.

4. Platform-Specific Optimization

Each platform from YouTube to Instagram, has different video formats.

AI editors like Descript or Pictory can automate the optimization process.

The tools offer smart cropping, resizing and content-aware editing. Adjusting video framing based on the target platform’s specs.

For example, AI can reposition important subjects in the frame. When converting a widescreen video to a vertical format for mobile users.

This way the key elements remain in focus without having to re-edit each version of the video.

Tools to consider:

• Adobe Premiere Pro (Auto Reframe): Allows you to auto-adjust aspect ratio for different social media platforms. Keeping the main subject in frame.
  

• Kapwing (Smart Cropping): Has a content-aware cropping tool that resizes and adjusts video framing. Focusing on the most important parts in the frame.
  

• Animoto: Uses AI to format video for social platforms. By analyzing the content and suggesting the best aspect ratio for engagement.
  

How Far Along Are They?

• Adobe Premiere Pro (Auto Reframe): Auto Reframe is developed and works well for simple scenes where the subject is in focus. But struggles with complex shots with fast motion or multiple subjects. Useful but may need manual adjustments for intricate projects.

• Kapwing: The smart cropping is good for casual content. But has limitations when dealing with multiple focal points.

• Animoto: A beginner-friendly tool that works well for resizing simple videos. But its AI is not as robust as Adobe’s so it’s less suitable for pro content that needs fine-tuning.

Overall Status:

AI tools for video format optimization for social media are good and fast especially for simple content. But for videos with complex motion or multiple subjects. Human oversight is still needed!

5. Video Discoverability

Whats the point of creating videos if nobody looks at them?

AI tools can help with video SEO by auto-generating metadata, keywords and descriptions.

The tools analyze the video for themes and phrases that will rank higher on search engines. To generate titles, tags and even thumbnails.

So you can focus more on creating great content.

By automating the optimization process. AI makes it possible for videos to reach more people even without a lot of SEO knowledge needed from you.

Tools to consider:

• TubeBuddy: TubeBuddy uses AI to optimize video titles, tags and descriptions for YouTube. It suggests keywords and SEO strategies to increase the chances of a video being found in search.

• VidIQ: VidIQ has AI-based keyword research and video optimization tools. It analyzes trending topics and suggests keywords, tags and descriptions. That will rank higher on platforms like YouTube.

• Lumen5: Lumen5 uses AI to auto-generate metadata and SEO-optimized descriptions for videos. It can also recommend thumbnails that will get more clicks.

How Far Along Are They?

• TubeBuddy: Keyword suggestion tools are highly developed and used by many YouTubers. The AI helps to identify trends and optimize video content for search engines. But final decisions on video titles and tags still need human input.

• VidIQ: Tools are equally powerful and developed. Its AI can analyze competitor videos, highlight trending keywords and provide suggestions. But for best results, creators still need to manually tailor their content.

• Lumen5: Is more basic in SEO. While it can auto-generate descriptions and metadata. These often need to be adjusted by the user. Good for fast content creation but not deep enough for advanced SEO optimization.
  

Overall Status:

AI tools for video discoverability are good and effective especially for YouTube. They are great for generating SEO-friendly metadata and keywords. But human refinement is still needed to maximize discoverability. Especially for niche or complex content.

What to Look for in an AI Video Editor

When choosing an AI video editor, consider the following:

1. Automatic Video Editing: Look for software that can auto-edit based on pre-defined templates, styles or parameters. This feature can speed up the editing process a lot.

2. AI Video Analysis: Make sure the software can analyze video content properly. Detect objects and track movements.

3. Color Correction and Grading: You want advanced color correction and grading. That includes AI-powered color matching and color grading. So you can maintain visual consistency and enhance the overall look of your video.
   

4. Audio Enhancement: Choose software that can enhance audio quality, reduce noise and add music or sound effects. As you know, good audio is key for any film production!

5. Customization Options: Select software that has many customization options. Including templates, transitions and effects. This will really speed up your workflow.
   

6. Integration with Other Tools: Consider software that integrates with other video editing tools. Like Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro. Seamless integration can speed up the editing workflow and give access to more features and resources.

Best AI Video Editing Software

Here are some of the best AI video editing software:

1. Adobe Premiere Pro: Advanced AI features including auto video editing and color correction. Robust features and seamless integration with other Adobe products.
   

2. Luma: An AI video editing software that has auto video editing, color correction and audio enhancement. Known for user-friendly interface and powerful AI tools.

3. Magisto: Cloud-based video editing software that uses AI to auto-edit videos. Based on pre-defined templates and styles. Great for creating quick and engaging videos for social media and marketing purposes.

4. Raw Shorts: AI video editing software that has auto video editing, color correction and audio enhancement. Raw Shorts is designed for creating professional quality videos with minimal effort.

5. Viddyoze: Cloud-based video editing software that uses AI to auto-edit videos. Based on pre-defined templates and styles. Viddyoze has a huge library of templates and easy to use interface.

AI Video Editing Best Practices

To get the most out of AI video editing follow these best practices:

Tips to Maximize Efficiency and Quality

1. Understand the AI: Take the time to understand how the tool you are using actually works and what it can do. This will help you make the most of the software and get the best results.

2. Use High Quality Footage: Garbage in garbage out. So make sure the footage you use is high quality as this will affect the output. High resolution videos with good lighting and clear audio will give better results when processed by AI tools.

3. Try Different Templates and Styles: Try out different templates and styles to find the one that works for your video. AI video editing software has many options so don’t be afraid to try and experiment.

4. Customize the Output: Don’t be afraid to customize the output to your needs. While AI can do many things automatically, adding your personal touch can enhance the final product.

5. Review and Refine: Review the final output and refine as needed to meet your standards. Even with advanced AI tools, a human touch and monitoring is often required to get the best results.

By following these guidelines and using the right AI video editing software.

You should be able to speed up your workflow a lot. Be able to work fast and efficient. Without sacrificing creativity or control!

Summary

AI video editing tools can automate a few of the mundane tasks, enhance quality and optimize for discoverability.

You can read about other ways AI is helping filmmakers here. Or find general ideas about how ai will make humanity more creative.

But as you understand, you will still need to be invloved in the process.

Like with all tools, the people who know them best will benefit the most. So spend time getting to know them properly!