Collection Production: Digital Audio and Video Editing
Whether you want to create music for a CD, produce your own movie DVD, or build a website containing video clips, you'll need to learn some basic audio and video editing. Luckily, it's easy!
Video for the Web
Keep your movies short. For example, create multiple short segments if your video is over five minutes. A typical 28.8 Internet connection downloads videos at about 3.5KB/sec so it would take over 3 hours to download a 40MB file. Limit quick action. If fluid action is needed, download rather than stream the video.
Digital Video Editing
Digital video production has become a popular alternative to traditional video editing. With a digital camera, a firewire cable, and a digital video compatible computer, you can produce high-quality videos without many of the hassles of traditional video editing. If you don't have a digital video camera, you can still import video from an older camera or VCR into your computer with a special video digitizing card or capture device. Learn more about converting analog video to digital video at Frame-Grab Tutorial: Importing Analog Video Into Your Computer by Jeremy G. Butler at Television: Critical Methods and Application and Converting Analog Video Footage into Digital Via Firewire from Simply DV.
The only other thing you need is some software. If you use a Macintosh computer, it's easy. iMovie is a simple, effective package that can do full video editing including titles and transitions. If you want to get fancy, consider Apple's Final Cut Pro. If you use the Window's operating system, there are a number of alternatives such as MGI Video Wave, Avid Cinema or Adobe Premiere. Often, a software package will come with your video digitizing card such as Dazzle. If you have Windows XP, simple video editing software is included called Windows Movie Maker.
The example is a screen from an iMovie software project on a bear. When the movie is complete, you can export it to a videotape, CD, or DVD.
Digital Sound Editing
A number of software packages are available for editing sounds. Software such as Sound Companion is inexpensive and easy to use. If you're looking for free music to play with your movies, check out Freeplaymusic.com. Check out great Digital Audio: Tutorials and Resources by David Hitt from Plano ISD.
Resources
Digital Video Resources
- Adam's Multimedia Tutorial - digital audio and video with RealMedia
- Desktop Video Basics from About.com
- Emedia Live - digital studio resources
- Short Course in Digital Video by Dennis P. Curtin
- Video Streaming Guide
Video Editing Resources
- How Video Editing Works by Marshall Brain and Roxanne Reid from HowStuffWorks
- Multimedia Software Tips from Queen's Film Class - digital video for the web help
- Embedding QuickTime for Web Delivery from Apple
- Little QuickTime Page from Judy and Robert - great updates and information
Video Editing Tools
- The Basic Tools
- iMovie
from Apple
- Still Life Free Software & Still Life Demo - lets you make movies from still pictures.
- Window's Movie Maker from Microsoft
- iMovie
from Apple
- The Advanced
Tools
- Adobe Premiere from Adobe
- Avid from Avid
- Final Cut Pro from Apple
Animation Editing Tools
- Making Animations for the Web by Lance Ladic from University of B.C., Canada
- Macromedia Flash MX - from Macromedia
- Web Animation Overview from About.com
- Flash Tutorials
- Todd Gallina Flash Animator - cool Flash tutorial that takes you through the process
Audio Editing Tools
- Audio Editors from The Sonic Spot
- Sound Companion from FTC - get a 30-day trial version
Video Editing Websites and Magazines
- Animation Magazine - making animation
- Computer Video Magazine
- Digital Video Editing
- DV.com (Digital Video)
- DV Format - producing digital video
- Film
and Video Magazine - making videos