Any PC user equipped with Windows XP or the new Vista operating system is given the opportunity to edit using the freeware, built-in program: Windows Movie Maker. While this software is a wonderful jumping off point for any amateur MindBiter, you should be aware that there are several options available in the way of stand alone editing programs that boast features and options far surpassing those of Movie Maker. The program is, after all, free for a reason. It is designed to provide beginners the easiest and most-straightforward tools for assembling media without confounding them with more advanced tools.
Unlike Mac users, who have a slim selection of options, those with a PC will find many editing programs at their disposal, several of which are exceptionally affordable, that provide for a high degree of professionalism without the hefty cost of professional editing packages.
So, exactly what is possible with these programs that is not with Movie Maker? Let’s first begin by examining the shortcomings of Movie Maker, and then explain how the above programs excel in these applications.
Movie Maker was designed for the absolute beginner, someone who knows little to nothing about video production and is, more than anything, just trying to put some family footage together into something presentable for the next reunion barbecue. It was never meant to handle heavy workloads or anything with creative ingenuity.
Its layout allows for only one viewing screen, meaning that all video comes through one source. So, if you are sifting through your captured footage, and then want to look at the sequence you are editing, you’ll have to shift back and forth between the two, instead of being able to preview your footage and your work simultaneously.
The program also comes with a wide variety of plug-in effects and transitions. The use is very simple and application is straightforward. However, there is no ability to manually manipulate the effects, so if you don’t like the way it looks exactly as is, too bad. Along these lines, the user is only allowed one video track and few audio tracks. This becomes very problematic, making overlaying video and audio impossible.
Understandably, all of Movie Maker’s downfalls come from its desire to remain intuitive to the novice. By adding the more complex features into the fold, it would potentially bog down the simple work flow. Again, wonderful for the home videographer with small aspirations, but if you wish more control over your final product, we highly suggest researching the cheap, yet professional programs mentioned earlier.
Perhaps the most important feature of these products is the ability to add multiple audio and video tracks. What this means is if you were designing a MindBites training video on underwater basket weaving and wanted to split the screen in half and on the top half show your hands twisting wicker and on the bottom half allow for textual explanations of your underwater exploits, you could easily overlay the two videos on separate tracks. The same goes for audio. If you want the sound of your voice backed by Billy Joel singing “New York State of Mind”, you can do so by placing the audio clips in different tracks. The usefulness of multiple tracks should not be overlooked, even for beginners.
The interfaces of these five packages are another area of improvement for Movie Maker. They include the ability to preview raw video clips in a separate window while playing media from the timeline simultaneously. This is useful because you are able to view raw footage while searching the timeline for the perfect spot to place the shot, saving you tremendous amounts of time. In Movie Maker, you can only view one video clip at a time in the monitor, so you lose a lot of efficiency.
Also, when you modify a video file, by adding text or effects to it, it needs to be rendered to be viewed properly. Rendering means simply that it must re-create the footage with the applied effects included. These programs offer on-the-fly rendering, allowing you to view what the new effected clip will look like before committing to the render.
All five programs include a wide range of effects that can be applied to both audio and video tracks. Effects are not limited to simple transitions and options like “sepia tone” and “black and white”. Advanced effects allow for color manipulation and correction, key-frame animating, and many different ways to stylize video and audio tracks (i.e. add base or treble, reduce noise, equalize waveforms, scale video size, emphasize certain colors, etc.). Again, Movie Maker falls short in this department and is limited to very basic effects.
One if not all give more importing and exporting options with these programs. While Movie Maker is limited to importing Windows-based video types (.avi, .mpeg, .wmv), these five programs allow for a larger spectrum of support with file types like .mov, .mp4, and in some cases .flv. On the export side, they offer many more compression settings than Movie Maker and most have one-click exporting options for online video, DVD video, and the very important lossless .avi (which saves the integrity of the video you created by rendering the video uncompressed (again, absent from Movie Maker).
There are many other features specific to each software package, but the big picture is that these programs offer more options than those few freeware programs available, and this, in turn, gives the user much more control over his/her final product. Even for the novice editor, it is a worthy investment to look into one of these inexpensive products as an alternative to the free editing tools for PC.
Which program would work the best for you? A little research can explain the similarities and differences between the five programs, and all five offer trial versions which is strongly recommended before you make the purchase.
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