Topic: Tutorial for Video Editing

[Low Spark]

Any good one out there. Starting to do some Video work and need to learn to edit. Thanks. I guess I should have put this in earlier. PC based, and Vegas

[firmdragon]

depends on what program you're thinking of using.  if its on a mac/final cut theres a couple of good ones out there.

[stevetoney]

It's not that I've looked all that hard, but I know that when I first got into video, I searched quite a bit and never really found much.  Unfortunately, your query is fairly open-ended.  

I recently had someone ask me if I could make a video showing the process that I used and I kinda rudely replied that it was a tall order for such a request.  In a way, it's kinda like asking for the history of the US in a two sentence request.  It's not that I'm not willing to help, but to put together an instructional video isn't something that I can just sit down and 15 minutes later post it onto the web...it would take hours and hours to do a decent job of editing it all and since I'm an engineer, there's a certain amount of perfectionist in me that would want to make sure it's fairly pro quality if my mug is gonna spread over the internet with something like that.

Anyway, getting this response on point, I don't know of any tutorials out there.  I found that learning the video software wasn't as intuitive and simple as many software packages, but most all of the video editing software has the same basic features and concepts.  So, once you get one and start understanding the basic concepts of working with the software, you should pretty much get a feel for all of the packages.  

Having said this, I've only really worked with two or I suppose I could say three; Premier, DVD Lab Pro, and ...ugggg...I can't remember the name but the worthless piece of shit product that was put out by Pinnacle...stay away from that.

Premier is the workhorse, but it takes some time to learn.  I found DVD Lab Pro to be really easy to use and within about two hours I was up and fully running.  There is a rudimentary tutorial that goes with it that shows the basics of putting together a video.  The tutorial really is basic, but effective in getting you out of the starting blocks and going from a standstill to fully running in a very short time.  

If you want truly professional looking video's, they are possible with DVD Lab Pro, but frankly that product is a step down from Premier.  Adobe Premier truly enables you the ability to produce first class video's that look like they came straight from the pro video editors toolbox.

Frankly, while the features and the power of Premier is second to none, I love the ease and totally functionality of DVD Lab Pro.  I know it's not all that popular amongst the video people out there, but I tape alot of stuff off of TV (shows like ACL and other PBS music performances) and there's nothing like being able to put together a VERY nice DVD, complete with menu's, chapters and the whole nine yards in little more than 10 minutes.  Yeah, it takes maybe 1/2 hour to compile the DVD, but I've got so many templates made now and saved onto my harddrive that it literally only takes me 10 minutes to edit and create many of my DVDs.  Just can't beat that, IMHO.

Steve

PS:  Obviously, I take far more than 10 minutes designing many of my DVDs, but for those that I just want to copy the basic design of an already produced DVD, such that the menu's have the same format, the same bullet styles, the same locations of titles, etc. this is all it takes.

[Low Spark]

I will check out this DVD lab pro. THanks for the time Steve. ts around.

[John Kary]

If you are just getting into editing, Vegas Video is my recommendation.  It is highly intuitive and very powerful.  It just WORKS, unlike Premiere sometimes.  While the pros cut on Avid/Final Cut/Premiere, many people enjoy the sheer all-around power of Vegas.  I keep it around as a swiss army knife for when I just need to knock out a quick edit, sync up some new audio or remix a bit of sound quickly.  It's certainly faster than Premiere or Avid, which basically force you into creating a project and all this other stuff before you can even touch the timeline.  Vegas, you can just open it up and go.  Not worrying about what project settings you use, and can change them in mid-project and suffer no setbacks you can't Undo.

[stantheman1976]

I know many are partial to Premeire or Final Cut and if you're using a Mac I recommend Final Cut.  For a PC Vegas is great.  It has a bit of a learning curve I feel, but once you get the hang of it you can do so many things.  Plus Vegas 8 has a titling program built in and a new multicamera mode that let's you combine multiple takes and make cuts and fades with the click of a button.

[stevetoney]

Sheesh, how could I forget Vegas.  Yeah, I've used Vegas too.  More user friendly than Premier.  I use it for more complex jobs, such as mixing two or more video's together.  But then I after I use Vegas for the difficult jobs, I again find the ease of DVD Lab Pro to be refreshing.  Again, I do want to say that DVD Lab Pro is kinda a high powered but semi-pro product...so if you want something that looks 'Hollywood' you really want to go with Vegas.  I'd say if you're gonna be doing one video once in awhile, then go with Vegas, but if you're like me and burn TV shows to DVD several times weekly, then you'll want something quick and easy.

[wilsonedits]

www.lynda.com    really an amazing site for a 25 dollar a month fee you get access to tuturials made by some of the great instructors out there!

[guitard]

A guy named Douglas Spotted Eagle (obviously an American Indian name) has produced some fantastic Vegas tutorials that are available on DVD.  Just google his name and you'll easily find them.

[Kevin]

lynda.com has some good tutorials for many different programs.  I know they have Final Cut Pro and probably some others as well

[mozmoz8]

There are a few editing tutorials in youtube for vegas 7 and 8.

Just wondering which one is good for a beginner ... Vegas 7 or Vegas 8?

[stantheman1976]

The main place you'll notice Vegas 8 being better than 7 is doing multi camera shoots.  Vegas 8 is teh first to have a "multi camera mode".  In previous versions you had to resize your shots in your priview window manually, go through and drop markers, make cuts at those markers either later or when you placed them, paste your cuts to a new track, and if you wanted crossfades you had to manually drag the clips into one another.  With Vegas once you sync your clips together there's a command to create a multi camera track which brings your shots into one timeline and resizes your preview window automatically.  To make cuts all you have to do is click on the angle you want to switch to and Veags makes the cut for you.  To make a cut with crossfade just hold down the "CTRL" key and click on the angle you want.  It makes a cut with crossfade already inserted.  This makes events like pageants and weddings blatantly simple to edit.  I shoot high school pageants with 3 cameras pointed at specific locations.  All I have to do is sync them up and make cuts when they walk into a cetain area one camera is covering.

So, to make a long story long, Go with Vegas 8 if you can.

[mozmoz8]

Thanks if I have more questions I will contact you (if you don't mind) 

[saltman]

There are numerous video tutorials on youtube.  try vegas 8 multicam for instance.  I would recommend Vegas and DVD Architect.  I find them easier to use than other software.