It’s no secret that Macs are geared towards media developers, manipulators, and creators. So, fortunately, for you Apple users, there are wonderful programs readily available for the purpose of video editing. Below is a list of the main ones, including our opinions and preferences about each.
This precocious little program is a basic editing platform, designed for the amateur consumer, which has really come into its own in the past couple of years. It is included free with all newly purchased Apple computers, or can be purchased for $79 as part of the iLife Studio compilation.
This is a wonderful application for creating MindBites, as it is easy to use, inexpensive, and very capable to boot.Its only drawbacks occur in conjunction with its ease of use, meaning that performing certain advanced editing maneuvers with iMovie can be very cumbersome and/or next to impossible. It only allows for a single video track, which complicates life in several ways, especially if you shot with two cameras and have multiple shots of simultaneously occurring footage.
Additionally, it does not accept camcorder footage recorded straight to DVD.There are plug-ins available to correct some of these drawbacks, but iMovie is still somewhat limited in its abilities when compared to more professional programs like Final Cut Pro and Avid. However, for most beginners, iMovie is the perfect place to start.
This is simply a scaled down version of Mac’s premier editing program, Final Cut Pro. It runs around $299 retail, but can be found for as low as $69 used or when purchased with a new Mac computer.The main advantage FCE has over iMovie is its ability to handle multiple video tracks (up to three) along with a severely increased number of audio tracks (up to 99!).
Additionally, there are a number of extra features that may be less intuitive than iMovie’s interface, but once mastered will increase the user’s efficiency exponentiallyThe set-up is very similar to that of the full Final Cut Pro application, but as the difference in price suggests, you’ll be missing a whole lot of features, many of which are excessive for the typical MindBite author. Again, FCE cannot support cameras that record to DVD.
As mentioned above, this is Apple’s big, bad editing super-program. It’s used by many professionals in post-production houses to edit content ranging from industrial videos, commercials, to even Hollywood major motion pictures. The bad news is this hunker will set you back anywhere from $599 to $1299, depending if you buy used or not.
The differences between this application and its younger brother, Final Cut Express, deal solely with professional features. FCP does accept footage recorded straight to DVD. Additionally, color correction becomes much more manageable with this upgrade and the user has more options when it comes to exporting. Again, for MindBites purposes, none of the upgraded features are necessary, but boy, they sure are nice!
Similar to Final Cut Pro, this is another high-end, extremely professional program. Avid costs about $1,695 retail, which is astronomical compared to the modestly priced iMovie.
Still, this is as good as it gets.Since the early 90’s, Avid has been the industry standard in digital editing for feature films. It’s been only recently that we’ve seen a slight shift to Final Cut Pro. Both programs boast more features than many will ever use, and each have their own unique nuances that make different individuals choose one or the other. But it’s all the same to us.
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