Video editing package reviews: Features explained
A typical video-editing software interface
A typical video-editing software interface is shown in the image on the right. The top left of the screen is where you store all the video clips you have imported, alongside any photos and sound clips you might want to include too. The window on the top right is the preview screen where you can play your video during the editing process, useful for reviewing the adjustments as you make them.
Timeline
At the bottom is the timeline, the hub of the program where you build your video. To start editing, drag and drop your imported video clips, and any still images and sounds you'd like to include, here. You can also add transitions, available to drag and drop from another part of the program. More on those later.
A simple edit to start with is to re-order two video clips. To do this, just drag and drop one in front of the other along the timeline.
You can also trim clips to get rid of excess footage that's not required. Again, you usually do this on the timeline.
The sound is usually displayed on a different bar within the timeline. Here, you can adjust the volume, or mute the sound altogether before perhaps adding some music.
To help you introduce your video to your viewers, try adding a title. You can select one of the pre-defined titles or you can create your own, for example "Victoria's birthday". Once you've got one ready, drag and drop it into the timeline right at the start.
Transitions
Transitions are neat ways of moving between scenes in a video, sometimes nicer than just having one scene stop and the next start abruptly. Open the transition library, drag and drop the transition of your choice into the timeline, and place it between the two scenes. Fading out of the old scene and fading into the new scene is a popular transition, whilst you can also alter the length of it too, creating slow or quick fades.
Advanced features
Advanced features can really give your video a professional look. Chromakey allows you to apply a different background behind someone who's been filmed in front of a solid blue or solid green screen. You could make them look like they're standing in front of Sydney opera house, for example, whilst in fact you did the filming in your living room.
Another feature to look out for is picture-in-picture.This allows you to display a small scene on top of the main picture. Think of a news-reader telling the news with a picture in the top left of the screen depicting the news story, for example.
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