Holiday video masterworks likely to need some editing
By Kim Komando
With the holidays behind us, you might have a fair amount of video. Perhaps you've captured some special family moments. But your masterworks likely need a bit of editing.
Programs like Windows Movie Maker and Adobe Premiere Elements will make editing a snap.
First, you must transfer your video to the computer. With newer camcorders, it should be relatively easy. They usually have USB or FireWire connections. Just plug the camcorder into the computer and run your video capture program.
With older camcorders, you may need a video capture card. Capturing video is time-consuming. The video will also need a lot of hard drive space.
Open Windows Movie Maker and click File, then Import into Collections. Browse to a video file, select it and click Import. Add a clip to your movie by dragging it to the storyboard at the bottom of the window.
You can move, delete or rearrange clips on the storyboard. To split a clip, highlight it on the storyboard and click play. Pause the video where you want to split it. Click Clip, then Split.
To remove parts at the beginning or end of a clip, click View, then Timeline. Select a clip and use the handles on the clip's end or beginning to trim off unwanted parts.
With Windows Movie Maker, you can add transitions and effects to your video. Open the Collections pane by clicking View, then Collections. Click Video Transitions. Drag and drop a transition onto one of the boxes between video clips to insert it.
For effects, click Video Effects in the Collections pane. To insert an effect, drag and drop it onto a video clip.
When you're done, save your movie file by clicking File, then Save Movie File. In the Save Movie Wizard, click My Computer, then Next. Name your movie. Select the location where you want to save it. Click Next.
Select Other Settings. If you don't have this option, click "Show more choices" to display it. Select DV-AVI (NTSC) from the dropdown box. Click Next.
This saves the movie on your hard drive. But it must be converted to a different format for DVD.
If you don't have software to encode the DVD, you can use Sonic's MyDVD ($70), MedioStream's neoDVD ($30) or Nero 7 ($80).
Open Adobe Premiere Elements and click New Project. Enter a name for your project and specify the file save location. Hit Enter.
In the Media Panel, click Files and Folders. Select the folder containing your video clips and press Enter.
Video clips appear in the Media Panel. You can drag clips to the scene line at the bottom of the window. Rearrange clips by dragging and dropping them. Or, to delete a clip, select it and press delete.
Split a clip by positioning the pointer in the Monitor pane. Click Split Clip. Use the handles at the beginning and end of a clip to trim unwanted footage.
You can also add transitions and effects to your video clips. Click the transitions button on the Media Panel. This lists transition styles and effects styles. Click a style name to expand the list.
To add a transition, select one from the list and drag it to a box between the video clips. Delete a transition by selecting it and clicking delete.
To add an effect, drag and drop it on to one of the clips. To delete an effect, select the clip containing it. In the Properties pane, select the effect and click delete.
When you're done with your masterpiece, click Export to DVD. Select your settings and then click Burn.
