This week I looked at some video editing software. One of the programs, iMovie, I had used previously. The other program, Debug Mode's Wax, I had never seen before. I have found iMovie to be a fairly simple straightforward program that students tend to be able to operate with minimal confusion. Apple also offers an excellent video tutorial to explain the basic editing packages installed. There is a selection of themes with built in transitions and titles to make the overall package more professional in appearance. The other advantage to using an Apple software package on a Macbook or iMac computer is the compatibility of all the products. Aside from the standard royalty free music clips included in iMovie, a user can create their own soundtrack in GarageBand and import it directly to iMovie. Still photos can be added directly from iPhoto and the iTunes library is available as well (assuming all copyright laws are followed.) Overall, iMovie has enough bells and whistles to challenge an advanced student but is easy enough for a novice to produce a quality video clip.
The Wax software appeared to be a decent choice for a freeware product. It has a large number of effects which tend to fascinate students, but it is not as simple to operate as iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. One big advantage to the program is that it can function as a plug in to Adobe Premiere Elements which is the standard in many schools. It is not as graphic as the iMovie program. You do not see the segments as you roll over them with the mouse. The number of available effects is good and the variety of those effects is surprising in a free software. The user guide does a good job of explaining the program, but it takes a while to actually figure out how each of the elements work together.
Based on my previous experience with several video editing programs I feel this was an interesting learning experience, to see what is available for free use and be able to compare several of the programs side by side on the same video clips. Previously I have learned how to edit the video clips to make a movie and how to export those projects in .mov files for QuickTime and .MSWMM for Windows Movie Maker. I added exporting in .flv files through this course and learned new tricks to compress files. Through making the videos and podcasts this week I have learned that I should investigate a wider range of products in the future in order to accommodate multiple avenues of getting a project completed.
As Charlotte Spencer pointed out in her blog on this same subject, many times we need to be able to convert our videos from one format to another. Her discussion included some packages I had not used before. For my own file conversion I used Zamzar.
Video production will continue to play a role in education for years to come. As a teacher, I will need to improve my skills on the more technical components and make sure I am able to use the developing technologies with students to improve their critical thinking, attention to detail, and abilities to handle new and improved technologies as they come along.
Spencer, Charlotte. (2010, Sept 4) Evaluating Video Editing Software. [Web log comment] Retrieved from: http://charlottecspencer.blogspot.com/ Sept. 5, 2010
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