OT: Video Editing
i need some help finding a (hopefully free) video editing software
im getting a flip video camera and in a few months having a destination wedding. i would like to shoot some video during our wedding/honeymoon and put together a little video for everyone that wont be there.
i want a program thats easy to use, similar to windows movie make with a little more. the titles and transitions are pretty lame in windows movie make
just wondering what people use or if they have suggestions
February 10th, 2010 at 7:32 PM ^
If you have access to a mac, iMovie is pretty good. I use Final Cut, but it's a tad on the pricey side and takes a while to learn.
February 10th, 2010 at 7:52 PM ^
i agree. iMovie if you can get it
February 10th, 2010 at 8:22 PM ^
imovie is simple and does a lot of cool things.
If you don't have a mac - buy one. You will never regret it. :)
February 11th, 2010 at 1:33 AM ^
it is at least 70% off retail or free and you never have to have it fixed ;)
February 10th, 2010 at 7:40 PM ^
on the wedding.
February 10th, 2010 at 7:42 PM ^
i have adobe premiere pro....but it seems a bit complicated, im not looking to be a professional or anything...and i wish i had imovie, seems easy as pie
February 11th, 2010 at 1:30 AM ^
Vegas is maybe a little more approachable. You can just get a 30 day trial of either that or Premiere that you could use for free, if you won't need it later on.
I have Premiere Pro CS4 which is really capable of a LOT, but can also be very simple to learn if you just want to do basic editing. It really boils down to the following basic steps:
1. Import or encode your video/clips.
2. Drop it into the sequence/timeline
3. Arrange it in whatever order you want, cut out parts you don't want
4. Drag and drop transitions between clips wherever you want to use them
5. Export/Encode to the format you want
Adding a soundtrack and mixing it is also pretty easy in either program.
One thing to think about, is what your final product will be. Will it go up on the web to be viewed in a browser or downloaded, or will it get put onto a DVD and reporduced X times? Premiere, depending on what version you have, can do both you just tell it where and how to put the video and voila, there it is. Premiere Elements can make this a lot simpler and has a great set of templates for making DVD menus and such.
September 18th, 2010 at 5:58 AM ^
I have cs5 now with after effects it is awesome. I have final cut on my mac but I hate apple products so much I don't use it often. Adobe is much better anyway.
February 10th, 2010 at 7:58 PM ^
Just make sure the camera is good quality. you can always remix the video later, but you can't reshoot it.
February 10th, 2010 at 8:16 PM ^
I call the honeymoon footage.
February 10th, 2010 at 8:30 PM ^
buying a mac after this pc dies
i looked at the video of how easy and smooth imovie works and id love something similar. im trying to download adobe elements, but its a trail so who knows
in other news if you need a jersey shore v-day card for your other half
February 10th, 2010 at 11:32 PM ^
There's positives & negatives to both. I prefer PC mostly because I always build my own.
As far as editing, you can install Windows Movie Maker from MS for free. I use Sony Vegas but it like Final Cut, is a little pricey.
February 10th, 2010 at 10:02 PM ^
Who pays for software?
February 10th, 2010 at 10:12 PM ^
+1
I use Cyberlink Power Director. You can do quite a bit with it. Haven't really tried anything else. I'd download some trials and see which you like the best.
http://video-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
February 10th, 2010 at 11:48 PM ^
On second thought. Nothing to see here.
February 11th, 2010 at 11:44 AM ^
Who pays for software?We all do. To the tune of 9 billion a year in lost revenue. Downloading a torrent of a cracked program is no better than walking out of a store with it tucked under your arm.
February 11th, 2010 at 2:34 PM ^
1) Copyright infringement != theft. In this example, if I walk out of Best Buy with a program, I'm literally stealing inventory from Best Buy. If I download a cracked torrent, I'm having the exact impact to all parties (except myself) that I would have had by doing nothing at all.
2) The $9B a year figure assumes each piracy instance would have translated into a sale. That's nowhere near accurate in reality.
February 11th, 2010 at 12:45 AM ^
If you're in the camp that doesn't mind using "free" software (if you catch my drift) I would recommend finding a copy of Sony Vegas 8. Its pretty easy to learn and is my favorite editing program. I don't use it anymore because I bought a mac and Sony Vegas is a PC only product.
I now use Final Cut (which is neither cheap or easy to learn) for big projects and iMovie '09 (08 is garbage) for quick projects.
EDIT:
I apologize for the overuse of parenthesis... I don't know what I was thinking.
February 11th, 2010 at 1:57 AM ^
I used to use Ulead VideoStudio Pro in high school and it was pretty easy to use, I don't know how the software has progressed now but it should be pretty similar.
I've heard iMovie is pretty intuitive too.
February 11th, 2010 at 10:10 AM ^
There's a bunch of stuff in windows that's pretty good AND free. I use linux and make extensive use of Avidemux, ffmpeg, and Lives.
go to www.videohelp.com and you can probably get better answers than on a Michigan Sports board. They have how-to's for just about anything and have listings how to do it with free or pay programs.
September 18th, 2010 at 7:12 AM ^
Because if so, what more could you possibly need?