Video Editing Software for Youth Ministry

on July 28th, 2009

From time to time youth workers ask me what video editing software we use, so thought I would give a quick rundown on all of them that I have experience with. There are higher and lower versions of these software releases, but I’ll try to stick with the one which feature set you would typically use in a youth ministry setting:

iMovie ($79)
Mac only … and super easy to use. While it doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles of higher end software, it can get a decent movie made in with a short learning curve. Good for beginners and Mac enthusiasts. B

Final Cut Express ($199)
Also Mac only … and easily the best of the bunch – but it’ll take you a while to even figure it out, much less master it. This is the software the big boys use, and it is ultra powerful – higher versions of the suite can go for up to $999. You can pretty much produce feature quality shots and effects with this guy. If you take the time to learn it, you’ll make great videos – this is what several people on our team use regularly and the bar to shoot for. A

Sony Movie Studio HD ($89)
This is the program I use personally – it is an awesome PC application that chews through HD footage no problem. The price is right and the performance is incredible. You can make slide shows in seconds, drop in transitions and split/cut/splice massive pieces of footage in seconds. Simple to learn, and has lots of options to make a highly polished final product.  A

Windows Movie Maker (Free)
This one comes free with your Windows PC, and while it has gotten far better than earlier versions, it still takes up the rear. While it is free, the end product isn’t great and there are all sorts of limits to what you can produce. Still though, for the budget conscious, this is a place to get started. C+

Of course, none of this will matter soon because you’ll just upload videos and edit them on the web. Post your thoughts and experiences with these and others in the comments!

JG


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Comments (15)

Russell Migl at 12:31pm July 28

got to have a mac to make it easy..iMovie is great for easy edits and Final Cut can be learned at lynda.com for a small fee!

steven at 10:50am September 21

Vegas Fan here. It is as pro as you can go without paying for it!