Everyone has a computer these days; heck, you’re using one right now. For a fan filmmaker, however, a computer is far more than just a piece of hardware for surfing the internet; it’s an all-in-one movie studio.
Realizing that aiding creativity is a good way to get people to buy a computer, Apple includes its iLife software package with every Mac sold, providing video editing (iMovie), recording (Garageband), DVD burning (iDVD), and website building (iWeb). iMovie developed from the late-Nineties into a great video editor; then it underwent a radical revamp a few years ago that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea (Glenn Reid, who invented iMovie for Apple, hates it). The last edition of the original iMovie software (iMovie HD) was wonderful and is very usable; if you can’t get your hands on that, however, here’s a rundown of free alternatives for Macintosh.
As with all free software, support for these programs varies wildly, a few haven’t been updated in eons, and more than anything else, remember that you get what you pay for. If you want slick tricks and effects, you’ll have to look at commercial or at least shareware software. For those on a tight budget who feel like abiding the law, however, here’s some choices for you:
Avidemux
Avidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It supports many file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs. Tasks can be automated using projects, job queue and scripting capabilities. Avidemux is available for Linux, BSD, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows under the GNU GPL license.
ZS4 Video Editor
The new incarnation of Zwei-Stein Video Editor, it is advanced video editing and compositing software with over 150 built-in video effects. ZS4 runs on Windows, Linux and OS X, and is free to download and use. Best of all, it’s under continual development and hasn’t been abandoned like some of the programs listed here.
HyperEngine-AV
Arboretum Systems’ award winning video editing software became free in 2006 and is can be downloaded complete with full source code. Users can capture, arrange, edit and process video, audio and text in a free-form, trackless document, to create movies and slide shows.
Simple Video Splicer
SVS is a basic video editing tool for basic cropping and/or piecing together of video files. It supports all formats that Quicktime can import, with the exception of MPEG, which must be demuxed first. It features a picture panning tool (aka, the Ken Burns Effect), and an audio track layout editor. Source code is included in the download. The programmer no longer supports the software, and his site, while making the program available, notes, “Please do not contact me regarding this software, I have not worked on any of it in years.”
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