12 Common Video Editor Interview Questions

A video editor interview includes questions about your experience, work ethic, and skills so a potential employer can determine if you’re a good fit for their company. It’s important to prepare for an interview by knowing some of the questions ahead of time and considering your answers. This way, you can go into your interview confident and knowledgeable about your employer and your own abilities and accomplishments. 

Discover some common video editing interview questions, some ways to answer, and what the interviewer's intent with each question might be. 

12 common video editor interview questions

Interviews often begin with a set of common interview questions to get to know you outside of your profession. They explore your personality and potential fit in the company culture. A few common, general interview questions you may encounter include:

• Tell me about yourself.

• What are your career goals? Where do you see yourself in five or 10 years?

• What drew you to this role? Why do you want to work for this company?

• What is one of your greatest strengths and one of your greatest weaknesses?

• How do you handle conflict with a coworker or client?

After the general questions a hiring manager may ask, they will move on to the more technical side of the interview, which will involve discussing your experience and skills as a video editor. 

1. What video editing software are you proficient in?

What they’re really asking: Do you use professional software, and what is your skill level?

As a video editor, it’s important to know many different kinds of software and which ones are used by the company you’re interviewing for. Common professional video editing software includes:

• Adobe Premiere Pro CC: This extremely popular software integrates with Adobe After Effects and the Creative Cloud, offering tools for both beginners and professionals. 

• Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve: This is a popular software for color grading, combining video editing, visual effects, and sound design. It has a feature-packed free version and a paid studio version. 

• Avid Media Composer: The first non-linear editing software, Avid has been a long-time film industry standard for Hollywood productions. It has a fast user interface and all the tools you need as an editor. 

• Final Cut Pro X: Once a very popular option, Final Cut is now available solely on MacOS. It still has all the professional tools a video editor needs. 

You may have experience with all of this software or just with one. If you haven’t used the company’s preferred editing software before, it's important to demonstrate you can learn new software as needed. 

2. Can you describe your video editing workflow?

What they’re really asking: How do you take a project from start to asset delivery?

With video editing, you are dealing with massive amounts of footage you need to organize and cut into a coherent video. In this question, the interviewer wants to know how exactly you do that from start to finish so they can trust you with their footage. Carefully walk through your workflow as you answer the question, including key aspects like:

• How you set up your projects, organize footage, and ensure you have proper backups before you make a single cut

• How you approach making assembly edits and more in-depth polished edits by taking feedback from producers and directors

• Many videos require visual effects (VFX). It’s important to address how you work with VFX artists or if you also do VFX.

• How to deliver a video to a sound effects editor, or how you complete your own sound by doing dialogue editing, noise reduction, foley, and mixing

• How you handle color grading and the overall look of a video

• How you source music, create your own, or plan to work with a composer for a project

• How you integrate titles, graphics, and accessibility elements like closed captions into your projects

3. What is your experience with motion graphics and animation?

What they’re really asking: Do you have skills that go beyond video editing?

While motion graphics and animation are separate concepts from video editing, sometimes clients expect their video editors to have a basic understanding of motion graphics. Most video editing software now has basic motion graphics templates or integrated software to help you create these kinds of visuals. 

It’s important to demonstrate your understanding of motion graphics, the kinds of things you can communicate with them, and how to implement them into your workflow, even if you will be working with a team of motion graphics artists or animators. 

4. What is your experience with video formats and codecs?

What they’re really asking: Do you know how to deliver a final video in the proper specs for various platforms?

Video formats and codecs are two of the most important concepts when delivering a final video since many different platforms like YouTube, social media, and feature film production require different ones. Demonstrate you know the purpose of both a format and codec:

• Format: Video formats are containers that hold the video data. Common formats include MP4, MOV, and AVI. 

• Codec: Video codecs compress and encode the video data to maintain data in a lossless format like Apple Prores or a compressed format like H.264 and H.265.

5. Can you explain the concept of video resolution and frame rate?

What they’re really asking: Do you know how to deliver in different video resolutions and frame rates?

Explain how video resolution refers to the amount of video data in a frame while the frame rate is how many individual frames are in one second. Demonstrate the various times you want to use different resolutions, such as 1920x1080 being better for social media or YouTube videos while large resolutions like 4K and 8K are better suited for movies. The standard frame rate for movies and videos is 24 frames per second (fps), while many sports, news, and TV broadcast content is at 30fps.

6. How do you collaborate with other team members (e.g., directors, producers, sound designers)?

What they’re really asking: What is your working style like with other members on a video production?

As a video editor, you work under the director of a production to help them create their vision. Editors collaborate with directors and sometimes producers to create the desired final video or film. You should demonstrate your ability to collaborate and take criticism and advice while also being able to show creative options to others working on the project. 

7. What is your experience with video production from start to finish?

What they’re really asking: What is your understanding of the entire video production process?

Editors need an understanding of visual storytelling, which often means learning about the entire video production process from beginning to end. In order to do that, you need to understand how to make films and videos from idea to final deliverable. Be sure to discuss any other roles you’ve had in producing, working on set, or in post-production. 

Films start from an idea that turns into a script, which directors and producers use to get funding. After some finances have been secured, the film is cast and other key crew members like cinematographers and producer designers come on board. Once a film is shot, editors, sound designers, visual effects artists, and colorists refine the footage into a final product that producers distribute to festivals or theaters. 

8. How do you handle tight deadlines and time constraints?

What they’re really asking: How do you work under pressure?

Video production is a fast-paced environment with many moving parts and hard deadlines to make. As a video editor, you need to demonstrate to the interviewer that you can work well under pressure to be creative while meeting hard deadlines. Tell the interviewers about your time management process, how you schedule work on different videos, and any other strategies you use to always meet your deadlines. 

9. Can you describe a challenging video editing project you've worked on?

What they’re really asking: Tell me about a problem you’ve faced and the strategies you used to overcome it.

This is a common interview question for any job. One popular way of answering this interview question is the STAR method, which is as follows:

• Situation: Describe the specific problems you faced on a project and how they made the situation unique. 

• Task: Explain the specific task you needed to complete. 

• Action: Walk the interviewer through every step you took to solve the problem and why you took it. 

• Results: Tell them the final results of the challenging situation. 

10. How do you stay up-to-date with the latest video editing trends and technologies?

What they’re really asking: Are you a continuous learner?

Potential employers want to know how you keep your videos fresh and relevant while always learning about new technologies that aid in your work. Keep up with trends in your industry and field by reading trade publications, joining industry associations, networking in person or online on a platform like LinkedIn, and staying connected to social media platforms to keep up with the kinds of videos that are performing well. 

11. What is your experience with video marketing and social media video editing?

What they’re really asking: Can you apply marketing skills to your work as a video editor?

Video marketing is now an integral part of any digital marketing strategy, with many businesses looking to make it a key part of their strategy. Show your potential employer you understand the importance of video editing in producing effective videos for social media and the web. Tell them how you understand how videos increase engagement, boost search engine optimization (SEO) rankings, create higher conversion rates, and create strong brand recognition. You could use an example of a kind of short video that would suit their brand. 

12. What questions do you have for me?

What they’re really asking: Did you do your research?

This is a common question and an important one for both the hiring manager and you as you are also learning if this is a company you want to work for in an interview. Before going into the interview, be sure to research the company to learn about its culture, brand, previous work and if it seems like a good fit for you. Create a list of questions before the interview to ask at the end. Some questions to get you started include:

• What do you like about working for this company?

• What does the typical workday and workflow look like at this company?

• What is your preferred editing software?

• What kind of room for growth is there in this role?

• What kinds of video editing projects would I be working on?

• What skills beyond video editing are you looking for in this role?

Preparing for a video editor interview with Coursera

The video editor interview is an important time for you to outline your technical skills as an editor, your understanding of visual storytelling, and the ways you collaborate with other key positions in video production. If you are just starting, you may want to try the Adobe Content Creator Professional Certificate from Adobe on Coursera. If you are a video editor looking to build in-demand skills in social media, try the Meta Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate also on Coursera.