Video Editing for Newbies

Who wouldn’t dream of creating a blockbuster movie? Well, thanks to modern technology, even home-buddies can create interesting videos and movies. Perhaps you’re already used camcorders, right? There are lots of gadgets out in the market that allows you to capture special events or scenes on video. If you try to view the raw video recording, you will easily see some flaws. This is where video editing comes in. With the use of quality editing software, you can remove the flaws and enjoy quality videos or movies together with your family. 

Here are some of the things that you will need aside from the software and video recording gadget mentioned above – capture card, a computer with large storage space, a camcorder or VCR or just your computer monitor to view the final video. 

The process of video editing is simple. With your capture card, transfer the video from the camera or any other video recording gadget to the computer. Edit the raw recording using quality software. Remove unnecessary parts which make the video boring and too lengthy and add some effects. After the final touches, you can download the video or movie and burn (VCD, CD, and DVD) or tape it. 

Computers play an important role in video editing. Prior to its invention, editing videos takes a long time and it can only be done by the pros. Now, you will need at least a Pentium 2 300 or a much faster version and a 256-512 Megs (RAM). Video editing consumes a lot of space so it would be best to get a drive of 30GB and divide it into two separate partitions. Drive C should have at least 10GB and this is where you will store the editing software. Video, audio, and other editing projects can be stored in drive D. Don’t forget to get a 32 Meg AGP graphics card; if you get the 16 and lower Meg, you will not produce quality video materials. 

The storage of video files is sometimes confusing and it depends on the individual doing the editing tasks. For those who want to create DVDs, large storage space is needed. A 4.7 GB single sided DVD can only store two hours of movie or video. DV footage requires even more space since a video that lasts for an hour can take up about 13GB; so for two hours, you should have 26GB and of course, extra footage requires additional storage space so you might as well use 39GB space. That’s not all. If you’re planning to add other options like MPEG2 and graphics, you should make it around 50GB. 

Before you start with any video editing task, make sure that you have enough storage space in your computer. 

The capture cards are also widely available and some of these are Matrox, Pinnacle, ADS, Dazzle, Digital Origin, and Canopus. The cards use software or hardware compression. The video is then digitized to your computer’s hard drive. This will allow you to edit the video and play it back again and again. MP3 converters can add music to your videos so try to get an MP3 Encoder as well. 

Find the best video editing software so that you can now start creating memories for your family and friends. There are lots of software programs out there; make sure that you choose the right one.