Introduction to DaVinci Resolve - [Full Course] for Beginners (2026)

Introduction to DaVinci Resolve - [Full Course] for Beginners (2026) - Summary and Notes

This comprehensive course by Casey Faris provides a beginner-friendly introduction to DaVinci Resolve 20. It covers the essential aspects of post-production, including media management, editing, cutting, compositing, color grading, audio mixing, and delivery. The course emphasizes hands-on learning and aims to empower viewers to create their own videos. It offers a detailed walkthrough of the different pages within DaVinci Resolve.

**Key Takeaways:**

* DaVinci Resolve is a powerful, professional-grade video editing software that offers a free version with extensive features.

* The software is divided into "pages," each designed for a specific task in the post-production workflow.

* The course covers the basics of each page: Media, Edit, Cut, Fusion, Color, Fairlight, and Deliver.

* The course stresses that good color grading starts with good footage.

* The video emphasizes the importance of practice, patience, and hands-on experience.

**Detailed Notes:**

**I. Introduction (0:00:00 - 0:01:24)**

* The video is designed as a comprehensive introduction to DaVinci Resolve.

* Offers a free introductory course that previously cost hundreds of dollars.

* Aims to enable viewers to create their own videos.

* It covers everything from media management, to putting clips in the timeline, color grading, compositing, audio mixing, and final delivery.

* Viewers are encouraged to download footage and follow along.

**II. What is Resolve? (0:01:24 - 0:09:27)**

* DaVinci Resolve is video editing software, also used in Hollywood for major films and TV shows.

* It's a one-stop shop for post-production tasks: media management, timeline creation, graphics, effects, color correction, and audio mixing.

* It has a free version with great features.

* **Free vs. Studio Version:**

* Free version is recommended for beginners.

* The free version covers most of the video's content.

* Upgrading to the Studio version ($295) unlocks features like Resolve effects and AI tools.

* Resolve is split into different pages: Cut, Edit, Fusion, Color, Fairlight, and Deliver, each with a different job.

* These pages are accessed via buttons at the bottom of the interface.

* The media page's job is to manage media.

* Resolve uses a project manager, a project library, which lives on your system, and network libraries.

* Projects are saved as DRP files.

* Cloud libraries allow for collaborative editing.

**III. The Media Page (0:09:27 - 0:28:57)**

* The media page is designed for media management.

* It's perfect for importing media and getting everything organized.

* The media page has two main sections for looking at footage.

* The media storage panel: This panel helps you navigate to all media that you want to bring into Resolve.

* The media pool: Anything that's here actually lives in your project.

* The Media Storage Panel is a way to navigate on your system to any media that you want to bring into Resolve.

* You can also right-click in the Media Pool and import the media or drag the media to the Media Pool from your system.

* You can create bins in the Media Pool to organize footage (right-click > new bin).

* You can also use the rightclick and go to export project. That will allow you to save a copy of your project to your desktop or to an external drive or to cloud storage or whatever you want to do. And that will make a DRP file that's short for Da Vinci Resolve project.

* Multiple Libraries can be added to a project.

* You can add an icon to the side for each project that will open up a file location.

* Media Pool has views: Thumbnail, list, and metadata.

* The metadata panel is really good for organizing footage. You can add notes about the footage.

**IV. The Edit Page (0:28:57 - 1:30:44)**

* The edit page is the hub for all of the things that happen in your video.

* This is where we take all of the clips that we have in our project.

* It's all about building a story.

* There are pages

* Source viewer: double-click to see the video.

* Timeline viewer.

* This isn't just switching the layout. This is actually switching a different mode of creating.

* Trim. Trim off excess.

* Keyboard shortcuts

* T is for Trim.

* A is for your normal selection mode.

* S is for split.

* In the Cut page we had these edit buttons, these are called insert edit buttons.

* This is what the edit buttons look like.

**V. The Cut Page (1:30:44 - 1:43:14)**

* The cut page is designed for speed and is an alternate editing interface to the edit page.

* It's built for a slightly different application.

* It's designed with the one value in mind: speed of editing.

* In the cut page.

* You have two timelines.

* Top is overview

* Bottom is for the detailed.

* Often times, if you add a clip in the Edit page, it'll put it right into the timeline where you want it to be.

**VI. The Fusion Page (1:43:14 - 2:50:20)**

* Fusion is the compositing tool within Resolve.

* Compositing means combining multiple elements together to create a final image.

* Nodes are fundamental to Fusion. Each node is a box with one job, forming a visual flowchart.

* The yellow inputs are for linking other nodes together.

* A fast noise node makes a texture

* A merge node puts one image over another image.

* The blue is for limiting, such as the polygon mask.

**VII. The Color Page (2:50:20 - 4:16:55)**

* The color page is where you grade and adjust your footage.

* This is what you see. Each part has a function,

* You can also have many tools that have more functions in them.

**VIII. The Fairlight Page (4:16:55 - 4:53:00)**

* Fairlight is the audio app within Resolve.

* This is where you will work with all the audio tracks.

* This is the the audio page of Davinci Resolve.

* You can do lots of edits here.

* Audio, track header, meters, etc.

* You can use the rightclick on the track name and color code it.

**IX. The Deliver Page (4:53:00 - 5:05:42)**

* The Deliver page is used for exporting your finished video.

* It's where you convert your project into a movie file that people can watch.

* You choose format, codec, and other settings here.

* H.265 - looks great and is smaller file size. (May require the paid version)

* You can also render videos as clips.

* ProRes is a good option for quality.

**X. How to Learn Resolve the BEST WAY (5:05:42 - 5:07:44)**

* Download the free DaVinci Resolve software.

* Set up an external drive for your project.

* Set a good workflow and make a consistent structure.

* Practice. Put your hands on the software and experiment.

**XI. Troubleshooting/Additional Resources**

* Download the media and follow along.

* Check out the Ground Control Film FAQ section.

* Check the Ground Control Film "Make a Film in Resolve" section.

* DaVinci Resolve Fusion Courses can be found.