Video editing has become more and more popular lately. The popularity of videos and their editing is growing even for inexperienced users. Thanks to high-quality cameras on mobile phones and fast sharing on social networks, more and more people are editing videos. Today we will look at how to choose the best video editing programs.
The growing influx of beginners demands simple user control. Gone are the days when video editors belonged to only a select few in film studios. Everyone can edit a video today, and a program that doesn’t adapt to newcomers risks falling into oblivion.
Reviews of video editing programs
What programs have we chosen for you? Together we will take a look at one of the largest video editing tools in Adobe Premiere Pro, but we have also tried out small tools for you that you can even run in a web browser.
1. Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe workshop software is one of the best video editing tools you’ll come across. It’s even so, popular that it features Hollywood hits like Deadpool, Disappeared, and partly also the blockbuster Avatar.
The software offers a number of advanced features, from working with a 360 ° camera to the intelligent format change, in which you do not decide whether the video is portrait or landscape. You can edit 4K and 8K videos in it, and it also works with virtual reality.
Adobe Premiere Pro is designed for advanced users, as evidenced by its price. You pay € 24.19 per month for the basic license. The price includes an editor for Adobe Rush mobile phones, 100GB of cloud storage, and access to the Adobe Fonts database.
Advantages:
A wide community of users
Advanced features
Website and manual in Czech
Working with virtual reality and 8K resolution
Disadvantages:
Higher price
The program is in English
Try this program
2. Pinnacle Studio 24
The Pinnacle Studio 24 video editing and editing program come from the Canadian workshop of Corel Corporation, which is behind the popular vector editor CorelDraw. Pinnacle Studio builds on a similar philosophy, offering a low-cost, easy-to-use program for beginners.
Pinnacle is completely translated into Czech and has a wide user base. Thanks to this, you will find a portfolio of instructions and manuals from users on the Internet. In addition, working with the program is simple, and the novice gets used to the program quickly.
It is the only program to offer a one-time payment of $ 59.95 for the Standard version. Unfortunately, you will not find a trial version of the program, but the creators compensate for this with a 30-day refund period.
Due to its settings, Pinnacle Studio is quality and simple video editing program in which you can quickly find your way around. However, a smaller number of functions will sooner or later lead to demanding users to Adobe Premiere Pro or other alternatives.
Advantages:
Czech user environment
Low technical requirements
Advanced work with masking and keyframes
Templates for beginners
Disadvantages:
The smaller number of functions
Works on Windows only
Try this program
3. Flexclip.com
Another simple program you run in a web browser is called FlexClip. It focuses more on working with classic video, and in the basic version, you get one video from the database per month.
Its focus is more suitable for commercial projects, e-shops, and social networks. You can easily create a moving business card or CV in it. Paid versions from $ 5.99 to $ 19.99 per month are used by marketing agencies.
The fact that Flexclip focuses mainly on videos intended for social networks is also evidenced by templates with different aspect ratios. This allows you to adjust the video to the requirements of a specific platform. If you don’t want to spend a lot of time on post-processing, you can outsource this task and contact video editing services to get professionally edited footage more quickly.
Advantages:
Access to the video database
Suitable for beginners
Launch in the browser
Disadvantages:
The free version can only have a resolution of 480p
Designed for short videos
The most expensive tariff allows a maximum of 30 minutes of video.
4. HitFilm Express
It may seem that we keep the best for last – and we will not be far from the truth. The unobtrusive HitFilm Express program hides a tool designed for moderately demanding users, which is completely free. This makes HitFilm the best video editing program for many users.
HitFilm Express handles advanced effects and transitions. The surprise is the fisheye correction, which is increasingly required for the editing of sports videos. In short, the program will offer you everything you would expect from programs like Pinnacle Studio or Adobe Premiere, completely free of charge.
A small flaw in the beauty is the control in English. However, this is quickly compensated by a number of manuals and instructional videos directly from the developers and the user base.
Advantages:
Completely free
Wide user base
Over 350 effects
Fisheye correction
Disadvantages:
More difficult to control
5. Animaker.com
Next to film giant Adobe Premiere, Animaker.com looks like a dwarf. After all, he bets on this. His target group is undemanding users who want to create and edit short frames and animations.
Animaker.com works completely in the browser – so there are no worries about compatibility and system performance. It looks similar to the popular Canva image editor, and, like this tool, you can edit videos in it using the drag & drop method – so you can simply click on them.
The video editing application has a free version, in which you get a download of 5 videos per month, which, however, completes the watermark. Commercial licenses are divided into three plans – Basic, Starter, and Pro. Animaker will offer you the optimal tariff based on the information you provide about yourself. With a more expensive tariff, the number of possible downloads increases, the watermark is lost, and you gradually get to Full HD video quality.
Animaker is primarily an application for creating short animations for social networks and e-shops. With a little effort, however, you will also create a short montage of holiday photos. But set aside enough time and nerves for this – the user environment is sometimes chaotic and harder to navigate.
Advantages:
It runs in the browser
Simple control
Disadvantages:
Worse compatibility
Unknown in the Czech Republic
The Basic tariff does not offer much more than the free plan
Confusing user interface
When to choose a video editing program?
Today, applications in mobile phones also have basic functions for video editing. These allow you to compose shots, gradients, and color adjustments. However, their control is usually non-intuitive and working in them requires a great deal of patience.
A quality video editing program combines easy operation, advanced functions, and outputs in several formats and resolutions. It doesn’t matter if you want to edit a short holiday video that you send to YouTube or edit a student film. The ideal video creation tool can handle both.
You will often find that video editing programs are difficult to use and have a lot of unnecessary features that are more confusing to you. That’s why today, we will focus not only on large tools but also on programs for creating videos for free – working with them is easy, and you can run them in the browser.
Free video editing program – yes or no?
Buying paid video editing software is not a cheap affair. The programs are paid on a monthly basis, and you pay several thousand crowns a year for them. But there are also free programs. Is it worth it to you, or is it a dead-end?
The main difference between free programs and paid licenses is the number of their features. Licensed programs offer a comprehensive service for editors and editors. In addition to the effects, you will find quality user support, Czech-prepared manuals, and a wide community that will advise you on specific problems.
But what if you only need the basic functions for editing a birthday video or creating a short business presentation? From there, there are free video editing programs. However, do not count on user support, and the list of functions is, with a few exceptions, relatively truncated.
How do I choose a video editing and editing tool?
While choosing a program for graphic editing is now a relatively easy matter, video editing tools are like saffron. We have selected several criteria for you, which you should pay attention to when choosing whether you are a layman or a professional user.
User interface
The basis of fast and efficient work is a comfortable working environment in which you edit videos. This is where the paths between programs for beginners and advanced users are divided.
While a beginner requires an area in which he can easily orient himself and easily click on adjustments, a pro wants a complex space in which he has an overview of his activities. If you’re serious about making videos, focus on the keyboard shortcuts you can use in the tool.
Quality and simple video editing programs should also be able to customize the desktop. By creating your own work environment, you will make your work easier and adapt exactly to your wishes.
Location
Video creation tools are not exactly known for having quality translations into Czech. When editing videos, you can’t do without knowledge of English, also due to the English naming of a number of functions.
In this case, you will, of course, pay extra for the official location. The translation is usually part of the license and is offered, for example, by Pinnacle Studio 24. The free programs, in this case, are without exception in English.
User support
Editing a video is not an easy task, so sometimes, you get to the point where your knowledge is not enough. From there, there is user support, which provides a solution, whether in the case of a modification procedure or technical assistance during installation.
Community
Everyone has come to the conclusion that user support will fail and will not solve the problem with you. But as the saying goes, there is no problem that no one before you can solve. From there, there are community sites that bring together program users.
You can find these communities on Facebook, Reddit, and user forums. Some studios offer their own online forums where their visitors can consult. In this case, the larger the community, the better for you.
Output formats
Why use a video that no one will play? The formats in which you export (render) the video are an important selection criterion. Video editing programs, including free ones, should offer you at least the following:
- AVI – Audio Video Interleave
- MP4 – MPEG-4 Part 14
- WMV – Windows Media Video
- MKV – Matroska
- WEBM – a special format for HTML5 videos
Summary at the end
Have you chosen your favorite video editing tool? For demanding users, there is Adobe Premiere Pro, whose advanced features are offset by a higher price. Less advanced users will enjoy Pinnacle Studio and HitFilm Express, which offer fewer features. And if you are looking for a program for quick editing of holiday photos, choose one of the two programs that you run in the browser.
Read also: 10 Reasons To Use Filmora As A Video Editor
