Tutorials Filmmaking

DaVinci Resolve for Beginners

Beginner · ~90 min

Overview

DaVinci Resolve is free, professional-grade, and used on Hollywood films. The free version has no meaningful limitations for most creators. The learning curve is steeper than iMovie or CapCut, but the payoff is a full editing, colour grading, audio, and VFX suite in one application.

What You Need

DaVinci Resolve 19+ (free at blackmagicdesign.com)
A Mac or Windows PC with at least 16GB RAM and a dedicated GPU
Your video footage on a fast drive (SSD recommended)

Steps

Understand the page layout

DaVinci Resolve is divided into pages accessible from the bottom bar: Media (import and organise), Cut (fast editing), Edit (full timeline editing), Fusion (VFX), Color (grading), Fairlight (audio), Deliver (export). Beginners should focus on Media → Cut → Edit → Deliver, in that order.

Create a project and import footage

Open Resolve → Project Manager → New Project. Name your project. Go to the Media page. In the top-left panel, navigate to your footage folder. Drag files into the Media Pool (lower left). Resolve creates proxies or works with the original files depending on your Project Settings. Set your timeline resolution in File → Project Settings → Master Settings before starting.

Edit on the Cut page

The Cut page is designed for speed. Drag a clip from the Media Pool to the timeline. Use the Source Tape at the top to scrub through all your clips simultaneously. Mark In and Out points with I and O, then press F10 (Insert) or F9 (Append). The Cut page has a magnetic timeline that snaps clips together automatically, great for first assembly cuts.

Refine on the Edit page

Switch to the Edit page for precise trimming. Use the Selection mode (A) to select clips and the Trim mode (T) to adjust edit points. Razor blade tool (B) cuts clips. Hold Alt and drag the edge of a clip to roll an edit. The Edit page timeline shows video and audio tracks. You can unlink them by right-clicking on a clip.

Add titles and transitions

Open the Effects Library (top left toolbar) → Toolbox → Titles. Drag a title to a video track above your footage. Double-click the title in the timeline to edit the text in the Inspector panel (right side). For transitions: Effects → Video Transitions. Drag a transition between two clips. Keep transitions subtle. A simple cut is almost always better than a wipe or dissolve.

Export from the Deliver page

Go to the Deliver page. Select a preset: YouTube for online delivery, or Custom Export for specific settings. For YouTube: H.264, 1920×1080, 8000kbps, AAC audio. Set your filename and output path. Click Add to Render Queue, then Render All. Resolve renders in the background. You can continue working while it exports.

Pro Tips

Use proxy media if your footage is 4K or RAW and your machine is struggling. Generate proxies in the Media Pool by right-clicking clips.
DaVinci Resolve autosaves every few minutes, but also press Ctrl+S frequently. It saves to the project database, not to a file. Your projects are in Project Manager, not on your desktop.
The Fairlight audio page has a full broadcast-spec audio environment, for basic podcast-style audio cleanup inside Resolve, it's more than sufficient.

Knowledge Base

What You'll Learn

Start video editing with DaVinci Resolve, the industry-standard free editor. Learn importing media, cutting, color correction, and exporting. No experience necessary.

DaVinci Advantages

Free, powerful, professional-grade.
Industry standard (Netflix, documentaries use it).
Built-in color grading (best in business).
Fusion page for motion graphics and VFX.
Fairlight page for audio mixing and mastering.

Basic Workflow

1) Import media (File → Import). 2) Create timeline (right-click → New Timeline). 3) Drag clips to timeline. 4) Cut and trim. 5) Add transitions (drag between clips). 6) Color grade (Color page). 7) Export (File → Deliver).

Key Shortcuts

I: Set in-point for clip.
O: Set out-point for clip.
V: Overwrite mode (default).
B: Blade tool (cut). Click timeline to split.
Delete: Remove selected clip.
Space: Play/pause timeline.

Resolution & Frame Rate

Create timeline matching your source media (1080p 24fps, 4K 30fps, etc.). Mismatches require scaling and performance drops.

Where This Fits

This guide covers one specific part of video production. The wider picture. The full arc from planning through camera, light, sound, edit, and delivery, and how each stage constrains the next, is in Video Production Fundamentals: The Complete Guide, which frames the discipline as a whole and links out to the detailed guides underneath it, including this one. If you are starting from scratch rather than solving a specific problem, read that first and come back here.

FAQ

Q: Is DaVinci hard to learn?
A: Less intuitive than iMovie or Premiere initially, but logical once you understand the page system (Cut, Edit, Color, Fusion, Fairlight).