Vidoe editing tips-Free resources on my blog

The video editing tips i present here came from a self-learned, experience backed and customer satisfaction approved skill i developed when i started editing videos few years ago. My first editing work began with a co-worker's child 1st birthday celebration. He took the video shot and just asked if i know someone who edits videos. By then i have already thought myself the basics of video editing the hard way. I went through lots of reading, experimenting and figuring it out.

I took the project and edited the video.....it was a hit. The video had titles, pictures, background music, overlays, video effects...my friend just couldn't believe i did that. I never went to any video editing school or took any course, it was just a determined self learning skill. So you may be in the same position my friend was. You took a video shot of a special event in your life and while you played it back you noticed that it has many flaws. There are lots of scenes that need to be eliminated. What are you going to do? Take your video to a professional video editor and risk some little fortune? If you feel hopeless in doing it by yourself then there is no option but to pay for a professional service. But i think my video editing tips help you. I am confident that you will make a quick progress fast if you have a determination. So the video editing tips, just in a simple easy to understand presentation.

The video editing tips start at using a video editing software, considering that you have already transferred your videos from your camcorder to your computer. Everything has gone digital these days and many digital camcorder users know how to load video to their computer.

For demo purposes i mention windows movie maker. Though there are many video editors the basic features are similar. So when i mention a function in windows movie maker it is in the knowledge that others have the function too.

Video editing tips

• Import video files to the software.

Once you opened your video editing software you have to import the video files that are in your computers hard disk to the opened software interface.Do it in whatever way you find it easy but the video files have to appear in the opened software.

• Take the video you want to edit to the time line/storyboard field of the software

Look for the time line/storyboard in the software and just drag the video files to it. Once you start to see the video in the storyboard then it is ready to be editied.

• Cut unwanted scenes

You may have scenes that are shaky, blured or just you don't want to be included in the final product. It is easy to cut any part in the video. Start playing the video while it is in the storyboard and stop it just before the scene you want to cut. Then look for a "cut" or "split" function and click it. You will see the video being separated into two storyboards. Then play again the splited video and stop just after the part you want to cut passed. Again the video will be splited and you will see 3 divided storyboards. Select the middle and delete it.

• Add music/audio

Import music/audio to the software's interface first as you did the video files and then look for a music/audio field in the storyboard/time line and drag the music files to it. You can decide at which scene you want to start the music and drag it there.

• Add title/sub-title

just look for 'add title" command in the software and click it. Then you will have a field that enables you to write what you want to appear in your video and all text editing tools will most probably be there if you have a taste for decorated texts.

• Add transitions

You must have more than one videos in the storyboard or your video must be divided/splited into many storyboards in order to be able to insert transitions. Select a transition you want to appear in your video and drag it in between your videos in the storyboard.

• Add video effects

Select a video effect and drag it to the video in a storyboard that you want to be with an effect.

So after doing all these you have to finalize the project, meaning you have to go for a command that says "publish", "finalize", "make video file"....something like that and click it. Then select the video format and location you want the video to be saved. The software will processes all the things you added in the software and will make you a new edited video.

The video editing tips i mentioned here are not complete in any sense. These are just the besics. If you cut unwanted scenes, add text, music, transitions and effects to your video you sure will feel good about it. There are numerous video editing tips on the net and it is wise to go other placec and add-up your knowledge.

There are many video editing software programs that sell for hundreds of dollars and they are definitely used by the pros in the film industry. There are some free trial and full version video editor softwares too. You know how to browse the net for anything you want, go type “free video editing software” and go through websites listed. But I would like to make that tedious work easy for you here. I present seven free video editing software for download.

If you have used any kind of software before, definitely you had, you know how difficult it could be to make use of all the capabilities and utilities in a software. Video editing softwares could be even harder to learn as they are meant to do a job in a visual media files. So it will be wise to have a free or even trial version of a software before deciding to but it. Most editors will function in the same pattern, like cutting, adding audio, overlaying and the likes. Once you get used to using free video editing software programs, you can now purchase complex ones that have special effects and other stuffs. Professional software programs may be very complicated for beginners, so you’d be better off with free one.

List of free video editing software programs:

• Windows movie maker

Windows movie maker is a program that is available in Microsoft's windows operating system. If your computer has a windows operating system, you have a free video editor. Open the program and see how to get your videos in the software's time-line and do all the editing you are supposed to practic and master. Though windows movie maker lacks some cool features like video overlay, it is a fine tool.

• Apple Imovie

If your computer operates by a mac operating system imovie is for you. Imovie allows to edite the video and audio as well.

• Zwei-Stein

You can make use of the advanced features in Zwei-Stein like making custom effects or you can also do panning and cropping.

• Jashaka

Jashaka makes use of the OpenML and OpenGL hardware which allows users real-time interactivity. The software comes with image processing, paint, and full CG modules.

• Virtual Dub

Virtual Dub is a very simple editing software. It may not be of much use for advanced video editors. The software can handle AVI files, read MPEG-1 and BMP images.

• Jump Cut

Jump cut is an online video editing tool and you can’t download it. With this tool, you can cut videos; add effects, photos and titles. You can upload media, share them, remix, create new movies, or publish it.

As the Internet is an ever evolving and growing universe, these tools may be obsolete after some time and some other applications will definitely hit the market. Try these tools and go on the look out for new tools too.