There are several advantages to digital video editing. But just as there are many pros to editing your own digital video, there are just as many cons along the way. Just like with any hobby, there are positives and negatives that need to be weighed in a way to decide if it’s even worth the effort and time and especially the financial costs.
Digital video editing is exciting and fun when it is done with the passion and pizazz required to be creative. Taking home videos and spicing them up with memorable soundtracks, custom titles and memorable soundtracks can make the next family reunion look like an award winning documentary.
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The advantage of editing digital video these days is the availability of the technology. Ask anyone who tried their hand as a video editor even ten years ago and you will discover that they couldn’t even do a third of what can be done now. Computers have filled the gap between the ideas in people’s minds and closed it to reality. Many independent filmmakers now shoot on digital video because the editing capabilities available now are so advanced it would be to their disadvantage not to. Even professional movie makers who have big budgets transfer film to computers so it can be processed in video editing software.
Another advantage in digital video editing is the ability to improve and enhance sound and light problems that couldn’t be avoided. Color correction can take an odd choice that the automatic setting of a video camera made and make them appear more natural. Even sound that may have had horrible background noise can be enhanced with the ability to filter out certain wavelengths with the sound file. It is a great advantage to be able to fix sound and picture issues after they have happened because in the end, those little things make all the difference in the video quality. No matter how cool the music soundtrack is, or the transitions, or any of those things, no one will care because the actual video looks bad.
The major problem with digital video editing is that it’s time consuming. The times it takes to run the video onto the computer, to split into clips, add effects, edit, render, build DVD menus, then eventually burn to DVD really can take a lot of your free time. That’s why so many software and camera companies are trying to market easy editing systems so that it cuts down on all the time. Another thing to consider is no matter how easy it may seem, it still takes a sufficient amount of time to do it right.
Another big issue is the money spent in purchasing the equipment necessary to edit video. From the camera, to the computer, to the editing software, Video tapes, batteries, etc., the money starts to pile up and for some people, their interest goes down. It is very frustrating to end up with inexpensive equipment that performs poorly and in some cases, doesn’t provide results what is was advertised to. If you just keep in mind that you get what you buy, then maybe it will not hurt so badly to put the money down.
Another problem with video editing for consumers is the space needed to do it. All of a sudden the big hard drive that came with the computer is now a little thumb drive when compared to the size of the video files being edited. Whenever working with digital media, specifically video, keep in mind that there can never be enough gigabytes. Memory is expensive and is the biggest issue people face when editing at home. Purchasing enough memory may become more expensive than the camera, the computer and even the software required to edit the video.
Whatever issues may arise in your own editing experience, if you know why you are doing it and have a goal in mind, then all of the money problems will become frivolous and you will be able to enjoy the potential of digital video editing.