by Craig Medlin

Created on: July 19, 2008

So you just got back from the family reunion, still exhausted from the trip you remember the footage you filmed on that brand new video camera. You're ready to take those shots of little Jake and little Sarah and compile them into a creation all your own, but how?

To get started, you must choose an editing program. If you are using a recent version of Windows, be it Vista or XP, it's likely you have some form of Windows Movie Maker preinstalled on your computer. MovieMaker is one of the most user friendly video editing programs out there. If, however, you are using an Apple operating system you're not out of luc. Apple includes an editing program similar to movie maker on most of their systems. Apple's iMovie is very easy to use and allows you to create proffesional quality edits in a very short amount of time.

After you choose your editing program, the first thing you'll need to do is import or capture your video footage. Capturing footage is done from dv and mini dv cameras where the tape will play and rerecord digitally to your computer. This is a necessary step before you can expect to edit any of your footage.

After you've captured your video into the editing program, you should seperate your footage into different clips. This can be done quite simply in both iMove and Movie Maker. Seperating into clips allows for a smoother editing process and makes it easier to add transition and various effects. Both of these programs make it easy to add simple effects and transitions with a clear and easy to use interface. After you've broken your video into parts you should then organize it how you wish it to appear in the final product.

Next you'll need to add your transitions and effects to spice up that project. Now is also where you'll add any text you need to appear on the video. If you plan on featureing a soundtrack of some kind you should also place that now.

When it's all said and done and you are satisfied with your final product you are ready to export the film. Exporting takes a fairly long time so after you pick the settings you'ld like to export with it's best to walk away and let it work it's magic. If you interupt the process you risk messing it up and causing it to crash. This will result in you losing all of your precious work. Which reminds me, SAVE! SAVE! SAVE! Constantly save your project. If the program crashes unexpectedly and you've been editing for two hours to get it exactly where you need it will take you four more hours to get it back there. It's always harder the second time around.

Well, you've completed your first home video and you are now ready to show it off to the family. Feel free to smile. It takes hard work to get where you have and frankly, you need to show the world. Unfortunately the world will most likely not be interested in Jake and Sarah playing hide and go seek for an hour and a half, but then again, that's why YOU edited it down to three minutes. Nice work!

Learn more about this author, Craig Medlin.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.