You have just got home from an epic vacation and you want to create a video that combines all of the clips from your adventures in one continuous film. How do you do it? There are many reasons as to why someone would want to make a video, whether that be for a youtube upload or just to share with family, but you may not know where to start. That’s why you are here.
The process for creating a video is simple; you take multiple clips, arrange them into a particular order, and show them continuously one after another. That seems fairly simple, and it is. It is so simple that you can film a shot, stop the video, set up a new shot, and repeat that process over and over until your film is created. This assumes that you are using a video camera that uses tape. The problem with this method is it only works on scripted material; in other words, you have pre-planned everything that will happen. This is not how films are made, low budget, or Hollywood style. You generally want to have freedom when it comes to filming unscripted or semi-scripted videos. The spontaneousness of situations is what makes for an entertaining video. This spontaneousness is also the reason why you will need to edit your video so that you can remove sections that do not fit and arrange the clips into a video that flows smoothly; this is where video editors come in.
Video editors are used to combine multiple clips into a film. You can also add effects and titles that help portray your message. There are many different kinds of video editors out there and they vary in degrees of difficulty as well as what you are able to accomplish with them. A list of common video editors are shown below:
- iMovie
- Windows Movie Maker
- Corel Video Studio
- Vegas pro
- Adobe Premiere
Basic Video Editors
If you have heard of video editing software, I am sure that you looked at the above list a saw iMovie and Windows Movie Maker and thought…really? Although these pieces of software are basic, they are still able to help you create a video that is Youtube worthy. The knowledge required to use either is fairly low and the price point is essentially free (if you own and Apple or Windows pc/tablet). Both of these programs allow you to arrange and edit clips in order to create a final video. Both of them allow you to add titles and text to your video. And both of them allow you to export your video to the web to upload to Youtube. The problem with them is that a video created using these platforms are fairly generic and can almost be spotted as being made by these types of software. Almost as if they were created using a cookie-cutter solution. With that being said, some people are definitely able to create absolutely amazing works of art with just these tools, but your average person is good to create average films.
Complex Video Editors
The other three in the list are more complex video editing software. We will briefly talk about each and give a basic overview.
Corel Video Studio
- Video Studio Pro – $79.99
- Video Studio Ultimate – $99.99
Corel Video Studio is a cheap alternative to the more expensive editing tools on the market. It is fairly intuitive to learn with capabilities the exceed those of the more basic editors. It has the ability to crop and trim clips as well as rotate them. It also allows you to adjust the color of your clips to give them a warm or cool feel. With filters and video stabilization, Corel Video Studio could be the perfect editor for you. There are two different flavors of Corel Video Studio, Pro and Ultimate, with variances between the two. Ultimate has everything that Pro does but also includes enhanced color grading, enhanced video masking, and 4k user interface to name a few.
Vegas Pro
Vegas pro
- $599.00
Vegas Pro 365 Subscription-based
- $23.99 month
- $239.88 yearly (saving $48 over monthly subscription)
Vegas Pro is more advanced editing software that can be bought with a monthly subscription for a more complete package. Vegas Pro has many features that are included in the basics editors as well as additional features. Video stabilization can help you to stabilize clips that have a wobble to them. This can be very useful if you do not have a gimble to help stabilize your camera. It also has planar motion tracking which can be used to stick text or images to a surface to appear as if they were stuck to the surface of that object while filming. It also comes with nested timelines and dynamic storyboard interaction to help you quickly edit videos and have multiple versions of the film so that you can choose the one you like the most.
Adobe Premiere
Premiere Pro
- $20.99 monthly
Adobe Creative Cloud
- $52.99 monthly
Adobe Premiere Pro is a video editing software that some would say is the best there is. That is of course objective as Premiere is the software that I use to edit my videos. I have used Premiere for drone flight videos, gameplay videos, as far back as high school for editing videos for our high school newscast. It has many of the same features that Vegas Pro has and a few more. You are able to export to just about any resolution and format that you can think of as well as import videos from a plethora of preset cameras. It also comes with a mobile app, Premiere Rush, that allows you to work across devices so that you can bring your work with you. Premiere can automatically reformat your videos to allow you to upload for pc, tablet, and phone while tracking and keeping your subject in the frame. If you upgrade and obtain the Creative Cloud, you have access to multiple apps that can help you create stunning original content such as After Effects for VFX and Photoshop for image editing. This being said, Premiere has a steep learning curve. It is hard to learning but once you get the hang of it everything else is relatively simple from there. Premiere has also been used in many Hollywood movie’s workflows including Gone Girl, Terminator: Dark Fate, and Deadpool.
So there you have it. Whether you are looking at saving money and time learning with the basic editors or are trying to invest time and energy creating the ultimate Youtube video, these video editors give you the tools and creative platforms to turn your dreams into videos!
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