A Little Bit of Video Editing pt.1

Everyone wants to be a film maker in some way or another. Although some video cameras come with their own editing software (eg. Flip has Flip Share), there are programs out there that really help you get the most out of what you shoot, be it home videos or film projects for fun. Here are a few non-linear editing programs that are out there that I personally have worked with.

The King of It All - Final Cut Pro - For Hard Core Cutters

Final Cut Pro is used world wide both by professionals and students. Hollywood blockbusters have been cut on this program. It's a good program for people truly passionate about editing their videos. The nice thing about Final Cut is that it has a very clean interface. It's organized very well and is relatively easy to learn. You can add effects and transitions, colour correct, change opacity, separate audio and video superimpose parts of frames (slightly tricky) and more. It is, of course on the expensive side, works best on a Mac (it's an Apple owned software) and requires at least 2GB of RAM. To go with a cheaper and therefore not as feature-rich program, there is Final Cut Express. 

Along with Final Cut Pro, programs like Soundtrack, Livetype, DVD Studio Pro and Compressor come in the box. Soundtrack is a sound editing software which has license free music beds and sound effects that can be exported to .aiff files ready for import and use into Final Cut Pro. Lilvetype allows users to add fancier text and graphics  to their video. DVD Studio Pro allows for making menus, customizing the look and feel of menus and adding chapters to movies when burning the final DVD. Compressor, as the name suggests, compresses video into a variety of formats.

A Close Second - Adobe Premiere Pro - For Almost Hard Core Cutters

Adobe Premiere is very similar to Final Cut Pro and a lot of students opt for it because it's cheaper and works on Windows computers. The Tonight Show on NBC famously uses Adobe Premiere Pro. The interface is so similar to Final Cut that without ever using Premiere and just using Final Cut, one can easily navigate through Premiere. Like Final Cut, Adobe Premiere Pro also has a cheaper and more entry level version called Adobe Premiere Elements. 

Adobe Premiere Pro is heavily tied in with Adobe After Effects, the industry standard for motion graphics. Exports from After Effects can be directly imported into the Premiere timeline, however have to be converted to QuickTime before being imported to Final Cut Pro. This software comes in the Production Premium and Master Collection versions of Adobe Creative Suite.

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