Home video editing is no longer a luxury, but rather it has become a necessity and your movies will benefit from knowing some basic home video editing secrets. The days of sitting down for two or three hours and watching everything that you recorded on your vacation are over. In today’s world people want to be entertained and they have become much more sophisticated in how they watch video entertainment. We live in a media driven culture in which today’s audiences expect to see quality in what they view on their computers, or their televisions. You can provide that quality if you know just a few home video editing secrets.The initial home video editing secrets that you need to know are not break through techniques, nor do they require years of editing experience, but rather they are based on common sense. Here are some home video editing secrets that will greatly improve your home video editing without the need to go to film school or buy a training class video.1. Always remember what the purpose of your editing is, namely to tell an interesting and entertaining story in a concise and visually attractive way.2. Don’t fall in love with your material. Pick the best shots and eliminate repeats that make the piece drag on. Keep the tempo up!3. Try not to have audio changes directly under a cut. It is always smoother to extend the preceding audio into the next cut or to pre-lap the incoming audio into the cut you are leaving. Audio changes directly under the cut ten to make the picture cut look “wrong”.4. Learn to lay music under shots that are silent, or where the sound does not add to the overall quality of the video. If you have general background sound that is pleasing, be sure to leave a hint of it under the music because it adds life to the scene.5. When using transitions (i.e dissolves, wipes, etc.), try to keep it simple and refer to editing video secret #1. You don’t want your transitions taking away from your story. Dissolves and wipes tend to work best for most home movie editing projects.6. Home video editing secret #6 is same as #5 with the exception that it deals with titles. Use titles sparingly and only when they add to the story. You don’t want to turn your video into an exercise in reading subtitles. Once again, try to keep it simple!As I said earlier, these are not earth shaking revelations to the editing world, but if followed, these home video editing secrets will greatly improve your editing and point you in the direction of more concise and entertaining videos. Editing is a very personal experience that should be fun and allow you to bring your creativity to your projects. These simple home video editing secrets will point you in the right direction.