Not sure where to go with video editing?

DJDave87

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Any advice from the more experienced?

Essentially i want to make home videos thatll at least slightly impress people should i show them. Recently upgraded to an iphone 12 mini and think the camera and video is a big step up to what ive been used to and seems like im getting more and more good videos and shots. On a whim i bought a DJI OM3 and feel likes its an even bigger game changer and now all i need is the software to make the videos brilliant.

Ive played around with a few free apps on the phone and whilst getting some results feels like i can definitely get more. Jumped on to the pc to see what was available software wise, and came across davinci resolve. From a little playing around i feel this software could work for me with the slight issue that i cant even get it to play imported files. Im assuming this is because im on dated equipment although as a noob i could just as easily unchecked a play certain media format button.

Im not sure where to go from here? Ive somehow got to the way of thinking that i need to buy a 16gb mini mac for editing (and a 4k monitior! :facepalm:)but im going to assume this isnt the only route i should be looking at? I think im quite happy with the camera side of things, no doubt theres better/vfm options but im happy with that. Software id imagine id be able to work with most so not stuck to any.

Im happy to pay for software (ideally not a £300+ annual subscription though, its just for home videos after all), proividing itll run on whatever machine i have, currently its the iphone and pc. Its an i5 processor but yeh as mentioned cant play videos in davinci. I feel a new computer in some shape of form isnt a million miles away anyway hence leaning to a mac mini (m1). But being innocent, i dont know whats what.

Apologies for the waffle. Any assistance greatly appreciated, thank you.
 
Da Vinci Resolve is notorious for consuming all your resources and needs a top flight system to run well, particularly if you are working in 4K.

What age of processor do you have? Some can encode and decode 4K video on the fly, while older ones will rely on conventional system resources. If you work in HD instead of 4K, you will find the processor might well cope and the end results won't be hugely different. Alternatively some software will create lower resolution "Proxy" files that will allow you to edit in real time using a low resolution preview and then create the movie in 4K when you want to finalise the render.

The new Macs with the A1 CPU are just mega for video processing, but for a few home movies are probably overkill.

In terms of software, Cyberlink Power Director and Corel Video Studio are both easy to use and designed for consumer level machines. They are not free, but neither are the Premier Pro CC prices either!!
 
There are plenty of editors to choose from (for example my choice of Corel) which are one off buys. There seem to be more for PCs but there are some for Macs.
My choice would be to go for a PC based editor.
You can download 30 day free trials of many editors but (and this is a concern) the learning curve is quite steep. You can also look at demos of the editors on YT etc.

Corel VideoStudio Pro is currently £54.99 from Corel and if you look at Corel discovery centre you will find a load of tutorials.
 
You may wish to try Shotcut. It's free with no catches and even if you decide to buy a NLE later you will be familiar with a fairly typical interface and still have access to any projects you have saved. Shotcut - Home
 
Thanks for the reply and sorry shouldve been clearer, the videos are in HD and not loading!

Processor is i5-3470 so well out of date (its a recon'd works computer). 4K is definitely overkill for my needs but then 3-5 years down the line im guessing 4k will be the fully established basic standard so long term ill probably have to get there if i want to get properly in to it.

Thanks for the recommendations its really helpful, googling suggests i need a mac and £300+ subscription. Ill check them out and hold off buying a new toy just yet :thumbsdow.

I was thinking there might be something app based that might be suitable but on a practical point i dont want to be spending hours editing videos on my phone.
 
Apologies for the waffle. Any assistance greatly appreciated, thank you.
Not wanting to go down the subscription route aka Adobe, I also tried a number of free editors but eventually trialled Wondershare's Filmora X video editor which I found (and still find) very intuitive and easy to use as well has being slightly move advanced then when I used iMovie and it runs extremely well on my Windows laptop. I also didn't find it that expensive considering its a perpetual license.
 
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The failure of DiVinci Resolve to import the files is nothing to do with the spec of the PC. It is almost certainly a codec issue (especially if you are using an older or free version). I guess they are .MOV's and it's likely that the only solution (apart from upgrading or possibly updating) is to convert them to something DVR is happy with.
 
The failure of DiVinci Resolve to import the files is nothing to do with the spec of the PC. It is almost certainly a codec issue (especially if you are using an older or free version). I guess they are .MOV's and it's likely that the only solution (apart from upgrading or possibly updating) is to convert them to something DVR is happy with.

This seems to be the case (using free 16 version). The files are playing, all be it a bit laggy, in shotcut.
 
Hi- Editing is an acquired skill and not exactly easy-peasy..... although all the suppliers will say different.
As you have the camera-gear, I'm guessing you don't plan to buy a camcorder with an SD memory card which can be edited on a PC... you mention Mac, so I guess that's your pref. route.
I've only used Windows PC and whilst I have Davinci it's never used... something to do with file formats. I bought a new PC with 64-bit OS and 16Gb RAM.... as most Video Editors seem to demand this.... I hate Win10 and still use Win7 but it's only 32b and won't work with modern Editors, However, I do have a 42" monitor, for checking the material. If you buy a Mac, then you are committing to rather expensive software as I understand.

However, IMHO the first Q's. you should ask is "Who will be watching this film?... and then; "how will they view it?"

once the pandemic is over... you should find a local film-making club and see the standards of presentation there . . . they will vary a lot, but most are friendly and may have an On-Line presence - so you can watch their most recent collaborations - Another consideration if/when you buy tech gear.
+You might also consider the Audio, as this is about half the viewing experience . . . again, that may need some attention to your technique . . . as Editors rarely make audio better, despite the claims.

FWIW:- I bought a camcorder recently, that's not 4K - simply because it's an unnecessary drain on resources and . . . improving image-quality is no help if I can't show it as 4K.... it also whacks-up the price and "eats" memory.
Also, a good film in HD is still a good film - if ever I get there.

Good luck, enjoy the hobby.
 
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Also, have a look at the Filmic Pro app for your iPhone. It gives you much more creative control over your 'phones camera and microphone than you get with the basic phone app. It is also built to work in harmony with several third party accessories, such as gimbals.
 
Try updating drivers and cleaning the PC software


 
Try updating drivers and cleaning the PC software


 
Thanks for the reply and sorry shouldve been clearer, the videos are in HD and not loading!

Processor is i5-3470 so well out of date (its a recon'd works computer). 4K is definitely overkill for my needs but then 3-5 years down the line im guessing 4k will be the fully established basic standard so long term ill probably have to get there if i want to get properly in to it.

Thanks for the recommendations its really helpful, googling suggests i need a mac and £300+ subscription. Ill check them out and hold off buying a new toy just yet :thumbsdow.

I was thinking there might be something app based that might be suitable but on a practical point i dont want to be spending hours editing videos on my pho
Not sure if you have the correct lead or not but you need a USB to your iPhone connection ,all phone shops will sell them,as soon as its connected to your pc with phone and pc on the files should show as internal storage you can put the files from the phone strait to a folder on your pc or an external one if you prefer,this is a strange statement [Processor is i5-3470 so well out of date (its a recon'd works computer). 4K is definitely overkill for my needs but then 3-5 years down the line im guessing 4k will be the fully established basic standard so long term ill probably have to get there if i want to get properly in to it. i have been using 4K for 7 years so its pretty established.all the best.
 
Hi- Editing is an acquired skill and not exactly easy-peasy..... although all the suppliers will say different.
As you have the camera-gear, I'm guessing you don't plan to buy a camcorder with an SD memory card which can be edited on a PC... you mention Mac, so I guess that's your pref. route.
I've only used Windows PC and whilst I have Davinci it's never used... something to do with file formats. I bought a new PC with 64-bit OS and 16Gb RAM.... as most Video Editors seem to demand this.... I hate Win10 and still use Win7 but it's only 32b and won't work with modern Editors, However, I do have a 42" monitor, for checking the material. If you buy a Mac, then you are committing to rather expensive software as I understand.

However, IMHO the first Q's. you should ask is "Who will be watching this film?... and then; "how will they view it?"

once the pandemic is over... you should find a local film-making club and see the standards of presentation there . . . they will vary a lot, but most are friendly and may have an On-Line presence - so you can watch their most recent collaborations - Another consideration if/when you buy tech gear.
+You might also consider the Audio, as this is about half the viewing experience . . . again, that may need some attention to your technique . . . as Editors rarely make audio better, despite the claims.

FWIW:- I bought a camcorder recently, that's not 4K - simply because it's an unnecessary drain on resources and . . . improving image-quality is no help if I can't show it as 4K.... it also whacks-up the price and "eats" memory.
Also, a good film in HD is still a good film - if ever I get there.

Good luck, enjoy the hobby.

Thats a good shout, ive got no idea of 'good' or fit for purpose in my case. Its gonna be for friends and family so far from a blockbuster production however i can see myself getting quite involved and enjoying doing it. My worry is ill never be able to finish a clip for always wanting to tinker with it. I was thinking the other day that there must be a loose rule in terms of hrs editing v video length ratio and thats the kind of thing i imagine you pick up from others who do it. This was after spending a good few hours messing around with stock footage to make a video im never going to show anyone.

I havent put any thought in to sound although ive seen you can get external mics for the iphone. I think ive just assumed everything would have a background track, like a plonker.

I need to get better at the whole storyboard thing, at the moment im just winging it with any footage i capture, i think im there with the basics of capturing and editing (the tech being the real MVP) but making a good film from clips you think good, doesnt look like its going to be easy at all.
 
Strictly speaking, the EDIT is never finished.... just good enough for the target audience.
As you become more-experienced your camera-work will improve as you remember the "missing media" from an earlier Edit . . . . Similarly, your Editing will improve as you get used to the quirky nature of the Editor Software . . . . like new shoes, it's your feet that have to do the fitting!
Storyboarding is an often used technique by pros, so they can group together things that use the same scene. They move whatever needs to be moved to ( e.g. match the passing time ), which can't be done if you start at the beginning and move through the plot to the last scene.
I cannot imagine using a phone as camera, but plenty do . . . however a camcorder is likely to be much easier technically: esp. when it comes to sound... But I like my clips to be recorded on SD cards, which pop into the PC.....
External mics are often good - better the closer . . . but using a long-lead is somewhat dangerous... butter to use a digital recorder and worry about sync at a later stage.
There is a huge amount of Royalty-Free music available - the major difficulty is find stuff that is the right "mood" and then the right length. Of course you can try different Edits with other music.

Good luck
 
As far as NLE software is concerned - realistically how often do you think you'll be editing / making stuff? If it's not super often then a subscription based offering like Adobe Creative cloud might not be such a bad idea. As you can pay to have access on a rolling month-to-month basis and cancel whenever you need to. Adobe products are relatively easy to learn and there's loads of tutorial-content on YouTube to get you going.

Considering that it's free, Da Vinci Resolve is pretty amazing and Blackmagic have been adding more and more NLE functionality to it in an attempt to keep you working in there for your whole edit, rather than for the initial transcodes / finishing (i.e. the beginning and end-stages of content-creation). If you're experiencing laggy / unresponsive playback you may find it better to use Resolve to create offline-editing proxy versions of your material to edit with then reconform/relink your edit to the high-res material later on for your final'ing and colour correction etc etc Again there's plenty of tutorial content on Youtube to show you the basics, and weirdly the Resolve manual is actually written really nicely and is pretty user-friendly compared to most.

Another option is Avid Media Composer First, which is a free but restricted version of Avid Media Composer (i.e. what is typically used for editing in TV and film). However Avid, particularly to someone who is relatively new to editing, can be a bit more cumbersome to learn and play with.

One more option is Final Cut X, this is Apple's NLE which quite a few pros use particularly in the short form realm. However this is a £300 option and might not be what you're after!


I can't really comment too much on the best hardware specs for editing, other than you don't need to go TOO crazy in terms of power, but one little product I'd really recommend is - again, made by Blackmagic - the Ultrastudio Monitor 3G, which is simply a means of getting proper, frame-for-frame video monitor'ing out of your Mac. It'll take a Thunderbolt 3 cable out of your Mac and give you an SDI or HDMI feed to your video monitor.

Compared with just using the HDMI output from your Mac which will be playing your 25/23.98/30/60fps material within the (for example) 1920x1080 at 60hz resolution set by your Mac for the display you're connecting with (which can often present niggly playback and image-tearing) using something like the Ultrastudio Monitor 3G will just output the video (and timeline audio) at the frame-rate that you're actually editing at, which is a much nicer way to work. Note that the Ultrastudio doesn't work with everything, but it'll DEFINITELY work with Resolve, Premiere, Avid - depends on the NLE you choose though!
 
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I do bits and bobs on my iPad Pro and really enjoyed using LumaFusion. It works on iPhone too but the layout is better on a larger screen.

It’s about £20 which is expensive by app standards, however the functionality is great and it’s very well regarded if you check reviews out.
 
I am a member of the Darlington Video Makers Club, and like a number of our members had to find an alternative to Premier Pro when the Cloud based program became too expensive.

Members were of various levels of expertise and had various levels of hardware.

After a period of running off in various directions we settled on Da Vinci Resolve.

As you will quickly discover, YouTube is a great source of information on the program, but you will also quickly find out it assumes a certain level of familiarity, which for the newcomer, does not exist.

Members have travelled the foothills of the learning curve together and have recorded their step by step approach for posterity.

Do the the current Covid situation club meetings have, like many other activities, been continued using Zoom. This does provide the opportunity for visits by enthusiasts without limit as to location.

If there is enough interest them we could arrange an evening dedicated to an introduction to Da Vinci Resolve for beginners where we could go through the basics but also have a period of Question and Answers where many of the issues described here could be discussed.

I will watch this thread to determine the level of interest.
 
The problem is the variable frame rate that most mobile phones use.
I'm not familiar with your phone but I suspect it is filming h.265/HEVC codec in a MOV wrapper.

Resolve doesn't play nicely with variable frame rates and the free version doesn't support h.265.

The later iterations of Resolve from about v15 onwards have been designed to run on lower specced hardware, but the trick is to convert to something it can read more easily then edit with optimised media or set the timeline to half or quarter resolution.
It sounds complicated, but either are a couple of clicks and easy to remember.
I'm editing 4K RAW on a 7 year old i7 using this method.

I'd definitely stick with Resolve. The new(ish) CUT tab is very simple for beginners and there are more and more tutorials on YT.
Blackmagic Design are improving it all the time and it's unbeatable for free. Even £225 for the Studio version is a steal (although you're not really losing much).
As @Mallardman mentioned it will be a steep learning curve if you've never used an NLE before, but you should be able to get the basics after a few sessions.

Check out the Youtube reviews of the M1 Macs with Resolve.

Try this to convert your files - Shutter Encoder free professional video|audio|image converter
Resolve likes DNX (or ProRes on Macs) - BIG files though!
 
We can help you up the learning curve - and I didn't mention that it is free - but CUT was not a popular option.

Stick with the free version, I would go for Resolve 16, as I think, but I'm not sure that Resolve 17 is stick in beta version.

You will be up with the professionals if you ever exhaust the free version.
 
We can help you up the learning curve - and I didn't mention that it is free - but CUT was not a popular option.

Stick with the free version, I would go for Resolve 16, as I think, but I'm not sure that Resolve 17 is stick in beta version.

You will be up with the professionals if you ever exhaust the free version.
I've never used CUT but I only mentioned it as it might be less daunting for a beginner.
Having said that, if the OP is only planning on this as a hobby and was getting a Mac, they'd probably be able to achieve everything on iMovie.
 
Da Vinci Resolve is a Ferrari, if you don't wish to go beyond third gear that's up to you. The other gears are there if you should ever need them. We have Apple members using 'Resolve' so they must have voted with their feet.
 
Da Vinci Resolve is a Ferrari, if you don't wish to go beyond third gear that's up to you. The other gears are there if you should ever need them. We have Apple members using 'Resolve' so they must have voted with their feet.
The fact that it's free is a big selling point. If I didn't already have the Studio version I'd pay for it as it's still a bargain.
I switched to it from Premiere, mainly for the colour correction and grading but the editing side is just as good as any other NLE.
I prefer it to Final Cut and it's more reliable than Premiere.
 
Does anyone know a good multi cam editor other than Premiere? I edit HD footage from 3-4 cameras and sync then cut that into a final output. Want to get away from Premiere's subscription costs. Use Win7 64bit or Win10 on i5 laptops.
 
Does anyone know a good multi cam editor other than Premiere? I edit HD footage from 3-4 cameras and sync then cut that into a final output. Want to get away from Premiere's subscription costs. Use Win7 64bit or Win10 on i5 laptops.
Resolve.
Spec says Win 10 but I used it on 7 until about 6 months ago.
You can update 7 for free still, if you know how.
 

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