You can learn the basics of video editing in Nepal for free, and you should try that before you pay for any course. Install the free DaVinci Resolve, work through Blackmagic's free beginner book, and cut one short video of your own. Two weeks of this tells you more than any brochure.
Here is what to do in those two weeks, and how to tell when a paid course is worth it.
Is the free DaVinci Resolve good enough to learn on?
Yes. Blackmagic Design, the company that makes it, says the free version "works with virtually all 8-bit video formats at up to 60fps in resolutions as high as Ultra HD". The paid Studio version adds AI tools, extra effects, AI noise reduction and 10-bit video up to 120fps. A beginner does not need any of that.
The free version has every page you need. Edit is for cutting, Color for colour, Fairlight for sound, Fusion for titles and Deliver for export. You learn the whole workflow in one app.
We would not start with a cracked copy of Premiere Pro. Many Kathmandu job posts do name Premiere Pro and After Effects. But cutting, trimming, pacing and colour work the same way in every editor. Once you know them in Resolve, the Adobe buttons are the easy part to learn later.
Will it run on my laptop?
Probably, with one trick. Free Resolve runs on 8GB of RAM if you edit with proxy files. A proxy is a lighter copy of a heavy video file. You edit the light copy, and Resolve uses the full file when you export. Blackmagic recommends 16GB of RAM, and more for 4K and Fusion work.
Keep about 100GB of free space, ideally on an SSD. An external SSD works well if your laptop drive is small and already full.
Week 1: the free beginner book
Go to Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve training page. Download "The Beginner's Guide to DaVinci Resolve" as a PDF, and download its lesson files too. The lesson files are the practice footage the book uses, so your screen matches the pages. Video files are heavy, so download them once on a good connection and keep a copy on an external drive.
Start with the editing chapters. In the first week, aim for three skills. Learn the J, K and L keys to play, pause and move through footage quickly. Learn to trim a cut without leaving a gap, which Resolve calls a ripple trim. Then export a finished edit as an H.264 file, the standard format for the web.
Don't jump between ten different YouTube tutorials. One book, start to finish, teaches you in order. Random tutorials teach you tricks without the basics under them.
Week 2: cut one short video of your own
Now shoot about ten minutes of your own footage on your phone. Film a friend talking about their work, a tea shop opening in the morning, or a short walk through your neighbourhood. Then cut it into one 60-second vertical video in 9:16, the shape of a Reel or a TikTok.
This is where you learn what the book cannot teach. The first three seconds decide whether people keep watching, so cut until the opening shot earns its place. Every cut should have a reason you can say out loud.
Beginners often forget sound. Record 20 seconds of silence in the same room, called room tone, so you can fill gaps without a sudden change in the background noise. For music, use the YouTube Audio Library. Google says its tracks are copyright-safe and will not be claimed through Content ID. Filter for "Attribution not required", because Creative Commons tracks need the artist credited in your video description.
How do I know I'm ready for a paid course?
After two weeks, be honest with yourself. You are ready to pay when most of these are true:
- You can import, cut, trim and export without a tutorial open.
- You finished one 60-second edit, even if you don't like it.
- You can name what is wrong with it: shots that don't match in colour, a voice that keeps getting louder and quieter, music that fights the speech.
- You want someone to show you how to fix those things.
If you stopped after three days because it bored you, a course will not change that. Save your money. Editing is long hours alone with a timeline, and the free weeks show you that for nothing.
If you got stuck on colour and sound, that is normal. Those are the parts free videos teach worst, because nobody watches your cut and tells you what is wrong.
What should a paid course give you that free videos don't?
A certificate is not the point. A career guide on NecoJobs puts it plainly: "Employers want to see your real work, not just certificates." So judge a course by the work you leave with, and by who reviews it.
At Saarathi Academy in Old Baneshwor, Kathmandu, the Video Editing course runs for 5 weeks, 2 hours a day, Monday to Friday. Classes run in person and online, with up to 10 students in the classroom per batch. Mentors still do the job they teach.
You learn on the free DaVinci Resolve 21 and the free plan of CapCut, so no paid app is needed. Weeks 1 and 2 cover cutting, pacing and short vertical video. Week 3 is colour on the Color page, read with scopes. Week 4 is sound in Fairlight, including dialogue repair and mixing to -14 LUFS for delivery.
Your project uses supplied footage with real problems in it, like bad audio and mixed light. By Week 5 you have a demo reel of 30 to 60 seconds, and your mentor reviews it with you one to one.
We don't teach Premiere Pro or After Effects, because they need a paid plan and a stronger laptop. We cover what each one is for, and your Resolve skills carry over.
Start tonight
Install the free DaVinci Resolve from Blackmagic's site, then download the beginner book with its lesson files. Finish the first chapter before you sleep.
When you're ready for feedback on colour, sound and a real reel, the Video Editing course page has the details, and the week-by-week syllabus is public before you pay.
Top comments (0)