It wasn’t too long ago that the baseline understanding across the industry was that feature films were cut in Avid, documentaries in Premiere, and commercials in FCP. It’s been over a decade since that narrative was fully shattered with Oscar winners like “Gone Girl.” More recently, we’ve seen films like Everything Everywhere All At Once cut in Premiere, which is something we continue to see with Adobe tools being utilized for 2025’s winners for best picture, best editing, best visual effects and more. However, we’re in the midst of another shift as creatives at every level are utilizing Adobe After Effects in a whole new way.
While these bigger changes across the editing landscape have been shaping up and out for many years, Adobe After Effects had always been largely relegated to the realm of motion graphics, visual effects, and compositing. Mentioning you “edit” in After Effects might even elicit a few raised eyebrows, a knowing smirk, or perhaps a lecture on proper workflow.
But for a certain breed of “editor,” such as those creating content for online-only social distribution such as TikTok edits or YouTube Shorts, saying “I edit in AE” is something that makes sense. In fact, for specific projects, it can be a powerful and arguably most efficient choice.
When After Effects Becomes Your NLE (Sort Of)
This is something to highlight: After Effects is not, by design, a non-linear editor (NLE) in the traditional sense. It lacks many of the streamlined trimming, organization, and audio mixing features that make dedicated NLEs so efficient for long-form content. However, for short-form, heavily effects-driven, or animation-heavy projects, AE’s unique strengths can transform it into a surprisingly capable “editing” environment.
After Effects might just be your secret weapon for cutting short-form, VFX-heavy content. That’s music videos, highly stylized commercials, title sequences, or experimental shorts. If every other shot requires significant visual effects, complex compositing, or motion graphics, why bounce between applications? Keeping everything in AE allows for seamless integration and iteration.
It can also be an idea tool if your project is primarily animated or built around intricate motion graphics, with live-action elements serving as accents, then AE is your natural habitat. Cutting within AE makes sense when the “edit” is inherently tied to the animation timeline.
For filmmakers who embrace unconventional narratives and visual storytelling, AE’s layer-based system and extensive effects library offer unparalleled creative freedom. You can manipulate time, space, and imagery in ways that would be cumbersome in a traditional NLE.
Lastly, sometimes you need to deliver a proof-of-concept, a mood reel, or a quick social media piece with a very specific, effects-laden aesthetic, which can make AE an ideal tool. If you know you’ll be heavily processing every clip, staying in AE can expedite the process.
So, what does this unconventional workflow entail?
What “Editing in AE” Actually Looks Like
It’s not about replicating Premiere Pro’s timeline; it’s about leveraging AE’s core strengths.
The Composition as Your Timeline
Instead of sequences, you’re working with compositions. Your main composition becomes your “master edit,” where you bring in all your footage, pre-compositions, and effects.
Layer-Based Organization
Every clip, every graphic, every effect is a layer. This means you’re stacking elements, adjusting their in/out points directly on the layer bar, and using blend modes and masks extensively.
Heavy Pre-Composing
This is paramount. To keep your main timeline clean and manageable, you’ll be pre-composing constantly. Each individual shot or segment with its own effects might live in its own pre-comp. This allows you to apply effects to a whole “clip” rather than individual layers and keeps your project organized.
Adjustment Layers for Global Looks
Just like in NLEs, adjustment layers are your friends for applying color grades, grain, or other global effects across multiple shots without duplicating effects on every layer.
Time Remapping and Speed Ramps
AE offers incredibly granular control over time remapping, allowing for sophisticated speed ramps, freezes, and reverse effects that are often more precise than what’s available in standard NLEs.
Animation Keyframes Over Traditional Cuts
Many transitions and “cuts” in an AE edit aren’t hard cuts but rather carefully animated opacity changes, position shifts, or effect-driven wipes. The lines between editing and motion graphics blur considerably.
Essential Graphics Panel for Titles (and more)
If you’re using MOGRTs created in AE, they can be dragged directly into your main comp, acting like sophisticated, editable title cards or lower thirds.
While powerful, “editing” in After Effects is not without its challenges, and it’s important to realize the audio limitations, as these tools in AE are rudimentary at best. For anything beyond basic sound design or syncing, you’ll eventually need to export stems to a dedicated DAW or even an NLE for a proper mix.
Additionally, layer-heavy compositions with complex effects can quickly bring even powerful machines to their knees. Efficient pre-composing and cautious use of demanding effects are key. You can also forget about cutting multi-camera interviews directly in AE. It’s simply not designed for that. And as a reminder that AE is not a traditional NLE, there’s no automated way to detect cuts in a single clip and break it into individual editable segments.
All of which is to say that editing in AE isn’t for everyone or a fit for all projects. But saying “I do all of my video editing in AE” isn’t an unconventional workflow, In fact, under the right parameters, using anything else can actually be more cumbersome.
Embrace the Unconventional
The next time someone raises an eyebrow when you mention “editing in After Effects,” don’t shrink away. Instead, proudly explain how this often-misunderstood workflow allows you to achieve unique visual results, seamlessly integrate complex effects, and maintain creative control from start to finish. For the right project, using AE as your primary editor isn’t a shortcut but is instead a strategic creative choice that more and more creative are embracing.