What Do I Use to...

[KeithK]

... take raw video off my camera, chop it up into little pieces, add music/effects and edit those effects (i.e. see the sound visually and play with the volume and stuff, do fades, etc) to make online productions?

I'm gonna be honest, I don't know sh*t about sh*t when it comes to post-production and I dont even get to call myself a wanna be film maker, hell, I dont even have a good camera other than my point and shoot Sony. I am a writer and I know how to do that (well, kinda, still learning there too...) but I am doing alotta work for non-profits these days and wanna help out with producing propaganda and motivational type stuff for the net i.e. YouTube.

I made a couple of things (warning: non-pornographic/non-nude gay stuff, some may find offensive) with the generic "Windows Video Maker" that came with my laptop and while they didn't turn out half bad IMHO for being done by a lame brain such as myself, I am sure that if its the software that comes with Windows, it has to be the worst, most featureless thing to work with, sorta like MS Paint vs. Photoshop.

So whats the Final Draft of post production? Please move this thread if it belongs somewhere else and thanks for not stringing the newbie up and pointing and laughing. Love you all!! :beer:

 

[drk3p]

Adobe CS packages are good for begininger and pros alike. Since your starting new, go by budget, maybe you dont need the newest CS4 maybe find a used CS2-3 pack for sale.

 

[Eximious]

First, don't beat yourself up too much. Humility is always nice to see on these boards, but too much self-deprecation can be downright unhealthy.

Now, what you want are called NLEs, or non-linear editors. Since you're on Windows, you should investigate Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere Elements.

Vegas: http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&tag=mozilla-20&index=blended&link_code=qs&field-keywords=sony%20vegas&sourceid=Mozilla-search

Elements: http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-6502687...sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1236382725&sr=8-1

I don't have personal experience with the sub-$100 versions of these products, so I would double-check their features to make sure they meet your needs. But either would be a great upgrade from Windows Movie Maker.

Also, one tip I have with your editing is to be conservative with video transitions and text effects. In most professional video editing, the types of transitions you most often see are regular cuts (instant change from one image / shot to another) and dissolves. Same idea with text. Sometimes simpler and cleaner is better.

As for your question "what's the Final Draft of post production", that would be Avid Media Composer, with Final Cut Pro (for Macs) a relatively close second. But those two applications are more expensive than what you'll need for now.

We have a couple good boards here for the main NLEs. If you browse those for awhile, I'm confident you'll learn quite a lot.

Good luck.

 

[KeithK]

Adobe CS packages are good for begininger and pros alike. Since your starting new, go by budget, maybe you dont need the newest CS4 maybe find a used CS2-3 pack for sale.

I, uhm, borrowed a friend's CS3 (yeah, tats it!) and have that installed. I can edit video in that? I thought that other than flash, there was not much to be done in the way of video stuff. Granted, I don't know what half the stuff does in the suite, so I guess I need to dig around in that. May already have everything I need here already.

First, don't beat yourself up too much. Humility is always nice to see on these boards, but too much self-deprecation can be downright unhealthy.

Now, what you want are called NLEs, or non-linear editors. Since you're on Windows, you should investigate Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere Elements.

Vegas: http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&tag...d-keywords=sony vegas&sourceid=Mozilla-search

Elements: http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-6502687...sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1236382725&sr=8-1

I don't have personal experience with the sub-$100 versions of these products, so I would double-check their features to make sure they meet your needs. But either would be a great upgrade from Windows Movie Maker.

Also, one tip I have with your editing is to be conservative with video transitions and text effects. In most professional video editing, the types of transitions you most often see are regular cuts (instant change from one image / shot to another) and dissolves. Same idea with text. Sometimes simpler and cleaner is better.

As for your question "what's the Final Draft of post production", that would be Avid Media Composer, with Final Cut Pro (for Macs) a relatively close second. But those two applications are more expensive than what you'll need for now.

We have a couple good boards here for the main NLEs. If you browse those for awhile, I'm confident you'll learn quite a lot.

Good luck.

I was arrogant, cocky and know-it-allish on Wednesday, so Thursday was my day to be humble again. Had to atone for sins and set karma back in line and stuff. That way I can REALLY go all out on Saturday. hehe.

I'd prefer to buy top of the line stuff. Whatever industry works on is what I want to be working on, that way when it comes time to take our game to the next level and do media buys and such, I can get stuff in the formats needed for the outlets. Plus, we have lotsa college kids in our group, I'll have one of them order it at the student rate if we cant get the same for being a non-profit. Also, why would I want Avid Media Composer, I looked around Avids offerings (which make me drool because I am geeky) and I liked the looks of NewsCutter as well.

I assume you mention the transitions because of the way I went nuts with them? I was trying to make it more fun for the audeince, i.e. not have it look like a slideshow.

 

[David W. Richardson]

I, uhm, borrowed a friend's CS3 (yeah, tats it!) and have that installed.

First off, stealing software is a huge Karma hit.

Second, it's probably not going to endear you to a lot of the pros here, who produce creative property themselves and are not keen to have it ripped off.

Maybe next time just say "I have CS3" and let it go at that. Better still, buy an editing package you can afford.

 

[Eximious]

I'll pretend I didn't hear anything about CS3...

Anyhow, Adobe's Creative Suite is a collection of powerful programs. Flash is one of them. Their main editing program, Premiere Pro, has been improved greatly the past couple of years, but still hasn't really permeated the pro market (though I've used it at school and enjoy the workflow, especially with After Effects).

That said, there are a couple of reasons why you actually should invest in an editing program. 1) You will pay money for it, which will give you extra motivation to learn it. 2) The cheaper packages are more newbie friendly, so it should be easier to get started. 3) You don't really need all the extra features of the big boys to learn the basic editing workflow. 4) While piracy is pretty mainstream, buying the software is still the right thing to do.

Don't want to shun you too much, but just keep in mind who the members of this board are: creative media producers.

Good luck editing.

 

[KeithK]

I'll pretend I didn't hear anything about CS3...

Anyhow, Adobe's Creative Suite is a collection of powerful programs. Flash is one of them. Their main editing program, Premiere Pro, has been improved greatly the past couple of years, but still hasn't really permeated the pro market (though I've used it at school and enjoy the workflow, especially with After Effects).

That said, there are a couple of reasons why you actually should invest in an editing program. 1) You will pay money for it, which will give you extra motivation to learn it. 2) The cheaper packages are more newbie friendly, so it should be easier to get started. 3) You don't really need all the extra features of the big boys to learn the basic editing workflow. 4) While piracy is pretty mainstream, buying the software is still the right thing to do.

Don't want to shun you too much, but just keep in mind who the members of this board are: creative media producers.

Good luck editing.

First off, stealing software is a huge Karma hit.

Second, it's probably not going to endear you to a lot of the pros here, who produce creative property themselves and are not keen to have it ripped off.

Maybe next time just say "I have CS3" and let it go at that. Better still, buy an editing package you can afford.

Well, I don't consider it stealing. Yeah, I know, technically it is. And if I made my living with it, or even part of my living with it, or were to even consider making part of my living with it or even seriously using it more than like, I dunno, 5 times a year - I would gladly pay for it. But I don't. I last ran Adobe Photoshop in July of 2008 according to the add/remove programs thing. Mostly because I don't know what most of the stuff does and up until now, have not had much desire or need to learn.

While we are talking about things people should do, software companies should make their packages more affordable, offer trial versions, eliminate their goofy return policies that are designed to stick you with crap stuff that you bought because it would supposedly do this, that or the other with no information other than whats on the box and whatever you can glean from online sources.

I use Final Draft extensively so I bought it (just got the rebate check a couple of weeks ago). I use Windows constantly so I bought it, too. Even after Bill Gates decided to f*ck everyone and make them buy the same copy over and over every time you get a new motherboard and never mind the fact that I have to buy a new license - again - every time I buy a laptop because the damn OEMs are forced to package it in. Same goes for SmartDraw and numerous other packages that I use often and legitimately own.

The software saw cuts both ways and what is often presented is one side of the story: the software company side. People can crybaby all they want, I couldn't care less. Its not about what I can afford, its about me not being willing to spend money on crap that they wont take back once I discover that it is crap.

Don't call me a crook unless you have something to back it up with. I am more than happy to pay for software I can actually use but I have bought too much sh*t in the past that is completely worthless and they make the retailers not accept the returns.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. I will look into CS3 some more and also Avid. I still would appreciate it if someone who knows the difference between Avid Newscutter and Media Composer could distill it for me.

As for being shunned, homosexuals who live in Oklahoma are used to that. Nothing new there. But if the agendas of the NPOs I am working to help ever get implemented, then that will be something new.