What video-editing software are you using?

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Permalink Reply by TravelSavvyMom on January 17, 2009 at 9:57am

I'm psyched about this thread, because I need to scale my own learning curve. I came to video-blogging accidentally--a sponsor of ours sent me a Flip, and asked me to use it while reviewing their service. We did, and edited the resulting footage with Microsoft Moviemaker (which came preloaded on my PC).

I've learned a lot with each successive video (mostly about wind, sun, and royalty free music), but still feel like I need to take a class or find a mentor when it comes to editing.

I'll echo Kim's question. Is it lame NOT to have a Mac?

Permalink Reply by Kim Mance, Founder of TBEX on January 17, 2009 at 2:15pm

I love the wind, sun and royalty-free lessons, so much fun! :) Posted a video down below that is great. MovieMaker is surprisingly light on its feet and even can handle HD now I noticed the other day (when Mr. Galavanting was editing his night-vision footage of a squirrel trap...whole other story though...).

Permalink Reply by Benny Lewis on January 17, 2009 at 11:46am

I'm actually on Linux, so the whole Windows/Mac question is silly to me... but I use a virtual box program that let's me access Windows programs only whenever I edit videos just because of Sony Vegas Pro. I love it!
My blog is 95% video so I've learned a lot over the last year in editing videos for the net. There are some great tutorials in Youtube made by normal people for all video editing software that are worth checking out!
Can't wait for some videoblogging discussions :)

Permalink Reply by Kim Mance, Founder of TBEX on January 17, 2009 at 11:52am

Ahh, Linux, sorry to have forgotten that :). YouTube does have some good tutorials, I got a message from a site called TripFilms the other day and they actually had a great tutorial specific to travel video that I wish I'd seen a while back (learned by trial and error instead!)...

Permalink Reply by Benny Lewis on January 17, 2009 at 1:56pm

Great video! Love those tips - I definitely need a wireless mic but my current camera doesn't have that option (sacrifices always have to be made, it was either a microphone input slot on one camera or infra-red night mode and 40x optical zoom on another...) I tried using a separate mic and edit it in later but synching is a bitch...
For me the short video is definitely true. At first I made 9 minute videos of something that would have worked better in 2 minutes.
Care to share any of the things you learned by trial and error? :)
Forget a professional tripod - I swear by my gorilla tripod . Fits in my pocket along with my camera (I wear combats). Showing up with no camera bags and gear is so less intimidating and most people don't even realize I am filming because of it. Also it greatly reduces your touristy-ness when you are trying to at least somewhat blend in.

Permalink Reply by Kim Mance, Founder of TBEX on January 17, 2009 at 2:13pm

Holy crap, I love that tripod! I use a Tenba backpack since we sometimes use a boom mic and I can't fit much equipment into skinny jeans (sigh). It's also good for getting equipment over a waterfall when rappelling down one!

Yeah, I'm trying to get our videos shorter but sometimes interviews are long, and since we're doing episodes that are full destination guides, they get a bit long. It's fun to do little one-offs though and we need to do more of them. Seems you're good at doing little segments on different topics within a destination.

Permalink Reply by SammyK on January 23, 2009 at 9:18pm

Fantastic video! It took me months and months to learn some of those things (especially Tip #1 about holding the camera still). I always aim for 7 seconds. But sometimes there's a bug about to bite me or the wind is about to blow me down, or I'm about to slide down a snow-covered cliff. Those things always cut the shot short.

Great tips though. I bought a camera that allowed me to use a wireless mic, but didn't bring one because we need to travel so light. I'm thinking about going out and getting one anyways now.

Keeping it short! Haha! Yeah, we used to have videos that would last up to 12 minutes long! But now I try to keep them around 3 minutes at the max. It's hard sometimes... but so important.

Permalink Reply by Kelley on February 23, 2009 at 2:37pm

I agree SammyK! Holding the camera still is so important but something many people forget. I'm an editor at Tripfilms.com and we tend to ask for videos to be from 30 seconds to 3 minutes.

Longer and shorter are fine too but we find you can get a lot across in a video in a short time, especially if you are specific with what you shoot (and also edit).

Also, I use a wireless mic for all my videos. Sound is so critical.

We love your videos on our site! Keep up the good work!

Here are some other tips we recommend! Travel Video Tips and Tricks

Permalink Reply by Craig Martin on January 17, 2009 at 7:28pm

I use iMovie - the "old" pre-08 version. I would like to be able to play around with some of the online tools for editing but our bandwidth doesn't permit it.

What I'd love to get my hands on is a flip HD and Final Cut Express. I used Final Cut Pro at school and loved it.

Permalink Reply by Kim Mance, Founder of TBEX on January 17, 2009 at 9:58pm

You can actually record directly to YouTube if you plan not to edit overlays or photos or other footage into your video (a.k.a. talking head video). Instead of 'upload video', just hit 'record'. You can make it private to start, just to review it before publishing, so you could have multiple takes.

OR, if you want a little more control and want to record locally, plus show various clips and overlays/images, etc., you can use WebCamMax on PC or CamTwist on MAC. It allows you to record on your webcam, but add in extra stuff and is pretty fun. You can even doodle on the screen like John Madden.

I'm gonna start a thread on royalty-free music separately in a minute to get everyone's favs and tell my own...

I'll definitely have to check out Gary Arndt's article...

Loving this group already!!

Permalink Reply by Vagabond3 on April 8, 2010 at 4:30am

What year mac do you have, because if you have a webcam on your mac you should have photobooth; it's a program that comes standard on macs. With Photobooth, you can easily record talking head shots or video journals.

Permalink Reply by SammyK on January 23, 2009 at 9:22pm

Mac user here. I used Final Cut back in the day. It was great, but at the time I was a PC guy so I used Premiere at home. Now I have the Mac version of Premiere since Adobe let me change the license and platform for free. They are so awesome like that. :)

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