Video Editing on Your Computer

Have you wondered about how difficult and"capturing". It may be necessary for you to
expensive it would be to edit your home videospend a few dollars to buy a hardware interface
movies? Anyone who has held a video cameradevice to hook up between your computer and
for more than a few minutes has had theyour video camera or VCR. Most modern DV
experience of shooting something you really don'tcamcorders come equipped with an interface
want to share; that shot of Uncle Joe picking hiscalled IEEE-1394, also referred to as "FireWire" or
nose at a wedding; the time you accidentally hit"Sony iLink". If your camcorder has that and your
the button while carrying the camera and shot 30computer also has an IEEE-1394 plug-in, all you will
seconds of your shoes; the big football gameneed is a cable to hook them together.
where somebody jumped up right in front of youIf you are transferring older VHS video into your
and all you got was the back of their head...computer to edit and save to DVDs (for
Perhaps you just want to add some backgroundexample) you may need to buy an analog to
music or some narration, or maybe a fewdigital converter box. They are widely available
captions and credits. The great news is that videoand inexpensive. Some dual-door VCRs are
editing on your home computer has becomeavailable that allow you to copy your
relatively easy, and some of the tools to do it arenon-copyrighted home videos to DVDs which can
FREE.then be placed into the standard DVD player on
Most people today have computers equipped withyour (newer) computer. You will still have to
the Windows XP operating system. If you havecapture the video from the DVD to convert it
Windows XP or the new Vista, you have a toolinto an AVI file for editing.
already called Windows Movie Maker. If you haveUsing the Timeline
an early version of XP or have never upgradedNearly all computer video editing solutions, even
to Service Pack 2, you may have version 1.professional versions costing thousands of dollars,
Windows Movie Maker version 2.1 can beuse some kind of "timeline" screen to assist you in
downloaded from Microsoft at no cost.ordering and organizing your video shots. After
Windows Movie Maker can be used to do all kindsyou capture your video into the computer, you
of basic editing including cutting, trimming andneed to organize it into pieces called "clips" by
rearranging your shots (called "clips"), but is alsocutting out bad shots and things you don't want
capable of adding a surprising number oflike out of focus or very shaky parts. The
professional looking special effects like transitionsremaining clips you arrange on the timeline in
and dissolves. Windows Move Maker is intended tosequential order. They can be in any order you
be a simple, basic tool that covers everything thatwant and you can even mix clips from different
most casual home video editors might want orsources. Your creativity is your only limit here.
need, and it succeeds. You can work with anThe timeline is where you can add your optional
audio music or narration track, and there is anarration, musical background, and simple or fancy
simple "Title and Credits" tool that allows you totransitions. There are add-on packages available
place lettering on the screen.for Windows Movie Maker to permits you to
For perhaps 90% of casual video editors,apply more advanced effects to your videos as
Windows Movie Maker does everything you wantwell.
or need. For the rest of us amateur StevenPublishing
Spielberg wannabees, there are several boxedPublishing is the term used to describe saving
software products available for under $100 thatyour edited video in a form where you can share
expand your abilities to include things like splitit with others. Windows Movie Maker includes the
screen/picture-in-picture effects, multiple layeredability to save your edited movies as files in
audio tracks, and flexible animated credits andseveral forms, including those favored by internet
graphics.self-publishing services like YouTube and Google
Keeping it simple, the first challenge you faceVideo.
when you decide to edit your home videos onTypically people want to save their finished video
your home computer, is how the heck do youhome movies to a DVD, and unfortunately that is
get the video into the computer? If you have aa key function Microsoft chose to leave out of
camcorder that records on mini-DV tapes, yousimple little Windows Movie Maker. You will need a
may search all you want, but you are not likely toDVD publishing program to burn your movies to
find a slot anywhere on your computer whereDVD, and those generally have to be bought. Of
you can plug that tape in. If you have an oldercourse, you also need to have a DVD recorder,
style camcorder that uses VHS tapes or if youand if you don't have one you will need to buy
have old family movies on VHS you want to edit,one, typically for under $100 for an internal unit
you are in even more of a pickle. What do youyou install inside your computer case in place of
do?(or in addition to) the existing CD player. Many
Capturing the VideoDVD recorders come packaged with a basic DVD
The first step to being able to video edit is toburning software package such as Sonic Solutions
transfer the movies and sound onto yourMyDVD, which can be used to author DVD's from
computer's hard drive. Generally, the movies andthe movies you have created and saved as files
sound also have to be converted into a standardwith Windows Movie Maker.
type of computer file called "AVI" which standsEditing your home video movies in your home
for "Audio-Video Interleave". This process ofcomputer can be a lot of fun, and cheaper and
transferring and conversion is referred to aseasier than you may have imagined.