The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.

WHAT!!! A big, beautiful TV for Christmas… YASSSS!! I love the thought of getting a new television for the holiday season. Between the Christmas specials, College football and just hanging out and relaxing, All I Want For Christmas Is a Huge TV!!

All I Want For Christmas Is a Huge TV

A new TV is something that I am wishing for, but I want one that has all of the bells and whistles that I am looking for.

I want an amazing entertainment experience. I want sports, gaming and the home theatre experience with the latest smart technology available. Now, I have the VIZIO P-Series 4K HDR Smart TV.

It’s the perfect TV to buy this Holiday season!!

Many people know video editing is an essential step to creating a professional video but they lack the skills to do it. This is why it is important to learn as many tips as possible about video editing. You will see improvements in your skills as you put these tips into practice. The following are 7 video editing tips for beginners.

7 Video Editing Tips for Beginners

Cut Out Unnecessary Scenes

During video filming, you are bound to record some scenes that are unnecessary. You can cut out these scenes by using the trimming tool. To cut tight a video, you must make sure there is no gap in the dialogue sentences. For example, you can delete silence moments in the actors’ dialogues or delete the part that has less important dialogue lines. Most movies have a time length of 90 minutes so you should try to keep it to 100 minutes in the first cut. In the second cut, you can playback the video again and cut some more scenes to keep the movie length to 90 minutes.

Don’t Focus on Technical Aspects

You must not put too much emphasis on the technical aspects, for example, adding special side effects. These side effects will not help your video to tell the story. Instead, you should put more focus on editing the video in the way that it will bring the intended message to the audience. You must ask yourself what type of message you want to convey or what emotions you want to stir in the audience through the video. One technique is to include B-roll footage – B roll footage are bits and pieces of the scenes you actually film, for example, if you and your friends go scuba diving in a remote reef, you can include clips on how you and your friends get prepared for scuba diving, what types of fishes you see under the water, and returning to the boat.

Add Audio Soundtrack

You can also add an audio soundtrack that matches with the video theme. If the soundtrack is too long, you can cut it with the video trimming tool. You can also add in a sound effect such as animal sounds and ambient sounds to improve the feel of the video. Adding background music and sound effect can help to muffle the on-camera sounds. You must level the volume level of the sound effect, background music accordingly. They should not be louder than the voiceover. It is best to just set background music to a significantly lower volume if you are not sure it is louder than the narration.

Reduce a Video Resolution by Cropping

Cropping the video can reduce the video resolution and file size. When cropping, make sure all the important elements are within the cropping frame. Movavi Video Editor provides instruction on how to crop a video if you don’t know how to use the crop tool. After you click the crop button, the crop frame will appear and you can resize it by dragging the corner. After the frame is resized, you can press the Apply button to crop the video. By cropping the video, it will upload faster on YouTube. They also don’t take up a lot of spaces on your mobile devices.

Add Transitions that Sync with Music

If you want to add transitions, make sure it is in sync with the music. Transitions can show there is a change to another phase in the video. If you don’t know what transition to choose, just choose a transition that looks good for that particular scene. Simple transitions like crossfade, dissolve and zoom transitions will work.

Create an Animated Title Intro

You can use the animated title feature to create an intro for your video. The video editing software has a lot of animated title presets to choose from. To add the title, just drag a style to the clip and then double click on it to enter the text. Adding a title in the opening is not only good for introducing a video but it also allows you to give an introduction to different video series.

Add Slow Motion Effect

Besides, you can add slow motion to make the video more cinematic. Slow motion scenes can be achieved by filming the video at 120 fps with your camcorder. The effect can also be added through the video editor by first selecting the clip and then clicking the gearwheel button. Under the video tab, you can drag the speed slider to the left to make the video play slow. As a rule of thumb, you should avoid adding too much slow motion in the video as it will make your audience get tired of them.

Video editing can be intimidating, but once you start to get a feel for it, the video editing process will become second nature.

This post is sponsored by Best Buy. All opinions and love of the Google Smart Light Starter Kit with Google Assistant are my own.

I bought my first home a few years ago. The month leading up to the closing, I already had an image in my brain of having a “smart home”. I wanted all the bells and whistles! The thought of being able to control everything from the A/C, to turning on the TV’s with your voice is just incredible to me. 10-year-old Rick would have had a complete nerd meltdown if he were to walk into my house. I’ve added a new feature to the house that is the icing on the cake… the Google Smart Light Starter Kit with Google Assistant.

Google Smart Light Starter Kit with Google Assistant

There is nothing cooler than walking into a dark room and asking Google Assistant to “Turn on lights” and Voilà. My family laughs at me because I’ll try to trip up Google Assistant by using different accents… I think it’s hysterical!

The Google Smart Light Starter Kit with Google Assistant is great for those of us that are not very handy. You literally just plug in Google Home Mini, screw in the GE C-Life light bulb and download the Google Home app.

Perks of the Google Smart Light Starter Kit with Google Assistant

If you and the fam are having movie night, you can ask Google Assistant to dim the lights for optimal viewing. I always forget to turn off the  main light in the living room before I go to bed. Now, I can ask Google Assistant to turn it off and I don’t even have to get out of bed. The starter kit can also help you conserve energy and get that energy bill a little lower.

The thing I think I might like the most is the price point. The Google Smart Light Starter Kit with Google Assistant is $55 which makes it one of the lowest priced smart lighting products on the market.

With the Google Smart Light Starter Kit with Google Assistant your future is going look bright!

I received compensation for this post. All opinions of the Whirlpool Convection Over-the-Range Microwave are my own.

I remember when microwaves became a”thing”. They went from being in no houses to being in EVERY house. Now, most of us couldn’t imagine our kitchen without one. But, other than some new finishes or sizes, microwaves haven’t come a long way in the last decade. Now, modern tech has been used to create the Whirlpool Convection Over-the-Range Microwave.

Whirlpool Convection Over-the-Range Microwave

I know, a new microwave doesn’t sound that exciting, but the Whirlpool Convection Over-the-Range Microwave is a must for everyone that loves the newest, most modern appliances in their house.

Here are some of the great features:

• You will get the right settings every time. When you scan a frozen food barcode with your smartphone or tablet, then send recommended or customized cooking instructions straight to your microwave for dinner done just the way your family wants it.
• You can customize recipes for a customized experience! The touchscreen on the Smart Microwave learns, adapts and suggests customized presets based on you and your family’s routines. This amazing system tracks preferences so it can learn family favorites. It will learn what families cook, when they cook and how they cook.

Enjoy mealtime flexibility and control your appliances from any room in your home, managing mealtime with the click of a button to make holiday cooking and entertaining smarter, and easier. Just make sure you’re not cooking anything when no one is home… THAT’S A BIG NO!!

Also, WiFi & App are required and features are subject to change. For more details and privacy info go to whirlpool.com/connect. Last, but not least, appliances must be set to Remote Enable.

Swing in to your local Best Buy or go on BestBuy.com and save up to $400 on select Whirlpool kitchen packages. Valid 9/27 – 10/30