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Too many home movie makers think that creating a film is simply about pointing a video camera in the general direction of something interesting and pressing the Record button. Sadly, these people are ignoring one of the most important parts of the puzzle: the editing process.
We showed you how to get the most out of your DV (digital video) camera at the filming stage in our Lights! Camcorder! Action! feature. But recording pictures and sound is only the beginning of the story.
Uncut tapes are probably the worst way to show off your important moments. Without a few cuts here and an effect or two there you'll end up boring your friends, neighbours and family members with long, tedious tapes that only contain a few minutes of good footage.
Editing is one of the most important parts of the film making experience and allows you to boil down your raw material to the very best bits.
One of the great advantages of digital video is that it is ideal for editing on a home PC. On top of that, desktop editing is no longer expensive, complicated and hard work.
New technology and better software has brought the price of creating a home movie right down as well as making the whole process a lot simpler.
We'll show you how to use your DV camera and PC together and get the most from this all-star double act to produce professional-looking home movies.
What you need
There are three basic steps to editing a movie on your computer. The first is the capture stage, where you transfer footage from your video camera to your computer's hard disk.
Next comes the editing process itself and, finally, the moment when you output your finished project to tape (VHS or DV), disc (DVD or VideoCD) or another digital format, such as those suitable for email and the web.
These days, most video editing software can handle all of these tasks quite capably and there's a large range of good, easy-to-use programs at the cheaper end of the market.
Indeed, it's even possible to put together home movies without spending a penny, since Microsoft has included a video editing tool with all versions of Windows since Millennium Edition.
For a bit more flexibility and choice, combined with maximum user friendliness, you should consider opting for one of the 'big three' home video editing packages: Pinnacle Studio 9, Roxio VideoWave 7 or Ulead VideoStudio 8.
In this feature we're going to demonstrate the art of desktop editing with the help of our Buy It! award winner, VideoStudio 8. But, since all the best home video editing programs work in a very similar way, you should be able to follow along without any problem, no matter which you decide to use.
First, you'll need to connect your video camera to a computer. If you're using DV, the camera's FireWire connection will help to simplify matters and offer video transfer with no loss of quality.
Those with analogue video cameras (Hi8, Video8, SVHS and VHS-C formats) are less fortunate, and unless your graphics card is blessed with an analogue video input, dedicated capture hardware is usually required.
You could consider an internal upgrade using hardware such as the Pinnacle Studio AV/DV PCI card, which offers analogue input and output and costs around £130.
Alternatively, you could take advantage of the fast data transfer of USB 2 and choose a product that can be plugged into your PC, such as Pinnacle's Studio MovieBox USB (about £150). This converts video from analogue to digital before it even gets near a PC. Both products come with the full version of Pinnacle's Studio 9 editing software.
For the purposes of this feature, however, we're going to assume you have a DV camera and you're connecting it to a PC via FireWire.
Capture
Most video editing applications have a built-in capture feature that can access footage on a DV camera with just a few clicks. In VideoStudio, the main screen is tabbed across the top with the headings Capture, Edit, Effect, Overlay, Title, Audio, Share.
Clicking on any of these tabs alters the range of tools available to you, according to the task you want to perform. This style of interface is used quite widely in home video editing software, so you can expect something similar if you're using a different program.
Under the Capture tab there will be buttons for controlling a connected DV camera remotely, as well as a handful of other options.
It's best to capture video in small manageable chunks rather than as one big file, so choose the option to split up the captured video by scene; the software will automatically detect pauses in the filming and use these to break up captured footage into smaller files.
It's a good idea to capture, edit and output footage at the highest resolution on offer if at all possible, but full-resolution DV video can take up lots of hard disk space; up to 13Gb for the contents of a full hour-long tape.
Alternatively, most applications allow you to capture in different formats, such as MPEG-2, which take up less disk space, or at a lower resolution.
After choosing a suitable folder on your computer, it's just a case of clicking on the Start capture button and watching as the raw footage is transferred to your PC. Bear in mind that this process happens in real time, so an hour-long tape will take a full hour to capture.
Finding your way around
Virtually all desktop video editing applications use the same sort of interface; the various windows and processes may be given slightly different names, but you'll almost always find a library, where captured video clips are kept, along with any music, narration, sound effects and still images that can be used in the film.
It's usually possible to import extra media files from CDs or other locations on the PC's hard disk directly to the library.
Another important part of the layout of any video editing software is the preview window. This allows you to see any alterations you make to your footage on-screen, without the need to connect a second monitor to the PC.
Possibly the most important area of any video editing application is the storyboard or timeline. This is where clips can be arranged into the sequence you want them to appear and where various other elements, such as soundtracks, effects and titles, can be added.
Drop a clip onto the storyboard and it will be represented as a thumbnail. Drop any other clips you want after it and you've just made your first edit, albeit a very rough one.
Effects can also be dragged and dropped onto each clip, while transitions (such as fades, wipes and peels) can be placed between clips.
More experienced users will almost always prefer to use a timeline view, as it offers far more precision and control. Timelines present separate tracks for each element of a project (video, audio, titles and so on) and almost all video editing applications offer both.
Trims and tucks
Just arranging clips in the right order isn't enough, however. In a five-minute recording there may only be about five seconds of footage worth using, which means using the video editing application's trim tool to get rid of the duff bits.
Double-click on a clip in the timeline or storyboard to play it in the preview window. Underneath the clip will be a scroll bar of some type, which will allow you to scroll through the clip to the point at which you want it to start.
Click on the Mark In button, then scroll to the point at which you want the clip to end and click on Mark Out. This won't actually delete any of the source clip itself, but will have the effect of shortening the clip when it appears in your movie sequence.
As well as trimming clips down to size, you can use a video editing application's effects to enhance, spice up or rescue footage.
In VideoStudio, simply select Video Filters from the drop-down menu in the library window and then drag and drop a special effect onto the desired clip in the timeline or storyboard.
You can see how the effect will look by playing the clip in the preview window and, depending on which effect you've chosen, there should be options for fine-tuning it in the tool palette on the left of the screen.
Using special effects can improve a home movie no end and can even help correct filming flaws, but don't be tempted to use too many.
Transitions, tunes and titles
An effective way to give your video a professional feel is to add transitions, titles and an additional audio track. Transitions are effects that can be placed between clips in order to blend one into the other. Once again, most video editing applications will provide you with a range of outrageous wipes, rotations and 3D rolls.
These might seem like a good idea in theory, but in practice you really can't beat a simple cross-dissolve, where the end of one clip fades down as the beginning of the next fades up. VideoStudio's transitions can be found in the library window when the Effect tab at the top of the screen is selected.
Adding a piece of music to the mix can really liven things up. Choose the Audio tab in VideoStudio and you can add tunes straight from a CD or even record your own narration or sound effects if you have a microphone plugged into your PC.
Audio tracks can be trimmed and dragged to the appropriate moment on the storyboard or timeline, and it's usually possible to fade a track in or out and apply a selection of audio filters to it.
As with effects and transitions, you should try to avoid overdoing titles. Usually a subtle title at the beginning and perhaps a few credits or a closing message at the end will do the trick.
Titling is very easy in most video editing applications. In VideoStudio, it's simply a case of selecting the Title tab and double-clicking on the preview screen.
Various fonts, colours and other options are offered on the left-hand tool palette and you can even animate text or choose from a number of preset 3D text styles.
Output
After making all the cuts and trims you need and adding additional audio, effects and titles, it's time to save your finished film to DVD, VideoCD, VHS tape, or as a compressed computer file for use on the web or in an email attachment.
DVD is one of the best-quality formats but you'll need the right hardware (a DVD burner). A VideoCD, on the other hand, will work in most computers and some set-top DVD players, but at the expense of picture quality.
Outputting back to DV is a good idea, as it gives you a master copy of your movie at top quality. And if your computer doesn't have any analogue video output sockets, use your DV master to run off VHS copies by plugging the DV camera straight into a video recorder. Not all DV cameras have a DV input, however, so check your camera's instructions to see whether this is possible.
Making movies for free
Lucky old Apple Mac users have had free video editing applications for years, but Microsoft is finally beginning to catch up in this area. A free video editing program called Movie Maker has been included in Windows since Windows Me.
The latest version, Movie Maker 2, is surprisingly versatile. It works slightly differently to the commercially available video editing programs featured here, basing itself on options and features available in a Windows XP taskbar-style menu down the left-hand side of the screen.
However, there are wizards for almost everything and a healthy selection of effects and transitions is available. You can even choose between working in a straightforward Storyboard mode or get a bit more hands-on in Timeline mode.
It's not capable of cutting together the next Harry Potter film, but if you don't already have a video editing application, Movie Maker 2 is a great place to start and, of course, it's free. If you don't already have it, you can download it here.
End credits
We won't pretend that video editing isn't a time consuming process. You'll need at least a weekend or two to get it right, and possibly longer if you are learning the ropes, but it's worth putting in the time in the editing suite to achieve polished end results.
Almost all home video editing applications come with a wizard that can automate the editing process, reducing it to just a few clicks. Simply feed it clips that you've captured and an audio track and it will make all the cuts and add all the effects itself.
While this might save you a lot of time, the finished article will almost inevitably feel impersonal, random and disappointing.
In our view these gimmicks are fine to get you started, but you'll always get the best results by getting stuck in yourself. And with the help of this feature you should be better prepared next time you pay a visit to your desktop cutting room.
For paid-for video editing software, the following contacts may come in useful:
Ulead 01327 844880
Pinnacle 01895 442003
Roxio 0049 7543 939882
See also:
DVDs offer loads of advantages when it comes to storing data. We expain all the ins and outs of writing DVDs, disc compatibility and DVD-writing software 30 Sep 2004
Did you realise that your PC was bursting with music-making potential? Read on and find out how to take advantage of its audio capabilities 17 Sep 2004
Don't let your computer get clogged up with old files you rarely use. An external DVD writer will give you more storage space without the need for a screwdriver 17 Sep 2004
Got something to share with the rest of the world? Build your own website with our easy-to-follow guide 07 Sep 2004All Software Applications
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