Movie Editing Software

For amateurs as well as for professionals

Video editing software is used by professional and home users alike, and is the first step in turning raw footage in to a finished product.   The ability to edit film has become easier than ever with easy-to-understand copy-and-paste and click-and-point interfaces offered by modern day programs. Not more tedious tape cutting or video transfers. You can use movie editing software to take old recordings and compile them into single video streams or break up a larger film into several installments.  Movie editing software will make the best use of your camcorder's capabilities and allow for a final product slick enough to impress friends or professional enough to sell on the marketplace.

After editing the raw footage in to a video, the next step in production is converting the video to the required output format (e.g. mpeg-1, mpeg-2) and burning it to a medium that can be shared with your audience, which for most home users means transferring (burning) the video to DVD, VCD or even to video tape.  For professional filmographers, more complex storage mediums may be involved.  If your movie editing software does not offer the converting and burning capabilities you require, movie burning software is required.

Things to Keep In Mind

Novices

  • How capable are you? Are you accustomed to standard editing practices? Are you computer literate or a tech newbie?
  • How in-depth are your editorial requirements? Do you need a deluxe package of applications or will a few simple aprograms with cut-and-paste capabilities do the trick?
  • If this is your first time working with video editing in any medium, try Adobe Premiere Elements  or Nova Development Video Explosion Deluxe. 

Experts

  • How much software and technical support do you need? What kind of effects are your films going to require?
  • Will you be doig desktop publishing? Do you need Web functionality?
  • What kind of media will you be working with? What are your hardware's maximum capabilities?
  • Both Creative Suite Premium  and Unlead Studio Quartet  offer fairly comprehensive packages.

Compatibility

Always verify to make sure that the software you are interested in is compatible with your computer's operating system whether it be PC  , Mac,  or Unix.  Also, if the software is destined for home use be sure to get the standard  license. Note that less expensive versions stated as being "SE" are not fully-loaded editions and may not include all the standard features of the program. If you are looking for software to use in an office or educational setting where the program will be shared amongst a network of computers, be sure to get a "volume"  license. There are also specifications between academic,  corporate,  and government  licenses.

Industry Standards

The professional commercial film editing world is generally split between two applications, though many bounce between both for particular tasks.

Avid XPress Pro

Avid XPress Pro is a non-linear software application geared towards professional. It's comprehensive and is closely aligned with Avid's Media Composer systems.

  • Multi-cam editing
  • Real-time format and resolution mixing
  • Compatible with both Mac and Windows

Final Cut 5

Final Cut Pro 5, Apple's Mac-only brand of editing software, has helped turn Macs into the computers of choice for professional video editors.

  • Real-time effects processing for DV and even uncompressed HD
  • No need to reformat particular formats
  • Uses XML support for maximum compatability with related programs

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