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How to choose editing software for your videos

There are loads of tools out there that do video editing. So how to choose editing software that suits you?

Editing software can be chosen based on a number of general criteria:

1) Cost
2) functionality
3) Convenience

Let's look at each of these factors:
Exaples of software packages on floppy disk

Exaples of software packages on floppy disk

1) Cost
Good software is usually expensive. This isn't always the case, but usually professional quality tools come with a professional quality price tag. The industry leaders (Adobe/ Apple/etc.) can cost upwards of $1000. However most packages come with either a free trial or a student pricing plan which can help if your just starting out. Further down the line there are the 'hobby' type packages which are usually less functioning versions of the 'big-guns'. These are cheaper than the full versions but don't do as much. The next stage down is the free tool. Generally free tools are less functional than paid tools but this is not always the case. There are several free tools on the market which are every bit as good as the commercial packages.

2) Functionality.
Do you want to integrate 8 video clips into one picture with special effects, picture-in-picture and an integrated soundtrack? Or do you just want to trim and sequence your shot with the odd title and transition? The functionality you are looking for will effect and help determine the type of software you want to use. Again a lot of the commercial packages have some excellent functionality. They deal with things such as clip management and logging, multiple transitions, multi-camera views and High Definition footage. But asking yourself the question "What do I really want to do?" will help to eliminate some of these tools with good functionality that you will never use. After all if you're shooting with one camera and editing that footage you don't need multi-camera editing functionality do you?

Once again there are a number of free tools that can offer varying levels of functionality to assist you in your editing. These vary from very simple tools for trimming an existing clip (to remove commercials, for example) right through to designing, rendering and sequencing a complex 3D animation clip.

3) Convenience.
Some of the bigger tools are very complicated, take a while to load up and run for long times. The learnng curve is steep but the results are worth it. Others are straightforward with a small number of things to do and these are usually free. But for ultimate convenience how about having tools that are all web based? There are now applications which are hosted on the web, that accept your footage and allow you to manipulate and publish that footage automatically. It means you don't even need to buy or install software on your own machine. The convenience factor here is that you can actually work anywhere there is a computer and internet connection rather than on a single machine with a large hard drive.

As can be seen from the above items, there are many criteria you can specify to help choose your video editing package. Define the criteria you want and this will determine the tool you choose. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that only expensive software is good: free tools have great functionality as well.

(Photo courtesy of jm3 released under a creative commons, attribution, share-alike license)

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