Start Your Freelance Video Editing Career Specialization

Discover your power as an editor by leaning into your unique style, identity, and inspiration.

There are a lot of things Ryan Kao wishes he had known before starting his career as a freelance video editor and cinematographer. From learning editing essentials to finding his distinctive visual style to properly managing client projects and marketing himself on social media, developing skills like these have helped Ryan go on to secure opportunities with brands like Nike, Adidas, and IKEA as well as cultivate a community of almost 250K across YouTube and Instagram. Now, Ryan wants to share everything he’s learned about crafting a unique identity and sense of style as a video editor. In this class, you’ll learn how to find new sources of inspiration, translate your visual style into client work, and create your style guide using one of Ryan’s favorite tools. With Ryan by your side, you’ll: - Analyze your media consumption and previous work to find inspiration - Create your own reference library and style guide using Milanote - Discover how to work in tandem with a client’s needs and creative brief - Understand you own style and how to use it to your advantage Plus, Ryan will share some of his favorite edits, inspiration, and creative reference library as a full-time freelance editor. Whether you’ve been working as an editor for years but can’t seem to figure out your unique style or want to start your career off by honing and developing your unique visual style right off the bat, you’ll leave this class with a better sense and understanding of style, how to find new ways to influence your style and how you to translate that into your personal and professional work Basic video editing knowledge and experience will be helpful when taking the class. You’ll need your computer to get started. You can also bring pen and paper to take notes. Instructor bio: Ryan Kao is a cinematographer and video editor based in Los Angeles. What started as a simple childhood hobby over 15 years ago has grown into a thriving and transformative career as a full-time freelancer in the video industry. With cinematography and post-production work ranging from commercial, documentary, and narrative pieces. He is proud to say that his work has taken him all over the world. Making and learning from mistakes along the way has allowed him to discover some unique perspectives and strategies over the years. He's also been so honored to share his knowledge and experiences on YouTube with an audience of over 200,000 subscribers. This creative community has fueled his career beyond anything he could ever imagine possible, and he's beyond excited to share even more with you, here on Skillshare! Clients include Nike, Adidas, Alo, Trip Advisor, Hennesey, and more.

Take on any project without the stress by optimizing your project management, folder organization and overall workflow.

There are a lot of things Ryan Kao wishes he knew before starting his career as a freelance video editor and cinematographer. From learning editing essentials to finding his distinctive visual style to properly managing client projects and marketing himself on social media, developing skills like these have helped Ryan go on to secure opportunities with brands like Nike, Adidas, and IKEA as well as cultivate a community of almost 250K across YouTube and Instagram. Now, Ryan wants to share everything he’s learned about project management, staying organized, and how to speed up editing workflow through project templates and presets. In this class, you’ll learn how to optimize your data management, create a cohesive folder structure, and gain more confidence in your overall editing workflow. With Ryan as your teacher, you’ll: - Organize and name incoming media with a strong folder structure - Set up and organize your footage - Understand how the benefits of cloud storage and hard drives - Move through large quantities of data with ease Plus, Ryan will share a downloadable version of his folder structure so you can use it the next time you need to organize incoming media. Basic video editing knowledge and experience will be helpful when taking the class. You’ll need your computer to get started as well as any hard drives or video content to practice with. You can also bring pen and paper to take notes. Instructor bio: Ryan Kao is a cinematographer and video editor based in Los Angeles. What started as a simple childhood hobby over 15 years ago has grown into a thriving and transformative career as a full-time freelancer in the video industry. With cinematography and post-production work ranging from commercial, documentary, and narrative pieces. He is proud to say that his work has taken him all over the world. Making and learning from mistakes along the way has allowed him to discover some unique perspectives and strategies over the years. He's also been so honored to share his knowledge and experiences on YouTube with an audience of over 200,000 subscribers. This creative community has fueled his career beyond anything he could ever imagine possible, and he's beyond excited to share even more with you, here on Skillshare! Clients include Nike, Adidas, Alo, Trip Advisor, Hennesey, and more.

Standout amongst the crowd by learning how to market yourself and your unique brand through your online presence.

There are a lot of things Ryan Kao wishes he had known before starting his career as a freelance video editor and cinematographer. From learning editing essentials to finding his distinctive visual style to properly managing client projects and marketing himself on social media, developing skills like these have helped Ryan go on to secure opportunities with brands like Nike, Adidas, and IKEA as well as cultivate a community of almost 250K across YouTube and Instagram. Now, Ryan wants to share everything he’s learned about marketing himself as a video editor through social media and a high-quality portfolio. In this class, you’ll learn how to strategize what you share online, optimize your online presence to act like a digital business card, and improve your portfolio to gain clients and confidence around your brand. With Ryan as your guide, you’ll: - Discover how to use Instagram to share client work, network, and build community - Optimize your YouTube channel to give your client an insider’s look at your work - Utilize spec pieces to grow your portfolio - Attract new clients and differentiate yourself from the competition Plus, you’ll get a behind the scene’s look at Ryan’s social media and how he has gained over 210K subscribers on YouTube and almost 40K followers on Instagram. Whether you have been trying to market yourself online for years but haven’t found what works for you or you're building your online presence from scratch, you’ll leave this class with an actionable digital marketing strategy and a strong idea of how you want to show up online. Basic video editing knowledge and experience will be helpful when taking the class. You’ll need access to your social media profiles to get started. You can also bring pen and paper to take notes. Instructor bio: Ryan Kao is a cinematographer and video editor based in Los Angeles. What started as a simple childhood hobby over 15 years ago has grown into a thriving and transformative career as a full-time freelancer in the video industry. With cinematography and post-production work ranging from commercial, documentary, and narrative pieces. He is proud to say that his work has taken him all over the world. Making and learning from mistakes along the way has allowed him to discover some unique perspectives and strategies over the years. He's also been so honored to share his knowledge and experiences on YouTube with an audience of over 200,000 subscribers. This creative community has fueled his career beyond anything he could ever imagine possible, and he's beyond excited to share even more with you, here on Skillshare! Clients include Nike, Adidas, Alo, Trip Advisor, Hennesey, and more.

Learn how to book clients, navigate those relationships, and have them come back to work with you again by creating positive and professional client relationships.

There are a lot of things Ryan Kao wishes he had known before starting his career as a freelance video editor and cinematographer. From learning editing essentials to finding his distinctive visual style to properly managing client projects and marketing himself on social media, developing skills like these have helped Ryan go on to secure opportunities with brands like Nike, Adidas, and IKEA as well as cultivate a community of almost 250K across YouTube and Instagram. Now, Ryan wants to share everything he’s learned about building strong and professional client relationships. In this class, you’ll discover how Ryan has found new clients, gotten hired, managed client expectations and feedback, and gotten repeat clients as a full-time freelance video editor. With Ryan by your side, you’ll: - Learn how to find clients through networking and word of mouth - Communicate with clients with confidence throughout the project - Interpret client feedback and address any notes - Get repeat clients by being transparent, flexible, and timely Plus, Ryan will share a behind the scene’s look at notes and feedback he addressed on a project with Adidas. Whether you are just starting as a video editor or are a more seasoned editor looking to take your client communications to the next level, you’ll leave this class with everything Ryan wishes he knew about client communication and confidently handling a project from start to finish. Basic video editing knowledge and experience will be helpful when taking the class. Consider bringing paper and a pen to take notes as you watch. Instructor bio: Ryan Kao is a cinematographer and video editor based in Los Angeles. What started as a simple childhood hobby over 15 years ago has grown into a thriving and transformative career as a full-time freelancer in the video industry. With cinematography and post-production work ranging from commercial, documentary, and narrative pieces. He is proud to say that his work has taken him all over the world. Making and learning from mistakes along the way has allowed him to discover some unique perspectives and strategies over the years. He's also been so honored to share his knowledge and experiences on YouTube with an audience of over 200,000 subscribers. This creative community has fueled his career beyond anything he could ever imagine possible, and he's beyond excited to share even more with you, here on Skillshare! Clients include Nike, Adidas, Alo, Trip Advisor, Hennesey, and more.