Erstellt am: 24. 3. 2011 - 16:28 Uhr
Today's Webtip: Cut that Flick
I've been working with digital video since the editing machine of choice was a Mac IIfx. Despite loving the indea of non-linear editing, and having fallen in love with the combination of Flash animations, video, and After Effects, I spent years avoiding the editing suite.
Camera? Sure. Motion graphics? Any time. Video editing? Only if no one else would do it. It took a day job in radio to actually get me into the video groove, and now I look back and wonder just what my problem was.
Although I think it might have been this:
Media 100
It always looked so intimidating. Which is sort of funny if you have ever looked at ancient versions of After Effects. But AE had a certain Photoshop logic to it which was easier for my grafiker hirn to get a grip on.
I eventually had to take my first step, and once I had it behind me, it was pretty easy to leave my fear behind. But it's that first step that is hardest to take, and if you don't have the luxury of being pushed, a little hand holding can be the next best thing.
Lifehacker has offered a hand to help you take that first step. They have been posting a new run in their Night School series focused on video editing, and right now they have 3 posts that cover the basics.
Although the guides are focused on semi-pro and pro level editors, the basic ideas can be applied to most projects and systems. This is another one of those series where reading the comments can really pay off, as some pro editors are adding to the discussion with their personal experience and approaches.
For those of you who don't just happen to have acces to an editing system, I have found a few links that might be of use. Right now Linux and Mac users seem to have the upper hand, and it looks like there has been a LOT of development going on for Linux compared to the last time I checked out open source alternatives in 2005.
Open Movie Editor is only available for Linux and looks like it's worth checking out.
Kdenlive can be set up on Linux as well as Mac systems, but it will take a bit of work if you're OSX only.
LIVES is an editor that can also be compiled for Linux and OSX, but also offers a LiveCD distro that means almost anyone can give it a try.
I haven't had any luck finding much in the way of freeware for video editing on Windows, so if you have any suggestions, please let me know.