Ours is a video generation. We grew up with parents shooting
camcorder footage of every birthday and graduation, and most of us have
hours of movie footage without any cohesive organization or engaging
content.
Any novice with a video camera can benefit from editing. If you’ve
ever forced your friends and family to suffer through six minutes of
boring for two seconds of awesome, I’m talking to you.
Before you post that cellphone video to YouTube, a little polish with
a free editing program can make your friends actually want to click on
your Facebook links.
While Adobe Premier is widely held to be the most comprehensive video
editing software available, I’m hesitant to suggest a pricey
application to learn a new skill. Luckily, there are some great free or
cheap programs available. All of my recommendations support clipping,
drag-and-drop editing (to change the order of clips) and splicing
several smaller videos or photos into a single cohesive video with the
addition of transitions (like fading from one scene to another). You can
use any of them to convert your camera’s output into a format accepted
by YouTube, social media sites, or recognizable to your DVD player.
For novice videographers using Windows, download the free Windows Live Movie Maker,
a program packaged into Windows Live Essentials. Microsoft provides
some basic tutorials and how-to videos to get you started. It’s a decent
beginner product with a relatively easy-to-follow interface. Opt for
one of the AutoMovie themes for an easy way to convert your clips or
photos into a more professional looking video with intros, transitions
and effects. There’s an integrated one-step upload option to post your
masterpiece to YouTube, should you be so inclined.
Note: The link provided on Microsoft’s site installs
the Windows Live Essentials suite of products. Select “Choose the
programs you want to install” to avoid installing a bulk of software you
may not use.
If you don’t like the interface or find Windows Movie Maker too bulky or difficult to use, a great alternative option is VideoPad Video Editor Pro.
The catch is that VideoPad only offers a 14-day free trial, after
which, my understanding is, the software will continue to work but only
allow you to created limited types of videos. However, the product is
only $30 (according to current pricing on their website) so it’s not too
expensive if you try it and like it.
VideoPad is an easy-to-use solution that brings advanced features to
the beginner’s reach. Record your own voiceover narration, or import
recorded narrations, something Movie Maker lacks. Also, the full product
lets you create BluRay DVDs, a feature that typically requires the
purchase of additional software.
Mac users probably don’t need me to mention iMovie, Apple’s movie
editing software. Packaged into iLife, the software suite is included on
all new Macs. iMovie has more themes than Window’s Movie Maker, more
advanced audio editing (like the ability to adjust volume of a single
segment and integrated background music options), and “People Finder”
that will scan your clips to find additional footage with your intended
subject. Overall, it’s widely held to be one of the most easy to use
video editing software applications around – provided you have a Mac.
One last note: video editing is time consuming and
taxing to your system resources. If you are using a slow or
under-performing PC, your system may not be able to handle the task of
editing videos. Save your project often if you aren’t sure your system
is up to the task. If your system crashes frequently during the process,
try a different editing program, but your system may not be powerful
enough to handle video editing.
Andrea Eldridge,
Post from: SiteProNews
Video Editing for Beginners: How To