Learn Digital Video Editing

Digital video editing has come a long way in a short period of time. It’s now easier than ever to start editing videos at home on your computer! This first step is to make sure you have everything you need to start editing.

To edit a video there are three absolute essentials:

• Source Video
  Home movies, ripped DVD footage, and downloaded videos. It doesn’t matter where it comes from… you need some video to edit, and you need to be able to get the video on your computer.
• A Computer
  Since you’re reading this, you likely have a computer already. Great! Whether your computer is good enough for video editing or not is another matter. Video files take up a lot of hard drive space, and editing uses a lot of system resources. If your computer is only a couple of years old or newer, you’ll probably be alright. I’ll cover computer requirements in greater depth in a future post.
• Video Editing Software
  Your video editing software is the toolkit that will allow you cut up your video and turn it into a masterpiece. There are a lot of choices out there, each boasting numerous different features. If you have a PC with Windows XP, then you’re already equipped with a free program called Windows Movie Maker. Apple computers come with a free program called iMovie. Neither program is great, but they are a free starting point.

If you’ve got these three things, then you’re ready for your first edit!