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Movie Editing Made Simple

Turn hours of wedding, church and documentary footage into films people actually sit through — on free software or just your phone.

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About this course

Learn the full longer-form editing craft — organising footage, assembly-to-fine-cut, invisible cuts, pacing, sound, colour and titles — using CapCut Desktop or DaVinci Resolve (both have capable free versions), with a phone-only path if you have no laptop. By the end you can take raw footage from a wedding, church programme or small documentary and deliver a polished film exported properly for YouTube and WhatsApp. This is the longer-form companion to our Video Editing with CapCut course, which covers TikTok-style shorts.

A wedding in Surulere can generate two hours of footage from three phones and one camera. A church anniversary can fill a 128GB card before the second service ends. Turning that pile into a film people sit through to the end is a completely different job from making a 30-second TikTok — it needs structure, patience and a system, not just fast fingers.

What you'll learn

Course syllabus — 6 lessons

  1. Pick your free tools and organise footage like a professional12 min
  2. From a pile of clips to a first cut: assembly and rough cut13 min
  3. Invisible cuts: continuity, cutting on action, J-cuts and L-cuts13 min
  4. Rhythm and pacing: make them feel the day12 min
  5. Sound and simple colour: the polish that separates amateurs14 min
  6. Export, deliver, and run a real client job end to end13 min

Your project

Deliver a 3-5 Minute Event Film or Mini-Documentary

An unlisted YouTube link to your finished 3-5 minute event film or mini-documentary, with a short description explaining your story spine and editing choices.

Certificates on Skillnaija are earned, not issued for attendance: you submit this project, it is graded against a rubric, and passing issues a certificate anyone can verify.

Frequently asked questions

Is Movie Editing Made Simple free?

Yes. Movie Editing Made Simple is completely free on Skillnaija. You need a free account to open the lessons, and there is no charge for the course, the project, or the certificate.

How long does Movie Editing Made Simple take to complete?

6 weeks · ~4 hrs/week. There are 6 lessons, about 1 hour of material in total. You learn at your own pace and your progress is saved.

Do I need any experience to start Movie Editing Made Simple?

Beginner-friendly. You can start from scratch — no prior experience is assumed.

What will I learn in Movie Editing Made Simple?

You will build practical skills in CapCut Desktop and DaVinci Resolve (free versions) editing, Footage organisation, backups and selects, Assembly, rough cut and fine cut workflow, Cutting on action, continuity, J-cuts and L-cuts, Story rhythm, pacing and music beds, Dialogue cleanup, audio levels and simple colour correction, Titles, lower thirds and export settings for YouTube and WhatsApp, Delivering client event films: weddings, church programmes, documentaries. Every lesson is written for a Nigerian context, with examples drawn from how the work is actually done and paid for here.

Do I get a certificate for Movie Editing Made Simple?

Yes, but it has to be earned. You complete the course project — Deliver a 3-5 Minute Event Film or Mini-Documentary and submit it for grading. Passing the project issues a verifiable certificate; finishing the lessons alone does not.

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Ready to start Movie Editing Made Simple?

It's free, it's self-paced, and it ends with something you can show an employer.

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