M
Martin
I will probably always remain a "user" of Moviemaker, simply because
it's available on the computers of nearly anyone I might be visiting.
It's not only a fine get-your-feet-wet training tool, but is capable of
producing decent output as well.
But, after about 80 or 100 hours of hands-on operation on several
projects, I find that I am constantly bumping up against limitations of
this free software. There are several missing features that would
really, really speed and improve my work. I'm wondering if this group
might have some suggestions as to what would be the next logical step
up into a real (purchased) editing package. I'd like to stay under
about $400, if possible.
One recent project I completed was a 5-minute demo video for my
girlfriend's band. This was edited down from the best stuff in about 8
hours of performance footage, which I captured using a combination of
tripod-mounted camcorders and VGA-quality 30 FPS video from my digital
still camera (Canon S1IS). For each song, I would pre-aim a camcorder
at the main performers, then "roam" with the Canon to get several
different perspectives. Then I'd combine clips from all video sources
with "clean" audio from the mixer board and sometimes loop in audience
response and applause. All of the audio mixing/editing was done in
Cool Edit Pro. Final product is a 5-minute "sales pitch" - fades
between 6 or so MTV-like excerpts from songs, some stills, a scrolling
songlist, the band's logo, etc.
Here are the features that would have been a great boon, and that I'd
like to see in a purchased package:
1. An effect to vary "tint" of the video. MM has one effect that
continuously varies tint, but there is no control of tint or speed.
What I'm looking for is both white-balance correction and selectable
additive color. This would have been a big help in making several
clips flow together better when they were shot under different lighting
at different venues.
2. The ability to "crop" video! Performers move around a little - you
can either frame them perfectly, and have them move out of the frame
while you're away from the tripod filming something else, or you can
zoom out just a little and keep them in frame but capture too much
background. The ability to do a very slight "crop" on captured video
would have been a godsend. Of course this would be equally valuable
when putting together stuff from most sources - just as with still
photography, slight cropping can greatly enhance perception, with only
a small impact on resolution.
3. Why can't we lock video to the audio track, to a fixed point in
time, etc? For example - If I want to document the performance of a
song by the band, I have the complete audio track recorded off the
channels of the PA mixer. I mix these in Cool Edit Pro, add whatever
effects I want, then use this final audio as the reference timeline to
attach the video clips I took from various camera angles and fade
between viewpoints. But without the ability to lock a frame of each
clip to a point in time, everytime I re-adjust a video fade the
musicians get "out-of-synch" with the music. Ideally, I'd like the
nonlinear editing software to work like an audio mixer - separate
timelines for each video clip, and the ability to slide/lock them and
fade between, etc.
I wish I had kept a running list of stuff I'd like - probably I'll do
this in the future - but in the meantime, do any of you have a pet
software that you recommend as easily handling the above situations?
thanks,
Martin
it's available on the computers of nearly anyone I might be visiting.
It's not only a fine get-your-feet-wet training tool, but is capable of
producing decent output as well.
But, after about 80 or 100 hours of hands-on operation on several
projects, I find that I am constantly bumping up against limitations of
this free software. There are several missing features that would
really, really speed and improve my work. I'm wondering if this group
might have some suggestions as to what would be the next logical step
up into a real (purchased) editing package. I'd like to stay under
about $400, if possible.
One recent project I completed was a 5-minute demo video for my
girlfriend's band. This was edited down from the best stuff in about 8
hours of performance footage, which I captured using a combination of
tripod-mounted camcorders and VGA-quality 30 FPS video from my digital
still camera (Canon S1IS). For each song, I would pre-aim a camcorder
at the main performers, then "roam" with the Canon to get several
different perspectives. Then I'd combine clips from all video sources
with "clean" audio from the mixer board and sometimes loop in audience
response and applause. All of the audio mixing/editing was done in
Cool Edit Pro. Final product is a 5-minute "sales pitch" - fades
between 6 or so MTV-like excerpts from songs, some stills, a scrolling
songlist, the band's logo, etc.
Here are the features that would have been a great boon, and that I'd
like to see in a purchased package:
1. An effect to vary "tint" of the video. MM has one effect that
continuously varies tint, but there is no control of tint or speed.
What I'm looking for is both white-balance correction and selectable
additive color. This would have been a big help in making several
clips flow together better when they were shot under different lighting
at different venues.
2. The ability to "crop" video! Performers move around a little - you
can either frame them perfectly, and have them move out of the frame
while you're away from the tripod filming something else, or you can
zoom out just a little and keep them in frame but capture too much
background. The ability to do a very slight "crop" on captured video
would have been a godsend. Of course this would be equally valuable
when putting together stuff from most sources - just as with still
photography, slight cropping can greatly enhance perception, with only
a small impact on resolution.
3. Why can't we lock video to the audio track, to a fixed point in
time, etc? For example - If I want to document the performance of a
song by the band, I have the complete audio track recorded off the
channels of the PA mixer. I mix these in Cool Edit Pro, add whatever
effects I want, then use this final audio as the reference timeline to
attach the video clips I took from various camera angles and fade
between viewpoints. But without the ability to lock a frame of each
clip to a point in time, everytime I re-adjust a video fade the
musicians get "out-of-synch" with the music. Ideally, I'd like the
nonlinear editing software to work like an audio mixer - separate
timelines for each video clip, and the ability to slide/lock them and
fade between, etc.
I wish I had kept a running list of stuff I'd like - probably I'll do
this in the future - but in the meantime, do any of you have a pet
software that you recommend as easily handling the above situations?
thanks,
Martin
