This editing tool saved me 100+ hours | Filmora AI video editor

This editing tool saved me 100+ hours | Filmora AI video editor

I've got this problem; I recently picked up one of Apple's new iPad Pros thinking this is going to be a brilliant editing machine on the go, especially to level up my short-form game over on Instagram and TikTok. But yeah, turns out Final Cut Pro on an iPad is really quite weird. Thankfully, I found something far better.

Now, I've been using Final Cut on a Mac for years, so I thought this would be a doddle to switch to over on an iPad. But honestly, it's all been a bit odd so far. I can't keep track of safe footage. I can't load on custom looks or audio settings into the app, so when I've been testing it all out, it’s felt like jumping into a familiar swimming pool and finding, to my surprise, that actually, I can't swim.

So I asked my community for some help to see what other people were using for video editing on an iPad, and the results were pretty interesting. From a poll of nearly 100 people, around a third of them used Final Cut to edit on an iPad and almost a quarter went with some lesser-known alternatives. So I set to work seeing if I could find something that could save me some time and hopefully without a massive learning curve.

One of the best alternatives I found is called Filmora by Wondershare, who gladly agreed to sponsor this video after I reached out to them to let them know I was planning on putting this one together. They laid down a challenge for me to make a bunch of new videos using their new AI features in the software, which on paper seemed pretty cool but in practice would it actually save me any time? Let's find out.

First up, I've got a bunch of footage here that I've made from a day walking around my city. I've started posting more content like this over on my channels, but there is a problem: it takes me forever, and adding things like dynamic captions is a real pain. Filmora has got a feature called AutoCut where you just load in your videos or photos, click import, choose your video theme, aspect ratio, and music style, and then just let it do its thing. If you like the results, you can export straight away, or if you want to play with the edit, you can do that in the built-in editor just over here.

The best way I can describe this is, for the mobile and tablet versions, it feels quite similar to the in-app editor on Instagram, so it's actually pretty intuitive to add text, move clips around, and then play with other settings without the interface getting in your way. Now, if I didn't already have a subscription to something like Epidemic Sound to get my music, you can also use Filmora's own AI music generator to make a custom piece of music to your preferences, and it works pretty well. The generation process is pretty intuitive, and the results have been really interesting so far. I probably wouldn't use this kind of feature for a long-form video, but for a piece of short-form content like this, it's actually pretty cool. Any AI music that you make is license-free too, so there's no copyright issue to worry about when you come around to posting.

Now, with this one, I can't really show you how I'd ordinarily do this in Final Cut because in that software, you kind of need something to work with in terms of images, music, or video footage. You can't just make something out of nothing, and that might seem kind of self-explanatory, but if I'm feeling unwell and I can't sit in front of a camera and film and talk about something, I just can't make videos. Filmora has got a very neat trick for this; they've got this feature called Text to Video.

Now, let's say I wanted to make a quick video about the phenomenon called Parkinson's Law, which is the idea that work expands to fill the time that you allow for it. I don’t really need to explain much here other than what I want, so I can pick my desired AI voice. "Wondershare creativity simplified." Not sure about that one, let's try this guy. "Wondershare creativity simplified." Yep, nice. Now I'm going to write the prompt: "Make video about Parkinson's law aimed at productivity fans with a powerful metaphor included and make it easy to understand." So now it's going to do some copywriting for me, which I can edit. Let's just check this through. Yeah, this seems pretty okay so far and actually, I really like this hook that it's generated. Then you just hit generate and let the software do its thing.

Let's have a look at what it's made:

Have you ever wondered why time seems to disappear faster when you have a deadline looming? Picture this: imagine you're holding a handful of sand. No matter how tightly you squeeze, the sand starts slipping through your fingers, vanishing before your eyes. This is Parkinson's Law in action. Parkinson's Law states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. In other words, if you have a week to complete a task, it will likely take you the full 7 days to finish it. Understanding Parkinson's Law can help us hack our productivity. By setting shorter deadlines and allocating specific time frames to tasks, we can get more done. With less time available, we naturally increase our focus and intensity, preventing the sand of time from slipping away.

Clearly, this isn't perfect. I'm not sure about this b-roll choice, for example, but now I've got the rough outline, I can easily go in and swap it for something else. Considering I started with a blank timeline and I gave it 18 words, I actually think this is really impressive. If you're just getting started out in the content game and all you've got is an iPad or even a phone to work on, this is going to do a lot more to get you rolling than spending hours learning the ins and outs of pro video-editing software like Final Cut or DaVinci.

Now, if you do want some of those pro features and you've got access to a desktop computer, there's some really good stuff in Filmora that is reserved for desktop only. Normally, when I'm filming a video for my channel, my first job after writing a script is recording the a-roll, which is this part of me talking to the camera. But probably the biggest job is editing this part down. Depending on the length of the video, this might take me between two to four hours to edit. I've got to find the best takes, chop up the video, and then make sure everything's working as a piece without any nasty silences or issues. If you're a beginner to editing, especially on an iPad, trust me, this is a real pig of a job.

Filmora on the desktop, on the other hand, has a feature which lets you edit by text. What does this mean? Well, if I load my a-roll file into my project here, we can see we've got lots of starts and stops, which you guys wouldn't normally see when you're watching one of these videos because, you know, I've edited them. I can go in here, I can find the transcription that the software has made automatically, and then easily edit out all the bits I don't like so that I end up with the final cut of the video that I want. If you're working from a script, this is much, much easier to do than chopping up little items on a timeline.

Folks, I hope you find this one interesting. By the way, if you want to try this out for yourself, I've worked with the Wondershare team to give away three Filmora licenses worth over $ 100 each. If you want a chance to win, make sure you like the video, give the app a try (there's a code in the description and also over here), and let me know your experiences down in the comments. We'll pick some winners at random in about a month's time and I'll announce them over on my community wall. If you've won, you'll get your access code through via email shortly after. Have lots of fun experimenting and let me know how you get on.

In the meantime, folks, if you want to know a bunch of other ways that I've been using my other iPad (the little iPad Mini 6), you might like this video over here.

[Music]

Keywords

• iPad Pro
• Final Cut Pro
• Filmora
• video editing
• AI features
• AutoCut
• Text to Video
• AI Music Generator
• productivity

FAQ

Q1: Can I use Filmora on both iPad and desktop? A1: Yes, Filmora offers versions for both iPad and desktop. However, some advanced features are reserved specifically for the desktop version.

Q2: What is the AutoCut feature in Filmora? A2: AutoCut allows you to load in videos or photos, choose a theme, aspect ratio, and music style, and let Filmora automatically edit the footage for you.

Q3: How does the Text to Video feature work in Filmora? A3: Text to Video lets you generate videos by simply writing a prompt. It uses AI to create a video complete with narration, b-roll, and text.

Q4: Is the AI-generated music in Filmora license-free? A4: Yes, any AI music that you generate in Filmora is license-free, meaning you don't need to worry about copyright issues.

Q5: How do I enter the Filmora license giveaway? A5: To enter the giveaway, you need to like the video, try the app using the code provided, and comment your experience. Winners will be picked at random and announced on the community wall.