Digital video editing

Compared to digital image editing video editing will take up much more of your time. That is, if you really want to make a movie of your footage. The information below is mainly aimed at Windows users.

Hardware

Apart from the right software you also need hardware that meets some requirements. Your PC needs to have a high speed processor (quad core is recommended), a lot of RAM (internal memory, at least 2GB but more is very convenient), a large hard disk (at least 500 GB), and a Dolby Surround sound card and speaker set are very handy when you want to add music to your movie.
Until recently FireWire (IEEE1394) was often used to transfer footage from the camera to your computer, but nowadays fast USB has become the standard. Consult the manual of your camera for the options and purchase an additional FireWire card if needed.

Video formats

Footage is usually recorded in either the AVI (Audio Video Interleave) or the Quicktime (Apple) format. It is good to know though that there is a difference (though somewhat confusing) between the format the video is stored in by your camera and the format you apply to it when you start editing on the computer. AVI and Quicktime are so called containers which describe the structure of a video file. AVI has been developed for Windows and there are several types of AVI files.

To be able to work with the container files on your computer they need to be compressed. For this purpose so called codecs (compression/decompression) have been developed. An example of a codec is the widely used MPEG2 (MPEG is short for Moving Picture Experts Group, the name of a group of experts who wanted to bring image compression to a higher level). Once in a while an improved version of the MPEG compression method is being released. At this moment MPEG4 is very popular. To execute the compression and decompression on your PC you need specific software containing the right codec. To be able to play several types of movies on the internet you can download a codec pack, which contains the most used codecs. A popular collection of codecs is the K-Lite pack. More information on containers and codecs can be found here.

When capturing footage your editing program will allow you to set the compression method to be used for your clips. The options differ for each program. In most cases you can also adjust settings for resolution, frame rate (PAL or NTSC), bit rate and sound compression.

Software

There are only few freeware or shareware video editing programs available. If you want more than the basics you will have to look for a paid for software package. The most popular (for Windows) are Pinnacle Studio or Studio Ultimate, Magix Video deluxe, Adobe Premiere Elements and Corel Video Studio Express or StudioX2 (and Windows Movie Maker, which in many cases comes with your Windows operating system and is therefore in fact free). The packages mentioned above can be purchased for less than 100 dollars or euros. They are ideal for beginners. All these packages allow you to transfer your footage from your camera to your computer, where you can edit your movie. You can also add music or a voice over as well as visual effects and transitions. Finally you can choose which medium to output your final movie to (usually a cd or dvd).

When you are more experienced you may want to work with a professional software package such as Adobe® Premiere® Pro, the standard in the field of video editing. This program offers much more options and features, such as filters, effects and multiple video and audio tracks.

Video editing

The editing process starts with the transfer of your footage to your computer. This is called capturing. Most cameras come with a USB cable to connect your camera to other hardware, but in some cases this could be a FireWire cable. When the clips are stored on the hard drive of your PC you can access them from an explorer window (often called the storyboard) and place them in the right sequence on the timeline of the editing program. Each clip can now be edited separately, you can cut it, add filters, effects and transitions etcetera. When your movie is finished, including music, titles and everything else you wanted to add to it, you can export it. The medium you choose for this depend on your audience. Do you want to show the movie on dvd to your family members and friends, or do you want to share it on the internet? You can choose the appropriate settings in your software program.

Music

Your film will be much more appealing when you add music or sound effects to it. Of course it is very tempting to add a song by your favorite artist, but if you want to do so bear in mind that you might violate certain copyrights. If your film is only being watched by your family and some friends you will not really get into trouble (event though copyright applies here as well!). If on the other hand you want to distribute your movie among a larger audience you need to be careful. 'Borrowing' music for this purpose can be just as illegal as downloading music from the internet. But there are sufficient alternatives around to get music or sound effects for you movies legally.
On the internet you can simply search for 'freeware music' and you will get many results for royalty free music, instrumental or song, which you are allowed to use without infringing any copyright laws. Read the conditions on the web sites to find out more.
There are also quite a number of professional companies that provide licensed music for home videos and movies. This music is usually categorized according to themes (suspense, romantic, seasons etc.). A good example of such a company where you can buy so called royalty free music is AKM Music. Most video editing programs allow you to edit music as well. You can also consider buying a separate audio editing tool.
The ideal combination of a sound editing tool and a database with tons of music is Smartsound. They offer a lot of royalty free music in several categories as well as an excellent software program called Sonicfire Pro. You can edit the music to go with the flow of your movie and later import the soundtrack your created into your video software.

Tips for video editing:

• Organize your clips: choose the clips you want to incorporate in your movie. The other clips you will not be using can be discarded. Also collect photo stills and music you may want to use and place all your files in folders (also referred to as libraries in some programs)
• Trim the clips: enlarge the timeline so you can view the clips in a large time frame. This allows you to cut or trim a clip by as less as one single frame. Do not make your clips too long, because you want to avoid boring your viewers. Remember that you are only editing the clip in view mode, the original clip remains intact and available for further editing.
• Inserting clips (using cutaway materials): you can use close-ups for instance to explain a certain behavior, or photo stills to break a long sequence of clips.
• Transitions: even though transitions may seem nice, use them sparsely. They can make your movie look too busy and confusing, especially if you use a transition after each scene. Use transitions only when they serve a purpose. The easiest transition to watch is the dissolve transition, where one clip smoothly transcends into the next. There are several types of dissolve transitions and most editing programs offer these.
• Titles: titles at the beginning and end make your movie a true movie. You can also use (sub)tiles in your movie, but only use them when they do not distract form the action in your movie. Another important aspect is the legibility of the titles. They may look nice and pleasant on your computer screen, but on a TV set they may be very difficult to read. Be careful with the fonts, size and colors you choose, because a certain background may cause your titles to become illegible.
• Special effects: whether you want to apply special effects completely depends on the type of movie you are making. Effects can be exciting, but also tiring. A sports movie can do with some effects, but an interview very likely not.

A few words about Apple

Although the above is written with Windows users in mind, this does not mean that a Macintosh platform is not suited for video editing. On the contrary, a lot of film makers use in fact Apple applications for their video editing. A counter part for Windows Movie Maker is Apple's iMovie. More experienced users can use Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro. If you consider buying a separate computer for editing photos and video you might as well consider buying a Macintosh.

If you would like to know more about digital photography and stock photography in particular, have a look at our links page or perform a search with Google using the search box below:

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