Real Estate Video Editing Made Simple: 5 Steps To Master

Do you want to sell more homes and get more listings, but you aren’t sure where to start? I am here to help. In the past year, I have started to create my own real estate video editing to increase my listings, and it worked!

Even if you’ve never dabbled in the craft of videography or photography, if you are willing to learn, you can build up these skills to improve your business! No expensive class is necessary. 

In this article, I am going to walk you through real estate video editing on Final Cut Pro!

Step 1. Setting Up Your Project

Now that you’ve learned how to shoot real estate video, it’s time to begin editing your project. To begin, the first thing you need to do is open up Final Cut Pro and create a new library. I recommend creating a new library for each listing you have to help you stay organized. 

Name the library the same name as the listing. 

Example: 10 North Main Street

Next, you will create a few additional events in this library. You can create an event by pressing command+click on the library, and selecting “new event” from the dropdown menu. Here are the new events you will create:

• Video: In this event, you will be uploading all of your footage that you took of the listing.
• Assets: In this event, you will upload the background music you are using for the video, and your professional headshot to use at the end of the video
• Project: In this event, you will select the option to “Create New Project.” After selecting this, you will see the settings options appear. This is where you will need to adjust the settings according to the device that recorded your footage. These are the settings that I use so that they are compatible with my filming device:
  • Format: 4k
  • Resolution: 3840×2160 res
  • Rate: 23.98p

Once you create the project, go into the file to rename the “untitled event” to the address of the listing. 

Now that you have created all of the different events you need, lets go over how to upload information into these folders. 

Step 2: Importing Media

Now that you have the folders created for your project, it’s time to upload your video files!

Video

• Go to the video event folder. After clicking on this, you will see an “Import Media” button that is highlighted. Select this option, and choose the video files that you want to upload from your computer. 
• Use command+A to select all the files that you want to upload
• Along the right hand side of the screen, you will see settings options. I keep the auto-filled suggestions for this. They are the following:
  • Add to existing event:
    • Video
  • Files
    • Leave files in place
  • Keywords
    • From Finders tags
    • From folders
  • Audio Roles: Automatically
    • Assign iXML track names if available
  • Transcoding
    • Create proxy media***

***You only need to select the “create proxy media” option if your computer is a bit slow. This will help speed along the process. The auto settings will not select this option.***

• Next, you will select “Import All” to upload your video files. This will start rendering, (uploading your files) 
• If you have checked the option to “create proxy media,” your computer is going to start creating smaller files that your computer can handle. This will expedite the process of uploading them. When you export the video, it will render the settings you selected previously when creating your project. This means that your final video will be in full resolution. 
• Click and drag all videos into your “timeline” which is found at the bottom of the screen. 

Once all of your files are uploaded, it is time to adjust the speed settings. 

All you have to do for this is go to the speedometer icon found next to the magic edit wand. 

Select “automatic speed.”

What this does is equalize the speed of all the footage you took. For example, if you filmed in 30 frames per second, choosing the “automatic speed” option will slow down your speed by 80% to match the speed of 24 frames per second, which is the settings option chosen when you set up your project. This will create a consistent speed throughout the video. 

Step 3: Editing Your Video Clips

Congratulations! Now that you have your video files uploaded and your settings adjusted, you can begin the best part—

Editing. 

The first step you should take is to make sure all of your video clips are in the correct order! 

If you can, try to shoot the clips in the exact order you want your final video to be. This will save you time since you won’t need to readjust the timeline. You will then want to upload the videos in that same order.

Once you’ve looked over the timeline of your video, select the entire video timeline, command click, and select “detach audio.”

This will separate the audio from the video. 

Next, select all of the audio, and delete. 

Now it’s time to start cutting our video clips to create your masterpiece!

Here is how to cut video clips down: 

• Click on the tool menu and select the blade tool.
• Use the blade tool to delete the video footage you want to be cut from your final video.
• Check out this brief tutorial on using the blade tool if you need further information! 

When deciding what to cut, let your eyes be your guide. Here are my tips for what to look for when cutting my video clips:

• Make sure your opening clip is your best clip! Whether this is the amazing kitchen, a cool drone shot, or the beautiful front exterior of the home. You want this first clip to capture the attention of your viewer! This clip should be a bit longer than the rest, since you will be including text on this clip. 
• Cut each clip to be about 2-3 seconds long. It might seem like a short amount of time, but when you are viewing footage 4-5 seconds can actually make the video drag. 
• Choose footage where there is something interesting. Look for contrast in color and movement! If it isn’t interesting to you, it won’t be interesting to your viewer. 
• Tell a story with your video. After the opening clip, make the footage feel like you are walking through the home. Start on the outside, enter the living area, go through the backyard, etc.
• Aim to make these videos about 2 minutes long

Step 4: Editing the Color

After cutting your video down to the length you want, it is time to improve the quality of the images in your video. 

When I record with my camera, I adjust the auto settings on the camera to shoot with lower levels of saturation. I do this so that I have more room to adjust the saturation and color on my final video!

Adding more color adds a level of professionalism to the video. It seems small, but it makes a huge difference. 

The best way to establish a baseline for colors in your footage is to upload a LUT. A LUT is a specially formatted color filter that you can upload to adjust the settings of your video footage. 

Check out this article to learn how to upload a LUT. I use a LUT from Cody Blue to make my footage pop.

To take the colors on your footage to the next level, press command + 7. This will pull up the color and exposure profile for your video clips. 

Go to the color panel found on the upper right hand side and select “Exposure.”

When looking at the graph that appears, note that 100 is full light and 0 is full dark. You want your light range in each video clip to hit both ends of the spectrum!

Go through clip by clip to adjust the color tone to ensure that each clip meets each end of the spectrum. When you first start out, use the graph as your guide. As you become more comfortable, you can start to eyeball it a bit more to see what looks best to you! 

To adjust the saturation of an image, select the “saturation” option next to exposure and use the gauge on the left hand side to increase or decrease saturation. 

Go through and adjust the color, exposure, and saturation on all of your video clips to make sure your footage pops.

Step 5: Final Touches

Now that your video clips are shortened and the color is brilliant, it is time for the final step:

Adding background music and title pages. 

To do this, go into the “assets” event page. 

From here, you will upload the background music you have chosen for your video. 

I recommend getting a subscription from Epidemic Sound for your real estate videos. Epidemic sound lets you use music that is royalty-free, which means you will not run into any copyright issues from YouTube. 

Click the music file you want to use, and drag it into your timeline. Make sure that the music covers the entire length of the video! 

Next, click on the top left-hand corner for titles. Select a title page according to your preference. (I use the fade 3d title for my videos.)

Put this title page on the first clip of your video. 

After you select a title page, change the default text to reflect the address listing. You will want to adjust the size, alignment, and spacing from this screen as well.

After you wrap up the first title page, add one more title page at the end of the video. Instead of putting this title page over your final clip, add an additional 10 seconds to the end of the video clip that contains just your title page. 

On the ending title page, put your name, number, and who the listing is brokered by. Drag your professional headshot onto the timeline, shrink the image, and place it next to your information. 

After you are done with the final title page, you will want to make sure that the music goes on for 10 additional seconds. The reason for this is because YouTube adds “end screens” to the end of the video. If you do not add music here, it will cut off your final title page. 

After you have added your music and title pages, your video editing is complete!

Click on the project event file, select your project, and proceed with the following steps to save it to your desktop:

File → Share → Master File. This will take you to your settings, where you can ensure that it is saving to your desktop. Press the blue “next” button, and you’re all done! 

Get Started with Real Estate Video Editing Today!

Now you know how to create a professional level real estate video! 

Once you get a bit of practice under your belt, this entire process should take approximately 2 hours. It takes 30-60 minutes to shoot the footage, and 30-60 minutes to edit. 

A professional real estate video can cost between $500-1000 to create. You can purchase nearly all the real estate video equipment you’ll need for the cost of one professional video. Just imagine the money you will save by learning real estate video editing on your own. 

Clients WANT this kind of real estate marketing for their listings. Not only will it help their property sell, but it is also a keepsake for the family to have of their property when they move away. 

Real estate video editing is a skill where you can improve your business and express your creativity. Get started today!