This week, I had the opportunity to evaluate two video editing software products. I chose Windows Live Movie Maker and Adobe Premier Pro CS4. I also created a video clip using Movie Maker. I used Movie Maker to edit the video clip and add a title and credits.
You may view this clip below:
Movie Maker and Adobe Premier Pro Software Evaluation
Prior to this course, I had no experience with video editing software, but when I read Gretchen Siegchrist's advice on About.com regarding Movie Maker I decided it was a great place to start. Siegchrist said Movie Maker is perfect for beginners, which couldn't be more accurate. I downloaded Live Movie Maker for Windows 7 for free and I was up and running in less than five minutes. Windows Movie Maker is available as part of the Windows XP package, but can also be downloaded for free.
Upon opening the program, I was impressed with the simplicity of the screen. With a little basic guidance on the different tools, anyone can use Movie Maker. First, I added a .wmv file and an .avi file by simply clicking on the "Add Video" button and then clicking on the video in my video library. My videos appeared in the storyboard immediately as a thumbnail. I trimmed the length of one video using the "Trim" tool. I added a title at the beginning of the movie and credits at the end. Adding music was as simple as clicking "Add Music" and adding an mp3 from my music library. Movie Maker also supports commonly used Audacity and .wav audio files. After that, I edited the order of the photos and video by clicking and dragging them into the correct order. I was also able to add simple animation effects to the title and credits. Overall, it took me about 20 minutes to put the movie together.
In addition to being beginner-friendly, Movie Maker is free, making it ideal for use in educational settings where technology is welcome, but not affordable. Movie Maker is also a friendly program in a classroom with a wide variety of ability levels. The program is easy enough to use that a core subject would feel comfortable allowing students to use it in order to, in the words of Andrew Garrison, "...find new access to students and help them find new access to the material."
I also like the sharing feature that allows users to share movies in high definition, standard definition, and widescreen to YouTube, mobile devices, burn a dvd, and email. Tech support for Movie Maker is widely available through Windows Help and How-to, and a multitude of forums and YouTube tutorials dedicated to assisting Movie Maker users.
I wanted to experience the difference between a free video editing product and a professional quality product so I used Adobe Premier Pro to create the same video I created in Movie Maker. Premier Pro is used by Audio Visual Production and Advanced Audio Visual Production classes to produce intermediate movies and the advanced school news show on my campus.
When I opened the program, I quickly discovered that my experience using Flash came in handy. Importing the video file was not difficult, I simply clicked on File>Import and chose the file I wanted to use. The video clip appeared immediately in the editing window, and as a line on the timeline under the video. This was a bit confusing and I had to ask for help from the AVP teacher. I learned that Premier Pro also supports .avi, .m4v, .swf, and a host of additional video formats. I was also able to import some .jpg and .bmp still shots using the same import process. At this point, Premier Pro became more challenging and I found a beginner tutorial on YouTube that was very helpful in learning how to control the audio and add transitions and effects. After watching the tutorial, adding a beginning transition was easy using "Video Transitions". There are several transitions to choose.I chose a dissolve which I added by dragging and dropping it at the beginning of the movie. Next, I added an mp3 music file using the same import process I used with the video. The audio appeared in a synchronous timeline under the video timeline. Premier Pro also supports .wma and .avi audio files.
Completing my movie in Premier Pro took me about an hour, and I was pleased with my results. While not as beginner-friendly as Movie Maker, Premier Pro is not impossible to learn and offers more options for editing and creating effects, but I would not recommend Premier Pro to the average classroom teacher as a tool for technology integration. Adobe offers several tech support options including online chat support, email, phone, and an array of forums and tutorials on the Adobe website.
Garrison, A. (1999, Winter). Video basics and production projects for the classroom. Center for Media Literacy. Retrieved August 30, 2010 from http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article3.html
Siegchrist, G. (n.d.). Before you buy video editing software. About. Retrieved August 31, 2010 from
http://desktopvideo.about.com/od/editingsoftware/bb/Buyeditsoftware.htm
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