Video editing software is expensive in general. There are a few reasons for that:
- It is complicated technology – The software must be able to process copious amounts of HD to now 12k resolutions.
- Most have gone ‘cloud based’ – The dreaded monthly fees are making things cost more.
- Options are limited – There is a high demand for professional video editing software and not a lot of options.
But this doesn’t have to discourage you. If you aren’t looking to pay $80.00 US a month for Adobe… you have a couple of other options that will work for smaller projects. The best part, you don’t have to be a Film Major or take a month-long course to learn how to use it. It’s a quite simple and intuitive software that is built into your windows computer.
Now it is good. It’s not Adobe Creative Cloud in any capacity. If you want to edit longer videos, and add custom graphics and different elements you can, but Skycomp does not recommend it. If you are posting this video anywhere for people other than internal staff to see, and you have to make it polished and professional. It is possible to do, but it might take a couple tries to get your video exactly right. This video software is for the person who is looking to edit a short clip with simple editing cut points. Marking an in-point and an out-point in your video and cutting that section out, then exporting.
You can use this type of editing software for many different applications. But a good one is for trimming recorded virtual meetings. We’ve all been there. Someone was late or missed a virtual meeting entirely. Then they asked if you had it recorded. But in that recording you may have mentioned that this person was late all the time… and was frustrating you as a boss. You might not want them to hear that. Skycomp doesn’t recommend talking about employees behind their back. But we can show you how to cut out the audio and video and just include the important parts of the meetings. Nobody needs to see the awkward interaction of talking about the weather or joking about still being in your pajamas. The video above shows you how to do it step by step. We at Skycomp use Microsoft Teams and WebEx. Different providers for virtual meeting software have separate ways of recording meetings. Teams has a simple record button located in the top menu of the meeting.
Most meeting software’s also send you a copy of the video file as an .MP4 file. It’s not important to know what that file type is, but it’s good to know its standard across most editing software’s and tends to be a smaller file type. This compared to an iPhone video file which is an .MOV. These files tend to be large and contain more data in the file. MP4 files are perfect for quick downloads and uploads and are easy to work with on windows systems. We recommend sticking with this file type.
So, we’ve been talking about this awesome software… Where do I find it?
This is the best part. All you must do is go down to the bottom left search bar and type in “Video Editor” The program is literally called video editor… easy to spot. Open it and you are ready to edit! You can take a few steps below to make sure you video will come out fine! But the software has clear instructions on how to import video files and use tools. It’s no Davinci Resolve or Avid Media Composer… but it works!
Sebastian’s Steps for Fool Proof Video Editing:
- Create a folder for all pictures, video clips, and graphics or music you want to use. Put everything in the same place!
- Back that folder up! In the cloud! Somewhere so if something goes wrong you can easily re-download or get it back.
- Import the content from the video software, and make sure it come out of the folder you created for it!
- Edit away! Save projects, backup files, save constantly!
Follow these steps and you shouldn’t have any technical issues. No promises though. Technology, especially video technology, tends to crash sometimes. That’s just part of the process. Make sure to save constantly to different places, and you should be safe.
Video editing in general can be intimidating process. It takes quite some time to get used to creating a clean, professional looking product out of what seems to be just piles of random video clips. But with windows ‘Video Editor’ it is possible and for the price of windows 10 which comes on most systems.
This is Windows way at getting back at Macintosh products for iMovie. Sebastian our video editor and Digital Content Specialist has used both products. Sebastian tends to lean toward Windows route. Much more intuitive and the timeline seems to be much more customizable. But don’t take our word for it! Try it out yourself and see what you think.