Video Editing
Video editing apps are usually called 'Non-Linear Editors' = 'NLEs.' Some programs on this page are quite high-level for proper films that you will have heard of and the learning curves can be very steep but the effort is usually worthwhile. If you have a good PC, the free version of DaVinci Resolve does just about everything and beats the spots off most paid-for editors, including Premiere Pro. The professional 'Pro' software here needs serious hardware with a good processor, gaming graphics and heaps of RAM (Eg. Pugetsystems for Resolve hardware). Chillblast make excellent, if expensive, PCs for the serious editor. Some apps are 'Fremium' (free-but-nobbled) and usually with limited video tracks or rendering possibilities. Professionals often use node-based editing which might seem alien to most amateurs but it is not too tricky once you understand what is going on.
Just as there are free 'VST' plug-ins for sound editing, there are also free Open Source video plug-ins ('OSX') for a wide range of NLEs, such as Magix Vegas and Resolve. I also suggest you install a few unusual fonts for the titling. I like the old Transport font (Medium and Heavy) used on UK road signs for any project requiring an older or authoritive feel.
A suitable font for video helps set the context and can make it stand out, such as something Gothic for a scary film. The same goes for background music. Youtube has a lot of free and royalty-free music intended for Youtube content creators. You might like to search for free sound effects too but most of them are likely to be poor quality. See the links at the bottom of this page.
Before you Start
Your PC monitor should be correctly set up for brightness, contrast and neutral colouration. If it is out of kilter, so will be the end result. If, for example, your monitor is a bit greenish and you adjust the on-screen material to look right, your results will look magenta-ish. The idea is to remove any colour bias so that greyscale tones are neutral and colours look correct, especially skin tones. Also, if you have too much contrast for example, you might not see white or black areas which are 'crushed' with a loss of detail. The professional tool to use is a colour-calibrator, like 'Color Monkey' or 'Spyder' to set up the monitor. It is placed on the face of the monitor and an app runs to correct the errors.
A basic software tool like Calibrize (below) might be better than nothing at a pinch, for non-critical work on a reasonable monitor. In any case, unless you have a top quality monitor, you might never get it right (and certainly if it is a budget laptop). If you are buying a new monitor or laptop, make sure that it has good definition. Computer websites have reviews for computer parts, such as Tom's Hardware Guide which has been around for ages. Also look at PC Active magazine which has an 'A-List' of recommendations.
Now to set up ypur monitor. The proper way is to get a device such as the Spyder5 Pro (about £120), which you place on the monitor screen and run the Spyder software downloaded from their website. It is not complicated and does a good job by applying a colour profile, which you can easily disable if you are not happy with it. You can use it as many times as you like on as many desktop monitors or laptops as you like.
If you have buckets of money (perhaps in thousands of pounds), you can purchase a professional monitor and have it set up properly. Some, such as an Eizo Color-Edge appear to be set up very well, straight out of the box. If you are checking your work on a domestic TV, make sure it is set to 'Cinema' mode (natural contrast, neutral colours and saturation); never 'Dynamic' or 'Vivid' which are really only for showroom purposes. How I lament the demise of the TV Test Card. Bring back the test card. Please.
Video Editing and Compositing
Key: W = Windows, M = Mac, L = Linux, , Am = Amateur, Pro = Professional. See also 'Blender' in the later section.
Morphing, Animating and Other
Morphing will turn two pictures into a morphing video clip. Animating is often used for games.
Don't forget the sound side of your video creations. Most NLEs will let you use the same VST plug-ins that you might use in a wave editor to generate various effects. Better still if you save them all in the 'VST' same folder for easy access. See the Free Audio Software page.
Video Format Converters, Rippers and Players
Video Streaming
When people were asked to stay at home because of an epidemic, streaming video became a popular way to maintain contact, either singly or as a group, and streaming took off. During lock-down, local groups did online quizzes and a Huntsman group had virtual pub crawls.
Streaming Hardware
The easiest method would be to use a laptop's built-in webcam and microphone but you won't get high quality from either. You can improve the sound using a 'lavalier' (tie pin) microphone and improve the picture with some creative lighting. Take some trouble over how the camera sees you and avoid having a window behind you.
Better still is to plug better video and sound sources into a laptop's USB. You could buy a cheap stand-alone USB webcam or get a cheap adapter to convert an HDMI source to USB for use as a webcam. Some later digital cameras and 'Video Assist' (aka 'Focus Assist') camera monitors will stream directly to USB. Probably any 'vlogging' camera will stream directly to USB.
Not cheap but the Blackmagic ATEM Mini is one of the top-selling video switchers with USB output, although some people have lip-sync problems. You can mix and match various HDMI video sources of mixed frame-rates and resolutions and switch them in as you like, typically using one or more good cameras (set up correctly) and a decent desk or lavalier microphone. The ATEM Mini Pro and higher versions cost more but also allow you to save to USB.
Downloading from Youtube, etc.
Youtube has such a good range of tutorial videos for just about any subject but, as it is part of the Google empire along with Whatsapp and Facebook, they want you 'share' but not actually save videos, as sharing content with other users is part of the business model to create more mouse clicks and generate advertising revenue. That is how they make their money.
This website does not condone copyright infringement and you can only download such as Youtube or Vimeo videos with their prior permission, which you are unlikely to get. That probably applies to all of the online video sites too.
I would urge you avoid any stand-alone Youtube downloaders as there is a risk of viruses and other nasties, such as passing your personal info on to scammers. There are stories of unpleasant scam and ransom emails if someone tries to download what they shouldn't. A safer method allows video creators who are willing to risk it, or perhaps to evaluate how site compression algorithms affect picture quality of their own material. The risk of breaking the rules is yours alone and I accept no liability if you do this. This is for interest only.
The VLC media player method has probably stopped working now for Youtube but can safely download from Vimeo and Dailymotion, etc. when it does work. It might be a good idea to install a second web browser such as Firefox or Opera just for this purpose to avoid compromising social media accounts in your main web browser. You will probably have to accept cookies on first use but it is easy to remove them later in the browser settings.
(This Method might not always work in 2023):
You will need to install the latest VLC Media Player. Start the webpage video playing in the web browser and clipboard the URL from the address bar (highlight, then Ctrl + 'C'). Open VLC media player and click 'Open Network Stream' from the menu and paste it in (Ctrl + 'V') and play the video in VLC. If it won't play in VLC for some reason then this method is doomed but you might sometimes get it to play by re-entering the network stream address you used before. Pause the playback, not 'Stop' which loses the path, from the VLC Tools Menu click 'Codec Information' and right-click the long line of text visible and copy it to clipboard (Ctrl + 'C' again).
Now open a new tab in the browser and clipboard the new text string into the address bar (Ctrl + 'V' again). The video should play on its own with nothing else on the page. Sometimes it won't play. Now you can simply right-click the video to 'Save as' then give it a name and file location. A it long-winded but it often works safely - but only if VLC can play it to start with (see below). You can then play your new mp4 files on a smart tv from a USB stick formatted as FAT-32 or bung them on a PC/laptop or tablet.
When VLC Won't play YT vids
This is a workaround which might work but involves going 'under the bonnet' - and at your own risk. First, make sure that you have the latest version of VLC Player installed (Check for Updates in their Help tab) and try again as it might fix the problem. Otherwise, you can download 'youtube.luac' from their Github. Close the VLC program.
Visit this VLC Addons page and scroll down to Trouble-shooting to find the youtube.lua link and download it to a safe place. You can't directly download it to the right folder at one go because of permission. You will replace the existing 'youtub.luac' file in VLC and will need to change the 'lua' extension of the new file to 'luac' before copying it into the Playlist folder and over-writing the old version.
It should be in this location (Windows): C:/Program files > Videolan > VLC > lua > playlist
Temporarily put the new file in the lua folder. Now, in the playlist folder, find and rename 'youtube.luac' to something like 'old-youtube.luac' so that you could put everything back to normal if necessary, and move the renamed file into the luac folder for safe keeping. Now copy the newly-downloaded 'youtube.luac' file into the playlist folder. It has a good chance of working.
To get a Facebook video
This assumes that you are using a laptop, PC or tablet and have the permission of its owner to save a copy. Find the video on Facebook and click on it so that it runs on its own page without all of the other clutter. The solution came from the reputable Tom's Guide site. Time to get started.
Now on the right page, in the address bar, change 'www' to 'mbasic' and click Enter.
This fictitious URL will demonstrate the idea:
On video page (Eg.) -
https://www.facebook.com/1234567/videos/87654321/
Now edit the 'www' to - https://mbasic.facebook.com/1234567/videos/87654321/
It opens in a much simplified format and the video quality on view might not be all that great.
> Right-click the video and select 'Open in a new tab' to get it playing on its own.
> Right-click the playing video and 'save as' to get a copy of it.
> Now grumble at the vertical videos. The horizontal format is so much better.
Save a Google Earth tour to Video Clip
Google Earth Pro is a wonderful and free app from that giant company, and invaluable if you are to make a car journey to an unfamiliar place. You can view the lie of the land from above then drop down to 'street view' to rehearse driving that route. Then, when you do it for real, it feels familiar and you will have an idea of where things will be on the ground.
For your home movie, you might like to add a video clip of the location. It adds some extra finesse to your film or slideshow. here is how to use the tools built into Google Earth Pro. There is a tutorial video on Youtube which will help but these instructions might be enough:
The Process - Setting the 'Tour'
Open Google Earth Pro and find the desired destination using the search box. You can use a UK postcode or US zipcode if you want. It will zoom in on the destination. Now zoomed in, a neat method is to set the destination as a 'map pin' in My Spaces menu. Just click the yellow map pin at the top of the menu to create it at that place and give it a name. Do it that way and the placename will be visible during the video as it zooms in.
Having established the destination, zoom out as far as you like using the mouse scroll wheel. It might be best to zoom out to include a whole country or even the globe. This will be the starting point of your tour and video. Looking at the side menu, unclick any of the features which add clutter to the picture but not the map pins. You now need to set up the journey (the zoom in) as a 'Tour' before you can make the video clip. The Tour is not the same as the actual video clip, just a stepping stone to getting to that point.
Click the camera icon on the top tool bar and a red recording button will appear for saving the tour. Click that and your destination name in the search box or the new map pin in the My Places menu. It will now zoom in on the location. Click the record button again to stop the tour recording. It will play it back. You will see a floppy disc item on the playback device, click it to save your new tour. This does not actually record a video, only what they call the tour, which can have multiple destinations.
The Process - Getting the video
To make the video clip of the tour, go to 'Tools' and choose 'Movie Maker' where the most recent tour will be visible in the top box, which is the one you have just set up. Now you need to set the video parameters (only usa settings available). One of the HD ones will do. You can try different ones later and see which ones work in your video or slideshow.
The save path will default to the Windows Documents folder but it might be better to save the video somewhere else, desktop, data drive or memory stick. Perhaps save it to where your home movie media is stored. Click the 'Make Movie box' and away you go. It will run through the tour and save it as video. The render time might be a bit slow, so you will need to wait perhaps a minute.
Now go to the file location you had specified and play the clip to see if it is good. Not bad eh?
Capture to Video
This is to save a video copy of stuff happening on the screen, usually from playing computer games to show off to your mates or perhaps to capture screenshots to make a 'How-to' tutorials. The capture process will also put a demand on the PC hardware which might nobble the game performance slightly. Here are three methods to try out.
1. Using VLC
VLC has another trick which is not very well known, video capture from a webcam, another device or the screen when running an app. You need to try it first to see if the resulting quality will be good enough, otherwise you might use OBS. Here are the steps for VLC:
Install the latest VLC Media Player.
Run VLC
Media Menu > Convert/Save,
Click the Capture Device tab,
Device Selections > Capture Mode > select Desktop,
Option > Enter a number in the Frame Rate box, Eg. 10,
Click the Convert/Save button,
On the next screen, you will need to select a setting from the Profile list. One of the MP4 options should do, but you might experiment with them for the best result.
Click Browse and decide where to save the file, and give it a name.
Don't click the Start button until you have set up the app that you wish to demonstrate. Make that full screen rather than a window. You need to do a dummy run first to see if the quality is good enough. Time to try it out.
Click Start and run the demo program, or perhaps just a few seconds of it. You can stop the capture with the VLC Stop button and it will take a moment to process it. Now play the newly-created video file and see if it is okay. If not, try a different MP4 profile. Done!
2. Using Windows Game Bar
You don't need to download anything to get a screen capture to video. Windows 10 and 11 have a feature to capture game-play to a video file. By default it will create a 'Captures' folder in the 'Video' windows library and save your video capture there.
You press (Windows Key) + G to get to the controls. Panels will appear on the desktop and you start the capture by clicking the red Record dot. Best to set the frame rate to such as 25 per second first unless the extra demand on the PC hardware slows things down too much but perhaps 12 fps might still be okay. In the program that you are capturing from, you will see an overlay box, top-right, which lets you end the capture and close the Game bar session. All the details are on this help page. Also search the Microsoft site for the snipper tool which comes built-in with Windows 10/11.
3. Using OBS
Open Broadcaster (OBS) - (Win, Mac and Linux). Not been tried but OBS is a free app designed to capture screen activity in a professional way. It is highly-regarded by Youtube creatives.
Digital Cinema Format (DCP)
For the more serious content creators who would like their material to be projected in real cinemas, it has to be processed in a special way to do it right. A quick definition: DCP = A special format for projecting video in digital cinemas. The idea here is that amateur film-makers might wish to project their doings in the local flea-pit, perhaps in a film festival, and that is where DCP shines (literally). An easier process (but not as high quality) would be an HD Blu-Ray disc (progressive scan not interlaced scan), if the cinema can play it, but check up first. Don't use DVDs these days unless that is all you can do as they are not regarded as good enough quality for the big screen. It has low resolution, interlaced video.
The technical spec of DCP was prepared by Digital Cinema Initiatives as a joint venture by major film studios and is now the standard used for film distribution. The actual 'films' are sent out to film theatres on hard disc drives. For commercial films, a decryption key is required for a particular time-span to unlock the files for projection, as arranged through the distributor.
OpenDCP and DCP-Omatic are free utilities to prepare 2k (24/48 fps) or 4k (24 fps) video/sound/text files into DCP, which comprises MXF (Material Exchange Format) and XML files. This is the format used for projection in digital cinemas such as our own Penistone Paramount. The process requires each video frame to separated into a 16-bit TIFF picture, resulting in perhaps thousands of picture files. Another process converts sRGB colourspace to 'XYZ' colourspace, the cinema standard. The resulting files are encoded into JPEG2000 and exported as MXF files to save on an EXT2-formatted memory stick (easy to do), ready for the cinema software to read and project it. As a matter of interest, it appears that DCP files are stored as 'Reels', as with physical films. So a full film might use three 'Reels'. The alternative is to spend thousands of pounds and let the experts to do it. The new Resolve Studio 15 will have some DCP tools.
Wikipedia's DCP page has some pointers about what goes into DCP and lists some DCP tools. See this 2012 article 'How to Make a Digital Cinema Package on your own Computer'. Of course, you would like to see your results but the viewers are all commercial products. The trial version of 'EasyDCP' Player allows you to check your work, but only for 15 seconds. The OpenDCP Forum has some tutorials on DCP. See DCP-Info and suitable LUTs (Look-up Tables used in editing to make the colours look right). This article on 'How to make a DCP for Film Festival projection' might help.
TV - PVR Software
For receiving and recording TV off-air when using a TV dongle or internal TV card.
Video Tutorials and Freebies
Well, it's very easy to find good tutorials on Youtube using its search engine. But before I start adding them here, here are few useful hints aimed at professionals and amateur cinematographers. And don't forget the Audio.
Out of Interest
Some interesting home-brew and video club videos.
Test Channel on Freeview Television (UK)?:
There was a test card available via the Red Button service on Freeview (Channel 250 on terrestrial television) but now it has gone. There is still a Service setting of sorts but it might not be very useful. Here is how to reach the Secret Menu.
Go to Ch 250 > Let the text load and press Yellow within 30 seconds > Drop down a channel and back up again to 250 > Let the text load again (it will look the same as before) > Now press Green (the word 'Secret' will appear at the top) > A menu comes up.
Albert Einstein: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."