For some time I've wanted to be able to make instructional videos for the exercise devices in my business and post the videos in my website. A straight shoot would be less than professional, I choke when speaking under pressure and would not be able to get out 1/2 the things I wanted to say even with a script in front of me, no doubt some of the movements would need to be perfected and there's just no way to to do all this without editing.
It is very expensive to have a professional come and shoot film and edit to create a good clip and the shoots would still be a rush and limited to how much time and money I spent on the professional.
I came to the conclusion I needed to learn some editing and do it myself. How hard could it be? Anyway, I also have a bunch of VHS tape of the family that I shot which needs to be put in a digital format and organized at a minimum. I even have VHS my mom had transferred many years ago from out of 1960s reel to reel tape that my dad shot. In fact, I bought VHS to DVD transfer software about 2 years ago and dreading getting started on the project put it in a drawer were it has set ever since.
Everything added up to I needed to learn some editing so I looked into the top software reviews, how much instructional videos were available and the kind of tools I thought I would like to work with and decided on Hitfilm Express which is pretty nice and free under the pretense that if you start becoming skilled and involved in video editing you will want to upgrade to their Pro-version for $299.
First, I figured I need some film to practice on so what better place than to get all my VHS transferred. To begin with with I needed a working VHS player and they don't even make them anymore so I had a choice of buying a used one or gambling on the one in my closet that was sitting with the last tape it ate still in it. Then I needed a DVD burner and my new computer doesn't have one, I could get a plug in one but didn't want to work off DVD's anyway. Come to find out they don't even work with the editing software.
I ended up going to the VHS to DVD software site and downloaded the software using my pin # to my new computer and transferring the VHS tapes. After I partially took apart my old VHS player to get the old tape out and messed around with it worked okay and did the job of feeding. This was a pain because the software sucked! But, I managed to download my VHS videos to DVD files ready to burn but still needed to convert them to MP4 files.
I then bought Program4PC Video Converter software that was actually pretty cool and does all kinds of conversions and did a good job converting my files to MP4.
Finally, I got to start using my Hitfilm video editing software! I first watched several instructional videos, which started out being pretty overwhelming, but I am a learn by seeing and doing person so gave it a shot. Organizing files was important so I also started off by doing this through creating several file folders under a main Video folder.
One thing I've learned in there is a LOT to learn and a lot of time involved which tells me why it it is so expensive to hire someone to do this.
All in all, it is pretty fun and very intriguing what you can do. The many many tools available all take some learning of what they do and the skill to use them. I believe it will be a good skill to have. Little by little I figure I will learn the basics I need to manage what I need to do for my business and will likely get into adding in some pretty cool special effects having skills beyond most Youtubers and the ability to create some fairly professional looking videos.
If anyone is already into video editing, or wants to get into this, and would like to share or compare notes I'd be glad to discuss it.
It is very expensive to have a professional come and shoot film and edit to create a good clip and the shoots would still be a rush and limited to how much time and money I spent on the professional.
I came to the conclusion I needed to learn some editing and do it myself. How hard could it be? Anyway, I also have a bunch of VHS tape of the family that I shot which needs to be put in a digital format and organized at a minimum. I even have VHS my mom had transferred many years ago from out of 1960s reel to reel tape that my dad shot. In fact, I bought VHS to DVD transfer software about 2 years ago and dreading getting started on the project put it in a drawer were it has set ever since.
Everything added up to I needed to learn some editing so I looked into the top software reviews, how much instructional videos were available and the kind of tools I thought I would like to work with and decided on Hitfilm Express which is pretty nice and free under the pretense that if you start becoming skilled and involved in video editing you will want to upgrade to their Pro-version for $299.
First, I figured I need some film to practice on so what better place than to get all my VHS transferred. To begin with with I needed a working VHS player and they don't even make them anymore so I had a choice of buying a used one or gambling on the one in my closet that was sitting with the last tape it ate still in it. Then I needed a DVD burner and my new computer doesn't have one, I could get a plug in one but didn't want to work off DVD's anyway. Come to find out they don't even work with the editing software.
I ended up going to the VHS to DVD software site and downloaded the software using my pin # to my new computer and transferring the VHS tapes. After I partially took apart my old VHS player to get the old tape out and messed around with it worked okay and did the job of feeding. This was a pain because the software sucked! But, I managed to download my VHS videos to DVD files ready to burn but still needed to convert them to MP4 files.
I then bought Program4PC Video Converter software that was actually pretty cool and does all kinds of conversions and did a good job converting my files to MP4.
Finally, I got to start using my Hitfilm video editing software! I first watched several instructional videos, which started out being pretty overwhelming, but I am a learn by seeing and doing person so gave it a shot. Organizing files was important so I also started off by doing this through creating several file folders under a main Video folder.
One thing I've learned in there is a LOT to learn and a lot of time involved which tells me why it it is so expensive to hire someone to do this.
All in all, it is pretty fun and very intriguing what you can do. The many many tools available all take some learning of what they do and the skill to use them. I believe it will be a good skill to have. Little by little I figure I will learn the basics I need to manage what I need to do for my business and will likely get into adding in some pretty cool special effects having skills beyond most Youtubers and the ability to create some fairly professional looking videos.
If anyone is already into video editing, or wants to get into this, and would like to share or compare notes I'd be glad to discuss it.
