EDLD 5363 Week 2 Part 1- Editing a Video

Part one of the assignment was more challenging than I thought it would be because of decisions and associated issues that I had to make prior to the editing process. My first choice was editing software so I considered the editing applications that I’ve used previously. I have used Studio 8 at home for editing and production of various personal and civic projects. Pinnacle Studio Plus, a similar video editing application is an excellent editing tool for beginners (Desktop-Video-Guide.com, Top 7 video editing software programs for beginners, paragraph 5). Additionally I’ve used Windows Movie Maker minimally in my science classes. Both of these are user friendly. Generally within my school district, Movie Maker is used for class assignments and Studio 8 has been used for history fair projects. I have worked with some of these students on developing their projects.

Another factor influencing my decision is the assignments focus on open source editing. The Pinnacle Studio 8 provides the best video editing and production at my school but with the trend towards the Cloud, it makes since to be familiar with open source products. Windows Live Movie Maker is a free and simple video editing program from Microsoft, and is a part of their Windows Live Essentials suite and it has replaced their previous video editing program, Microsoft Movie Maker. This is a tool to become familiar with but after further exploration I learned that Windows XP does not support Microsoft Live Movie Maker. It is supported by Vista and Windows 7. Windows XP still uses Windows Movie Maker as the editing tool that can then be used with Windows Live cloud services. I’ve found no “open source” utility for XP. The fact that my machine runs Windows XP and the reality that all of GCCISD’s schools are still using XP and consequently are still using the standard Windows Movie Maker determines my choice. My choice to use it is relevant. In the future, as hardware and the operating systems change, I will learn how to use newer utilities.

Next I would decide on my content. This is where things got more complicated. Typically, the third step in creating a digital video is capturing the video from the camera to the computer (Desktop-Video-Guide.com, The various stages of creating a digital video, paragraph 8). In the past, I have strictly used video cameras and use the capture tool to create the working file for either Studio 8 or for Windows Movie Maker. I wanted to take two videos form Youtube, a Queen performance of Bohemian Rhapsody and a Marc Martel performance of the same song, and create one song with each set of musicians performing sections of the song. I save the files using Real and then attempted to open them with Windows Movie Maker. They would not open because Movie Maker does not support the Flash Video format. I then decided to change the content. I had taken some videos and some pictures using my iPhone of our puppy named Frodo. I again attempted to open these files using Movie Maker. They would not open. This prompted me to find a converter to change the files to WMVs. I acquired and installed AnyVideoConverter. It worked perfectly. Ultimately I selected the content from my iPhone to create the video. This was useful because I learned some of the problems associated with changing platforms. I will be able to alert teachers and student to these issues and guide them through finding solutions. Making this choice required converting the files to be an added step in the process.

Now I was set to edit the stills. This is typically the fourth step (Desktop-Video-Guide.com, The various stages of creating a digital video, paragraph 10). Windows Movie Maker worked well. I sequenced the pictures and the video segments chronologically to show Mr. Frodo’s growth. I selected a fast paced ‘Rock-a-Billy’ Stevie Ray Vaughan song because it portrayed the hyperactive play portrayed in the videos and was about the desired length for the assignment. I placed photos in and aligned their transitions with transitions in the song where natural. To further develop the content, I added text about Mr. Frodo and what he was doing in the video and photos. The final product is a Windows Media Audio/Video file that can be viewed using Windows Media Player.

Most PC have this file extension associated with Windows Media Player and consequently, opening the file will launch Media Player; however, I have provided the link to Youtube where the video is available for others to see. This is typically the fifth step of the process. Using Youtube has become a popular option and an efficient way of sharing your video (Desktop-Video-Guide.com, The various stages of creating a digital video, paragraph 11). I hope you enjoy the video.
BigBadDawg

BigBadDawg by J. Keith Cummings is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Desktop-Video-Guide. (n.d.). Top 7 video editing software programs for beginners. Retrieved on November 23, 2011, from http://www.desktop-video-guide.com/top-7-video-editing-software-review.html.

Desktop-Video-Guide. (n.d.). The various stages of creating a digital video. Retrieved on November 23, 2011, from http://www.desktop-video-guide.com/video-creation.html.