Video Editing Tools for Information Designers
By Sam Austen
Introduction
If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine the stories you can tell with video. As designs shift from print to digital media, videos are becoming more prevalent than ever before. Understanding the production of videos has become an important skill for the modern-day designer to have in their wheelhouse. Taking a video is really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to making a complete video project. Editing can range from, combining separate clips together to something as complex as making animations. Whether it be for a presentation or a project, I think it’s important for information design students to have an idea of what video editing tools exist, to create the strongest possible designs.
In my research I found no shortage of video editing tools — in fact it seemed there were an infinite number to choose from. With so many applications to choose from, it’s easy to see how a beginner could become overwhelmed and end up working with a product that doesn’t suit their needs. Sifting through the many online reviews for hundreds of products is daunting and time consuming — time you probably don’t have! The objective of this blog is to narrow down the amount of applications to a more manageable number and to help Information Design students choose a competent video editing tool.
In this blog I want to give a general rundown of:
· The top Industry standard software
· Free software alternatives
· A few additional tools that may be of interest
I intend to give a brief overview of each software’s abilities, price point and tech specs so that you can make an informed decision when you need to edit a video.
As a brief disclosure, I want to say that the tables I use to represent the tech specs of each program come from impartial reviews. In order to give a reasonable representation to the software’s functionality I will be referencing the experiences from a number of credible reviews that I will link towards the end of the document if you want to learn more.
Top Paid Software
If you’re frequently editing video, or need advanced capabilities of a well-developed software, paid is your best option.
Tools outlined in this section are:
· Adobe Premiere Pro
· Vegas Pro
· Corel Video Studio
· Final Cut Pro
Adobe Premiere Pro
Overview
I can’t have a discussion about industry leading software without first mentioning Adobe Premiere Pro. Premiere is an advanced piece of software that can handle the simplest to the most complicated editing tasks.
Adobe Premiere Pro is described as a non-linear editing software ¹ — essentially this means that you don’t need to start at the beginning of the video and work your way to the end; instead you can work on any section of the video at any given time (this provides maximum flexibility and creativity for editing)¹.
Price Point
As seen above, the Adobe Premiere pro subscription comes in at $20.99 USD per month². This gives users access to premiere, 100GB of cloud storage, and Adobe fonts². For first time users, Adobe offers a week-long free trial, as well as discounts for students and professionals that vary².
User Experience
After exploring Adobe Premiere for a few days I have come to a few conclusions. If you are already familiar with the Adobe suite of products then the user interface will immediately seem similar to you. However, with the functionality of premiere being seemingly endless the learning curve and time to master seems to be quite steep. I’m certain that there were more efficient ways to make the edits I was doing, but learning these optimizations is usually a matter of time. It appears to me that Premiere has all the effects and features that I would typically look for in an animation software, such as splicing and transitions; as well as key-framing for custom effect animations.
Features
Conclusions
If you are in the market for for a video editing tool and you can afford the price, Adobe Premiere is the software that I would recommend for most people. Especially if you are already familiar with the user interface of other Adobe Products.
Vegas Pro
https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/ca/sem/vegas-pro/#productMenu
Overview
Vegas pro is a professional video, sound and colour editing software with all the typical features that one might expect. The interface is modern and sleek but I’ve found that it is harder to use and is less intuitive than other software's that I have experienced.
Price Point
Coming in at $41.99 a month, or a one time purchase of $429.00 ³, Vegas pro is noticeably more expensive than its competition of Premiere pro. Vegas also includes a week-long free trial if you want to try before you buy (which I always strongly recommend.
User Experience
I once again committed myself to learning how to use Vegas pro by using the provided free trial. Unsurprisingly I found many of the features to be the same to that of the other products that I tested; however, since I was unfamiliar with the location of tools and effects I found the whole process to be a lot slower on the whole. I also experienced more crashing than on the other programs I tested (3 times in a week); it might be important to note that I am working on a 2019 Apple Macbook Pro.
Features
Conclusions
A more than capable video editing software, with a ton of super powerful features. Unless you were super keen on the layout of the UI I don't know if there is any perceivable benefit in my opinion to something like Adobe Premiere — especially given the larger price tag on Vegas Pro. Although i do prefer the option for a one-time purchase of the software as opposed to having to rely on a subscription model which can be pricey over time.
Final Cut Pro
Overview
I wanted to include a mac specific option and it just so happens that Final cut pro is also one of the best editing options on the market. As you would expect, Final Cut Pro is well optimized and touts its fast processing speeds ⁴. This is the software that I have been using for many years and so I am familiar with the workflow.
Price Point
Final cut pro is available for a one time payment of $399.00 ⁴— offering a free week trial. This places Final cut in direct competition with final cut, however it is nice that there is no subscription fee and you own the product when you buy it.
User Experience
The most important thing that I can say about the user experience is to comment on the ease of use. Like many apple products, the UI of Final Cut Pro is second to none — it’s extremely easy to use and just as easy to learn for a first time user. The drag and drop functionalities of Final Cut Pro are what initially drew me in, I needed something easy to use but that had more ability for creative control; coming from iMovie, this upgrade was sort of a no-brainer. Final cut is exceptionally fast and well integrated into the OSX operating system with many options for exporting and sharing. Final cut also has one of the easiest and most powerful colour grading features that I have used on any video editing app.
Features
Conclusions
Final cut is like a wolf in sheep’s clothing; its easy to work with, but you’d be surprised to find out that it could take you weeks to months to touch on all the advanced features it has to offer. I know I still don’t use it to its fullest capabilities and I still have much to learn. Final Cut challenges what is traditionally expected out of a consumer level product and offers excellent control and effect options that a professional would love.
If you are an apple user looking to get in to video editing and can swallow the one-time cost, then I think final cut is a no-brainer.
Top Free Software
If you are only an occasional user, or have tight budget constraints, there are still some solid free video editing alternatives that will include most of the functionality that you need.
Tools Outlined in this section are:
· DaVinci Resolve
· iMovie
DaVinci Resolve
Overview
DaVinci resolve is an industry leader in video editing software that offers both a free and a paid (full) version. I’ve decided to cover DaVinci in the free category because it is the best free option on the market in terms of functionality and contains most of the features of all the paid versions I previously mentioned. DaVinci is an all in one editing tool that can take you from the editing process to post production ⁵.
Price Point
DaVinci offers a more than capable software for free! but if you are interested in upgrading to the full version for even more functionality, that will run you a one time purchase of $415.00 ⁵— which compared to the other options is still a good deal for what I would consider to be the leading software from a purely technical standpoint.
User Experience
DaVinci is just as daunting as it is powerful, the sheer amount of editing options lead me to a frustrating experience whilst trying to figure out how just to use the program. Once I got used to some of the core video editing workflows it seemed to get easier and easier to use. I feel like this software is much more powerful than what I would need out of a video editing software — to the point that if I wasn't doing video editing for a living I may never use it to its full capacities.
Features
Conclusions
In my opinion, both the free and paid version of DaVinci resolve are at the top of my recommendation list for video editing tools. The free version hits a nice sweet spot between accessibility and power. It is important to note that your computer will need to be powerful to run this software as it seemed to hog computer resources while using (I couldn’t really run any other apps simultaneously).
iMovie
Overview
iMovie is the Apple’s answer to a free video editing tool. iMovie is compatible with mac and iOS devices and comes preinstalled on most new mac machines and iPhone's ⁶.
Price Point
obviously being the free counterpart to Final Cut, iMovie is available to users for free!
User Experience
iMovie in general was super easy to use and is what I would describe as super beginner friendly. It wouldn’t take long for a beginner to become proficient and reach the limit of iMovie. Just like Final Cut Pro, iMovie is intuitive and well integrated with the mac OS making it super easy to export and share with all devices. There are a few decent templates/effects/titles but nothing that is super original, and doesn’t allow for a ton of user control.
Features
Conclusions
iMovie isn’t the most feature rich option but if you’re just looking for a workhorse program that can do all of your simple editing needs then iMovie is a good choice.
Also important to note that iMovie is a mac specific software*
Additional Tools
These are some tools that don’t specifically relate to the scope of this review; however, they are tools that I feel are worth mentioning.
· Kinemaster (For mobile video editing)
“KineMaster gives anyone with a mobile device the ability to cut, order, transition between, and export video clips into polished, high-quality movies. KineMaster has a robust feature set wrapped in an easy-to-use interface.” ⁷
· Type Studio (A creative web-based video editor)
“All-in-one audio & video editing software that runs online in your
browser. Record, edit, distribute your videos in a single workflow.” ⁸
Great for really quick edits, you make cuts in videos based on an AI generated captions — particularly useful for use in interview style videos.⁸
Recommendation
my recommendation would be to firstly download the free trial of the software off of this list that excites you most — given that they all have them. But if you are looking for more of a direction than that then I have 3 Top recommendations:
DaVinci Resolve — Best free option
I recommend both the free and paid version due to the industry leading technology and cost accessibility to students.
Adobe Premiere Pro — Most well rounded
The depth of editing capabilities and the amount of tutorial resources make this a good option
Final Cut Pro — Best Mac option
If you're an apple user looking for something simple that has some professional level control this is a great option
links
Royalty Free images provided by UnSplash https://unsplash.com/
Tech spec Figures provided by Michael Muchmore for PC magazine. https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-video-editing-software
Premiere Review — https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/adobe-premiere-pro-cc
Vegas Pro Review — https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/vegas-pro
Final Cut Pro Review — https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/apple-final-cut-pro
DaVinci Resolve Review — https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/davinci-resolve
iMovie Review — https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/apple-imovie
References
1. “A Guide to Non-Linear Video Editing — Adobe.com.” Adobe. Accessed March 4, 2022. https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/video/hub/ideas/what-is-non-linear-editing.
2. “Adobe Creative Cloud Plans, Pricing, and Membership.” Adobe. Accessed March 4, 2022. https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/plans.html.
3. “Vegas Pro Video & Audio for Professionals.” VEGAS Pro. Accessed March 3, 2022. https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/ca/sem/vegas-pro/#productMenu.
4. “Final Cut Pro.” Apple (CA). Accessed March 3, 2022. https://www.apple.com/ca/final-cut-pro/.
5. Design, Blackmagic. “DaVinci Resolve 17.” DaVinci Resolve 17 | Blackmagic Design. Accessed March 3, 2022. https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/ca/products/davinciresolve/.
6. “IMovie.” Apple (CA). Accessed March 3, 2022. https://www.apple.com/ca/imovie/.
7. “Create. Edit. Share.” KineMaster. Accessed March 3, 2022. https://www.kinemaster.com/.
8. “The Easiest Way to Edit Your Video.” Type Studio. Accessed March 3, 2022. https://typestudio.co/.
