Finding the Right Editing Software

So you’ve filmed a brilliant short video- the actors are emotional, the crew creative, and that all shined through on camera. Now it’s time to make you video even better. The editing stage of any kind of videography (whether it be Hollywood or small videos) is the most important. You need to tie everything together without ruining your video or making it tacky.

Here are some tips on finding an editing software that is just what you need:

1. Research: Finding a software requires a decent amount of research. One site I found helpful was this one in which I found my favorite editor (Pinnacle’s Studio Premium) that has green screen capabilities. Another useful way to examine products is to ask around on Yahoo Answers.
2. Figure out what you need: So after glancing through some different products, you need to decide what your going to use for your editing software. If you need just a standard software to put a video on the internet, the free software Windows MovieMaker may be just fine. But if you want something with DVD burning capabilities then you may have to spend a few bucks. Software that has chroma key (green/blue screen) capabilities are a little pricey, (about $100) but very useful for people who want to do green screening.
3. Figure out what to avoid: what I recommend you doing is creating a blacklist of products that have been shot down in numerous reviews, that way you can avoid the products and companies that may hand you something not worth your money. One that program that I have found aggravating (by my own experience as well as the experience of others) is Inter Video WinDVD Creator. Barely has any help and support, it crashes all the time and doesn’t recover work. The editing is just incredibly annoying because it doesn’t let you edit bits and pieces of your movie without messing up all the timing.

Thanks for reading!

-Rika