Movie Software Editing Programs for the Amateur Videographer

There are numerous consumer grade video editing programs that are perfect for the videographer who wants to share videos on YouTube that are more polished than usual or who wants to enter the occasional video competition. Here are five of the best amateur friendly video edition programs I have utilized to edit YouTube videos, Associated Content videos, and to enter video contests:

Windows Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker has a few different versions. The version on your particular PC will depend on what version of Windows you currently have installed. The Windows Movie Maker on Vista is very robust in terms of video editing. There is a bevy of features for adding transitions, fades, wipes, subtitles, and titles. It is easy to become adjusted to the program operation and to fully utilize the various options available.

Windows Live Movie Maker

The Windows Live Movie Maker is a free download available for any user who wants access. This program isn't quite as full featured as the previous versions of Windows Movie Maker. It also isn't as intuitive. This program is best suited to quick clips, merges, and adding transitions for fast video upload to web-sites.

Adobe Premiere Elements 8

Adobe Premiere Elements is a slightly less full featured version of commercial Adobe software. The program usually updates every one to two years which can be a bit overwhelming in terms of the financial situation of an amateur videographer. Many users also complain about the addition of ads to the software. This program does offer anything the average user would want including chromo key.

Corel Video Pro X3

If you are used to using many of the other options on this list, then the Corel Video program is going to require a bit of a learning curve in terms of getting used to a new interface with slightly different terminology for the various features.

Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9

This program is a bit of a borderline program that straddles the gap between the Windows movie versions and the more advanced options of Adobe Premiere Elements and Corel Video. It offers mostly the same options you can get in Windows movie maker while providing a software program that is a great deal more visually sophisticated. Since this program carries a price tag of near $100.00 many of the other options in this article would be better suited depending on your individual needs.

The consumer looking for a video editing program has to closely assess their needs in a video editing program, and then purchase the program that best suits these needs at a bargain price.

Sources:

Personal Experience with each program.