Video editing for beginners

By Thomas Schoerner Oct 2, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Munich - It's easy to make a video recording. The real work comes when it is time to edit, trim and convert the images into something fun to watch. To help, there's a whole range of free programmes on the market.

When editing, a person is faced with thousands of windows and rulers, difficult-to-comprehend functions and a confusing interface, especially if one uses mainstream editing software from companies such as Adobe, Pinnacle or Magix. Most simply overwhelm amateurs with their complexity.

But there are simpler options. There are a lot of free tools online for budding editors. Most of them measure up well to commercial options, offering everything, whether you want to trim a film, make multiple edits or convert a finished film. Much of it can also be used as an extension for commercial programmes.

Will you be making a Hollywood blockbuster on your machine? At least the post-production work will be Hollywood-ready thanks to products such as Lightworks. Or there's EditShare, a professional application that has been offered as an open source programme since 2010. Before it was made public, it was used for editing blockbusters such as Pulp Fiction and Mission: Impossible.

Still in its beta phase, it leaves no wishes unfulfilled, even for ambitious amateur filmmakers. Editing can be done independent of focus, format or codec. Ready-to-view high-definition films can be compiled and edited on multiple tracks.

Other functions such as media management and support for external programmes and plug-ins, however, are more likely to scare away normal users, rather than tempt them to the programme.

If you're not making a major film, but just want something to show at grandma's 70th birthday party, then you should probably check out Windows Live Movie Maker. The freeware from Microsoft offers countless effects and functions, all of which are easy to use, even for complete beginners, provided they have Windows 7 or Vista.

A much more widely used all-round programme is VirtualDub. The software allows editing of video files larger than four gigabytes, as well as separate processing of image and sound. 'VirtualDub is the ultimate tool for free video processing and it can be easily expanded with plug-ins from third parties,' says Andreas Greil of the German magazine Video-Homevision.

However, the linear editing programme is geared towards more experienced editors. 'Because it has so many functions and demands English-language skills, it requires users to work their way into it,' says Greil.

Whether you use Windows, Mac or Linux, the free tool Avidemux supports a variety of common formats and codecs. Thanks to a macrofunction, minor, commonly occurring corrections to video material can be accomplished with just a few clicks.

Can you get the glitter of high-definition on a low budget? Freeware tools generally work with high definition, although data formats can sometimes be a problem.

Because of the large amounts of data that come with high definition, camcorders tend to record their films in space-saving formats that sometimes aren't easily opened by editing programmes. Help comes from free format converters such as Format Factory, Miro Video Converter or AVS Video Converter. Nonetheless, it can remain difficult to get the settings right.

Despite all the advantage of free editing programmes, they often remain limited in what they can do. To get all the features of a real editing programme with freeware requires a hobbyist to make use of a variety of applications.

If that's too complicated, author Georg Jaeger advises people to just buy the right software. 'For a price of about 50 euros (67 dollars), you can get editors that come with a lot of codecs and other functions like captions, effects and cross-fading, which means there are a lot of options for a good edit,' says the author of several tutorial books on professional editing programmes.

Greil speaks favourably of cheap entry programmes, especially for beginners, but says, 'You can't expect wonders from the free tools.'