The keys to video production are software and hardware. If you already have a way to connect your camcorder or camera phone to your computer, things will be a lot easier. If not, you will need to find a way to put the video files onto a disk or directly to your computer's hard drive.
Steps
Step 1. Capture the video footage
To do this you need to somehow connect the camcorder to your computer (the editing station) and transfer the video files from the camera to your hard drive. There are many types of connections and file formats to do this work, we do not have the space and time to go into details, as many variants change according to make and model, both of the camera and of the computer.
Step 2. Watch the movies
Look at all the material shot, take note of the scenes you want to edit and the cuts to make. This list will help you put together a "first cut" of your movie.
Step 3. Open the editing software and start creating a new project
Depending on the footage, you may have different options, but the digital video standard is 640x480 or 720x480 at 29.97 frames per second. These settings are the "NTSC" standards and are primarily used in North America on non-high definition systems.
Step 4. About the editing software
There are three key areas to remember:
- First: The timeline also called storyboard viewer or clip sequencer, which is where you can view the video clip to play in the final product. Some editing programs like Windows Movie Maker or Pinnacle Studio offer simple interfaces without storyboards / clip sequences because they are aimed at making it easier for beginners to perform video editing tasks.
- Second: The preview window that allows you to see the edited video and the effects applied. Some effects may need to be "rendered" (from the English term rendering) before you can see what the "finished" effect will be in the final exported video. Some software render on the fly, so that you can have a full preview of the movie. These types of operations require intensive use of the processor. In fact it is necessary, in some cases, to set the program to do a "preview rendering".
- Third: The library or collection. This is where the media files are stored after they are imported into the project. From here you can drag various video clips, images and backgrounds directly into the sequencer or timeline.
Step 5. Go to the cut
Once you have identified these three areas and understand how they work, you will find that it is not very complicated to perform basic editing. Use the software import feature (it could be File> Import or a similar command, otherwise go to the library panel of the file explorer) to load a video from your hard drive. After importing it you will have to "drag" the video clip into the sequencer or timeline.
Step 6. Once loaded on the timeline, the software loads the video and sound track, including the original audio
At this point, using the "cut" tool, it is possible to section the entire video into different segments (clips). Move the sequences and put them in order. after you split the clips you will be able to select them and drag them "around" to put them in any order you want.
Step 7. The timeline playback will be displayed in the preview window
Most editing software programs have transition bars that allow us to move along the timeline so that we can play the video frame by frame in the preview window.
Step 8. Familiarize yourself with the program
With this basic overview of how video editing software works you should, at the very least, be able to import a video, trim it, and move clips in any order you like. But that's only a fraction of what's possible with most of these programs.
Step 9. You will be able to add effects such as:
semi-transparencies, multiple videos, audio layers, fades between clips, and other effects that change the look of the video, how you perform these operations depends on the video editing software of your choice.
Step 10. Play around with your program's basic features, as described above, just to get a feel for how things work, and then start experimenting with more advanced features
If necessary, use the help section. The software should help you overcome any unexpected events, and there are plenty of other free editing tutorials available on the web that deal with the various programs.
Advice
- Start by playing with the various tools.
- This is a slow process, be patient.
- Save your footage often. Save it in multiple files, so that you can go back to an earlier version of your work.
- If you don't know how to do something, look for a tutorial. Chances are you will find several tutorials with a simple Google search or on sites like YouTube, or why not? on wikihow!
- If you get stuck try making a movie of your work and watch it on a different platform, like TV or iPhone, and write down what you think needs to be edited.
