Create a Digital Design with Canva

With Canva video editor, you can make high-quality videos without being a professional video editor. Canva allows you to create videos just like you would create a power point presentation, using their extensive library of ready-made templates, or starting from scratch. Upload your own media, or use Canva's library of stock images, videos, elements and music to create a professional-looking video.

Pros

• Build a video like a PowerPoint project
• Huge royalty-free image and video library
• Download as MP4 or gif with no watermark
• Shareable with others to view/edit
• Easy to mix multiple media forms on one slide

Cons

• Some tools are only for paid customers
• If you have accidentally included premium content in your project, it is hard to locate it in your slides if you want to remove it 
• No audio trimming options 
• By default you are limited to working in 16:9 at HD quality (1920x1080 pixels)

On the Canva homepage, you can locate the video creation options by selecting ‘Features’ from the top menu bar, and selecting ‘Videos’ under the ‘Explore’ heading. Click on “Make a Video” to get started.

Another way to locate the video creation options is to simply find and select “Video” in the recommended design options on the homepage. You will be able to browse different video creation options and choose one to get started with.

In the video creation window, the sidebar on the left will take you through all the steps you need to create a video. The rest of the page is dedicated to previewing your creation.

Getting started with a template

• Select the template option from the left sidebar.
• Browse templates by category (ie. Education, explainer, etc.).
• Use the search field at the top of the sidebar to look for keywords. The ‘Filters’ button allows you to focus on a range of colours and supported language, and it also allows you to specify if you are looking for free or pro templates.

Getting started with a blank edit

You can create a video from scratch just like you would create a power point.

• Add more video slides by clicking the “+” at the bottom of your screen.
• Change the length of each video slide by clicking on the timer icon above your slides.
• Reorder your slides by dragging slide thumbnails left or right along the timeline.

• Select Background from the menu on the left of your screen.
• Clicking on a background option will automatically make it the background of your selected video slide.
• You can also upload a photo, or browse canva's free photos to set as your background image.

Add a background effect

• Click on your background image once and an options menu will appear above your slide.
• Click Edit image to view options like Duotone, Pixelate, BadTV, etc.
• Click on an effect to apply it to your background image.
• Premium features (only available with a paid account) will be marked with a gold crown icon.

Make a video your background

• Upload your own video, or select a video from Videos on the left side menu to add it to your slide.
• Right click the video on your slide and select Set Video as Background.

• Change the length of time your video plays on your slide by clicking on the slide timing icon and dragging the edges of the timestamp.

You can add a variety of videos, images, and other elements to one video slide to create a mutli-media effect.

• Select the elements you want on your video slide and drag them around the slide to reposition.
• You can also select which portion of a video you want to show on a slide by clicking on it once and using the slider that appears in the menu above.

In a template, you can replace any image or video with a different one by selecting your new media and dragging it on top of the media you want to replace.

When you select a video on your slide, you are presented with video editing options. These include the trimming tool, crop, flip, animate, position, volume and transparency.

Adding text to your slide is very straightforward. If using a template, you can alter the text by editing the one that came with your chosen template, or select other text to include from the Text sidebar. 

To add text to a blank slide:

• Select “Text” from the sidebar.
• You can add a basic heading and edit it with the text options that appear in the toolbar at the top of your screen, or scroll through and select one of the designed text options.

With designed text, you can change the words by double clicking the text and typing in your new text. You can also make changes to its layout by ungrouping the words. Right click on the text, and select “ungroup” to freely move around the text elements. 

The Animate feature is used to provide some motion to the elements on your slide and determines how they appear on the screen.

• Apply animation to all the elements on your slide by selecting Animate, then selecting an effect.
• You can choose to apply the same animation to all your slides by selecting the “apply to all pages” option.

• Apply animation to one of your elements by selecting the object, and then clicking Animate.

• Click on the + sign between your two slides.
• Select Add Transition.
• Select your transition style. 

In the “music” tab on the sidebar, Canva has a variety of free background music that you can choose from. You can use the search bar to look for music related to certain keywords. 

You also have the option to upload your own audio using the “Upload” tab. You can use this to upload your own music tracks or voiceovers.

To adjust your audio:

• Click on the audio bar below your slides.
• The audio controls will appear above your slides.
• Use audio controls to add effects, adjust the length of your audio, and alter the volume.

• In your toolbar at the top of your window, click on the title box to name your video.
• Click on the Play button next to Share to preview your video.
• Click Share to add collaborators to your video, or download your project.