DaVinci Resolve Essentials

The Deliver Page

Course contents

Questions

Course info

113 lessons / 13 hours 21 quiz questions 14 projects Certificate of achievement

Overview

Taught by video editor and content creator Brandon Baldovin, DaVinci Resolve Essentials is a practical introduction to one of the most powerful tools in modern post production. Whether you’re cutting a social clip, trailer, or documentary, DaVinci Resolve brings together editing, audio, motion graphics, and color in a single application. This comprehensive 12-hour course shows you how to wield that power with confidence, so you can focus on telling better stories instead of fighting the software. 

If you’ve ever opened DaVinci, felt overwhelmed by all the pages and panels, and closed it just as fast, you’re not alone. Brandon is here to guide you step-by-step with hands-on projects that don’t just teach you where to click but how to think about each editing challenge as it comes. You’ll work through a variety of videos from first import to final render, building skills through repetition, problem solving, and practical application. 

Together with Brandon, you’ll learn how to: 
  • - Navigate the relevant pages of DaVinci Resolve and skip the rest
  • - Create projects, timelines, and media bins that stay organized
  • - Use J and L cuts, b-roll, music, and sound effects to shape compelling edits
  • - Work inside Fusion to design your own motion graphics
  • - Build a simple, repeatable approach to color correction and basic grading (and learn the difference between the two!)
  • - Streamline your workflow with adjustment clips, compound clips, power bins, and proxies

Best of all, DaVinci Resolve is free. If you’ve always wanted to try your hand at video editing, whether for personal projects, content creation, or client work, there’s never been a better time or a better tool. This course is designed to help you focus on only the core features you need to get started, so you can build confidence and make intentional decisions no matter what type of footage you’re working with. 

By the end, you’ll have a reels’ worth of finished projects that reflect your editing sensibilities, including a talking head video, short form social content, a trailer, and a polished mini documentary. Even more importantly, you’ll have the confidence to open DaVinci Resolve and transform a blank timeline into your creative vision, time and again. Let’s get editing!

Note: Because the exercise files contain video footage, they’re large (32 GB) and may take extra time to download. EditStock has generously supplied watermarked footage for use in the course and course exercise files. If you’d like to remove the watermark and access a wide range of raw practice footage, use the link editstock.com/BYOL for 20% off.

Requirements
  • - Download DaVinci Resolve, either the free version or Studio (paid)
  • - A computer that meets DaVinci Resolve minimum system requirements, with at least 16GB of RAM recommended
  • - Enough storage space for exercise files and included footage, either on your computer or an external hard drive
  • - Headphones strongly recommended to properly hear dialogue, music, and sound effects
  • - A mouse can be helpful for precise timeline and Fusion work, though a trackpad also works

Who this course is for
  • - Beginners who want to learn DaVinci Resolve from scratch
  • - Self-taught editors who feel stuck clicking buttons without understanding the process
  • - Content creators and small business owners who want better video for their brand
  • - Designers and creatives who need to learn basic editing for client projects
  • - Anyone who has opened Resolve, panicked, and wants a clear, structured path forward

What you’ll learn
  • - How to download, install, and set up DaVinci Resolve
  • - Setting up frame rates, codecs, and project settings
  • - Navigating the Edit, Media, Fusion, Color, and Deliver pages
  • - Importing, organizing, and managing media with bins and timelines
  • - Editing talking head videos from start to finish
  • - Removing ums, uhs, and dead space to improve pacing
  • - Cutting footage efficiently with custom keybinds
  • - Creating smooth edits using J cuts and L cuts
  • - Adding and timing b-roll to support the story
  • - Choosing and placing music and sound effects
  • - Balancing dialogue, music, and SFX for clean, intentional audio
  • - Editing short form and vertical videos for social platforms
  • - Using adjustment clips to apply effects across multiple clips
  • - Working with compound clips to stay organized
  • - Creating and using power bins for reusable assets
  • - Using proxies for smoother playback on larger projects
  • - Rendering in place to simplify complex timelines
  • - Understanding the Fusion page and node based workflows
  • - Creating Fusion compositions for motion graphics
  • - Working with merge nodes, masks, and transforms
  • - Building simple logo animations and motion elements
  • - Creating lower thirds and animated text
  • - Keying green screen footage
  • - Tracking footage and attaching animated callouts
  • - Understanding the difference between color correction and color grading
  • - Reading scopes to guide color decisions
  • - Correcting exposure, white balance, and contrast
  • - Working with primary wheels and RGB curves
  • - Handling skin tones accurately
  • - Applying basic color grading to shape mood
  • - Creating and saving color correction presets
  • - Exporting and delivering videos for YouTube, social platforms, and clients
  • - Completing multiple real world class projects you can add to your portfolio
  • - Downloadable exercise files and professional footage to follow along
  • - Quizzes and hands-on projects to reinforce key concepts
  • - Practical workflows and techniques used by working video editors
Brandon Baldovin

Brandon Baldovin

Editor & Creative Engineer

instructor

I am a video editor, content strategist, and educator, and my mission is to help creators understand not just how to edit, but why video editing works.

I hold a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering and have taught at the college level as an engineering instructor. Over the past three years, I’ve also taught video editing to beginner and intermediate creators, helping them build a stronger foundation and how to edit with more intention.

My engineer’s mindset strongly influences how I approach creative problem-solving. I focus on breaking down complex editing concepts into clear, practical techniques that creators can confidently apply. Over the past five years, my work has centred on visual storytelling, with a deep emphasis on DaVinci Resolve.
I was born and raised on California’s Central Coast, and I create educational resources designed to help others create more.

Certificates

We’re awarding certificates for this course!

Check out the How to earn your certificate video for instructions on how to earn yours and click the available certificate levels below for more information.

How to earn your certificate

Work your way towards your certificate for this course by following these simple steps.

  • Watch the course videos
  • Complete the Class Projects - look out for the videos marked with
  • Upload your class projects into the My Projects area in your account
  • Complete and pass the Knowledge Quiz (Merit level courses only)
  • Complete the Distinction Certificate Project (Distinction level courses only) - look out for the video marked with
  • Upload your Distinction project to the My Projects area in your account
  • Request your certificate when you've completed the requirements for the certificate level you're working towards

Good luck!

Pass certificates

We're awarding 'Pass' level certificates for this course.

You can work your way towards your 'Pass' certificate by following these simple steps.

  • Watch the course videos
  • Complete the Class Projects - look out for the videos marked with
  • Upload your class projects into the My Projects area in your account
  • Don't forget to request your certificate when all your projects are complete

Good luck!

Merit certificates

We're awarding 'Merit' level certificates for this course.

You can work your way towards your 'Merit' certificate by following these simple steps.

  • Watch the course videos
  • Complete the Class Projects - look out for the videos marked with
  • Upload your class projects into the My Projects area in your account
  • Complete and pass the Knowledge Quiz
  • Don't forget to request your certificate when you have passed the quiz and completed all your projects

Good luck!

Distinction certificates

We're awarding 'Distinction' level certificates for this course.

You can work your way towards your 'Distinction' certificate by following these simple steps.

  • Watch the course videos
  • Complete the Class Projects - look out for the videos marked with
  • Upload your class projects into the My Projects area in your account
  • Complete and pass the Knowledge Quiz
  • Complete the Distinction Certificate Project - look out for the video marked with
  • Upload your Distinction project to the My Projects area in your account
  • Don't forget to request your certificate when you have passed the quiz and completed all your projects

Good luck!

Downloads & Exercise files

Transcript

Artie crew, we are ready to deliver our video.

Before you do, I recommend on any video edit playing back

the video in its entirety on the timeline.

One more time. It is good to double check

to make sure there's no weirdness, there's no irregularity.

So let's go ahead and do that. Now.

You can either play it back

with the timeline still in frame,

or if you'd like to full screen the entire thing.

The shortcut for that is P.

And now we can hit Spacebar to play. Hey, let's talk about

Some editing mistakes that a lot of

Beginners Make. So a

mistake that a lot of beginning editors make is

that they focus on the spectacle

of the edit over the story of the edit.

When we're talking about what really matters the most,

at the end of the day, it's the message being told in the

video, not

What kind Of effects you can include. Something

Else, a lot of beginning editors do

Opt-in is the overuse of prebuilt in transitions.

Until you're more comfortable with

how you should edit a video, I avoid using some

of those presets.

And one of the last things I wanna talk about

Is focusing on the audio of the video.

The audio of the video accounts for 50% of the final edit,

so you should spend just as much time working

with your audio as you do working with the video.

Hope this helps and excited to talk more about editing.

Nicely done everybody.

Let's go ahead and save this sucker.

We're gonna venture over into a new

page in Da Vinci Resolve.

Look in the bottom right here, we're gonna go

to the deliver page.

And just like every other page in this program,

it may feel intimidating at first,

but I promise we're gonna click all of two buttons.

What I'd like you to do is go ahead

and direct your tension over to this left column here.

These are our render settings. Now, I'm not a Kodak expert.

I don't have a master's degree in Bitrate.

So when I look over here,

we got a lot of settings that we can

Choose. So

What do we need to do?

Well, I, I have good news for you.

If you go up top here, this upper column, we go

to the right, we have a bunch of presets for us ready to go.

Now, I might spend a little bit

of time in the future talking over some of these settings

and which ones might matter to you moving forward.

But what I'd like us to do to keep things nice

and simple, to scroll on over to the right here,

and we're just gonna click the YouTube 10 80 p preset.

And that's gonna simplify live for us a good bid.

Double check to make sure the resolution is 1920 by 10 80.

'cause that's the timeline that we're on.

By default, it should say timeline frame rate.

If it doesn't, make sure it's set to 30.

And the format, uh, the format, the format, the format.

Now the YouTube preset limits this to MP four and QuickTime.

QuickTime will render to a MOV file.

The difference between QuickTime

and MP four really is not that much.

So what I'd like you to do is go to MP four

and make sure that your video Kodak is set to H 0.264.

Again, do not stress about the rest of these settings.

We'll cover them in future videos.

The next thing that we need to do is choose

where we'd like to save it.

I'm gonna go ahead and save it to my

desktop so that I can find it.

And then we just need to name it.

I'm gonna name ours, BYOL Class Project one.

Bring your own laptop class, project one.

And at the very bottom down here, there's a button

that says Add to render Q.

And before we actually render, one thing I'd like you

to double check is that on your timeline.

So the same controls apply over here on the deliver page.

So I can shift in the scroll wheel to change the zoom level.

Bring this up. Make sure that the in

and out point are set to your videos in an out point.

Sometimes if you've got footage hanging out over here,

it's gonna try to render the entire timeline.

So again, O is out, I is in.

Make sure we're rendering the proper section here.

And if that all looks good, go ahead

and go to the bottom left here and add to render Q.

And then we're gonna click render all.

But we are not quite done yet

because you need to submit the video in order

to receive credit for the course.

So to do that, what I'm gonna recommend everybody do

is use YouTube.

If you don't use YouTube, totally fine.

Remember, you can use something like Vimeo, Behan,

any other streaming or portfolio service.

But a quick reminder, please do not use a Google Drive

or a Dropbox link

or anything where we're gonna have to actually

download the video file to review it.

It's okay if you accidentally goof up and do that,

but just know that in order to receive credit,

we're gonna need some kind of streaming link.

The example that I'm gonna use to demonstrate this

with is going to be YouTube.

Again, totally okay to use something else,

but you're just gonna have to figure it out on your own.

I'd wager the majority

of us all have a YouTube account or a Google account.

But to not make assumptions, I'm gonna go ahead

and walk through the entire process.

You'll need to go to youtube.com. That is step one.

If you don't already have an account,

you're gonna need to create one.

So depending on the current YouTube layout,

there'll probably be an option.

The upper right hand corner that says sign in from there,

you can either log into your existing Gmail account

or create a new one.

Once you've all signed in and created an account, go ahead

and move to the upper right hand corner

where your profile icon is.

Go ahead and click that icon.

And you're gonna want to go to YouTube studio.

I may have a few more options than you here,

but what you're gonna wanna locate is YouTube Studio.

Go ahead and click that. Now, again,

depending on the current iteration

of the YouTube studio user interface,

this icon might be moved around.

But we're gonna wanna locate the create icon.

Go ahead and click that. We've got a few options here.

We're gonna go with upload videos.

That'll give us this big old prompt

to locate our video file.

So you can either go to your desktop

or whatever you saved it, drag and drop the file on,

or hit the button in the middle

and hit select files From there,

locate wherever you have rendered and saved this file

and hit open.

And that'll begin the upload process of this video.

And there's only gonna be a couple things we need

to change here, and then we are good to go.

For one, we should probably rename this to be class, project

one, and then whatever your name is, once you've done that,

there's two important settings that we need

to remember on YouTube for any video, you upload it,

ask if it's kid appropriate.

Now our video is kid friendly, right?

But what this is really asking is, is this video safe

and marketable for kids?

So just be aware in the future, if you were ever

to publish videos,

unless you're specifically making educational content

for children, we're gonna check, no,

this doesn't give it a PG 13 or an R rating.

This just says, Hey, don't market this video

to kids on YouTube once.

That's all said, done, hidden. Next, next,

until you get to the visibility page.

And by default it should say unlisted. This is what we want.

Again, unlisted, do not set this to private.

And unless you want this to be public, don't hit public.

All unlisted means is

that this video is hidden, it's hidden.

Nobody can find this on the internet

unless you have the link, which is what we do want.

Double check, unlisted, not private, not public, unlisted.

And then if you click these two rectangles over here,

it will copy the video link for you and then hit save.

And that will save this video to your YouTube studio.

If for whatever reason you lose the link, do not stress.

It's very easy to find.

Just make sure you're in, again, your YouTube studio.

You can't be on the YouTube homepage.

And then go over to content.

This will list all of the videos

that you've uploaded to your YouTube studio.

And again, ours says Unlisted here, which is what we want.

And if you need that shareable link,

there's these three dots right here that you can click

and it says, get shareable link.

And then again, we will copy the link to your clipboard.

Once you have that shareable link from YouTube or Vimeo

or wherever, go ahead

and go to the course,

project sections in the assignment section

and paste it there and submit it.

Congratulations friends.

You guys have rendered your very first video

inside DaVinci Resolve.

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