Movie making software

[Arkhangelsk]

As someone who's been trying to make Youtube videos, I'm growing tired of Windows Movie Maker. It constantly fails on me, and doesn't support the file formats I want. So I ask to the friendly folks of the Escapist, do you know of any good free software other than Windows Movie Maker?

(My current issue with WMM is that it doesn't support .m4a files, and I can't convert them to .mp3 because it would break them.)

 

[II2]

To my mind, there's kinda a yawning gap between entry level and professional video tools.

Vegas Video (PC) is one of the few affordable middle-grounds (provided it's still made).

For fully featured video workstations, I recommend Adobe Premiere (PC/MAC) or AVID (MAC).

If you're a student, you get a pretty good (relatively speaking) discount on the Adobe CS "Premium Production Package", that hosts most of their media-oriented products.

Hope that helps.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

Avid, Apple final cut and Premiere. are industry standards but very expensive. Pinnacle and Sony Vegas are quite good entry level programmes When I started out as a Cameraman/ Editor I used Pinnacle because it had a quick turn around time and was relativly cheap. Premiere Elements is a cut down premiere pro, is cheap and has a decent encoder. I like it because it is good a training tool for Final cut pro and Premiere pro And is amazing when you get the hang of it. Avid is hugely expensive but well worth learning.

I now work as a professional editor in Film and T.V. so if you have any specific questions I'd be happy to answer.