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October 15, 2002
The New Cinema Ecole (cont'd)
Video Editing Basics
A breakdown of common features, functions, and production tips to get you started.
Format
Video data must be in digital form if you want to work with it on a computer. Digital video can come from several sources, including DVD (digital versatile disk), digital video camcorders (i.e., cameras that store their signal in digital form but still record on videotape), analog camcorders (cameras that record onto tape in analog form), and digital movie files. With twice the horizontal resolution than traditional VHS video, digital video is a much higher quality palette on which to record and edit.
Storage
One hour of uncompressed digital video requires about 13GB of storage because sound and video consume lots of space. For this reason, when video footage is stored on a computer, it's typically stored in compressed format. However, the less compression the footage undergoes, the higher the quality of the video display. Movie making is RAM, processor, and hard disk intensive: the larger your computer's storage capabilities, the less time it will take to render footage in digital video form.
Transferring Video from Camera to Computer
Most editors handle video footage in similar ways. In camera mode, you decide which segments of the videotape to transfer to a computer. To remove video from an analog camcorder, you would need to use a video capture card. Newer digital video camcorders use a simple FireWire cable to connect camera and computer. Current Macs come with a built-in FireWire adapter; on PCs, a FireWire option costs about $50 or may come free with the purchase of video editing software (e.g., Pinnacle Systems Studio DV 7). For the clearest picture, use FireWire instead of a video capture card for content transfer, since data won't have to be converted from analog to digital form.
Video Editors: Starter Models
A desktop movie editor doesn't have to cost big bucks. Here, a few free or low-cost options.
QuickTime Pro, Apple's $30 upgrade to the free QuickTime Standard, integrates several editing tools in the QuickTime Movie Player so you can create Internet-ready audio and video clips, enhanced with special effects and visual filters, for full-screen playback in electronic presentations and slide shows. With QuickTime Pro, you can edit a movie's audio and video tracks individually, move tracks from one movie to another, delete a track while leaving the rest of the movie untouched, and combine movies.
Available only for PowerPC processors running OS 9.1 or later, Apple's user-friendly iMovie 2 comes free with every new Macintosh computer. It's also available for purchase for $49. Simple enough for elementary-age videographers, iMovie's ample features handle a wide range of demanding tasks, including the ability to extract unwanted audio from captured video clips.
Bundled free with Windows Me and XP, Microsoft's Movie Maker helps users create, edit, view, and share their digital video creations. You can add voice-over narration, sound effects, clip transitions, and scene dissolves, or even use existing audio, video, and still image files. Moviemakers bring in video and still content by selecting via drag-and-drop, importing, or using the record command.
MovieWorks Deluxe 5.2 from Interactive Solutions is an integrated cross-platform multimedia authoring suite of applications. Priced at $119, this desktop editor provides tools for video, animation, and sound, plus editing, painting, photo touch-ups, and presentations. MovieWorks also helps moviemakers build audio and special effects into analog or digital movies (complete with text and titling), Web movies, multimedia presentations, interactive projects, and slide shows using QuickTime Player as a display tool. While not as feature-rich as iMovie and Movie Maker, the suite ships with 300MB of royalty-free clip media.
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