Video editing software for a one off

[ReaperCushions]

I'm going to be editing a small video (probably 5 minutes long) as a one off project in the next few months.

I've shot some sample footage and had a play with Windows Movie maker.... And lets just say I think it was aimed at children.

I've used Adobe Premier before (about 5 years ago) and got on well with it. But for a one off project, I don't fancy paying for the full price licence to be used once.

So what are my options?
So far:
1) stick with movie maker and grin and bare it
2) get a trail copy of premiere (I don't know what the restrictions would be other than a time limit)?
3) try something else, Sony Vegas seems cheap?

I'm not really into torrenting or illegal downloads so count those out please.

Anyone have any thoughts / experiences on a cost effective solution?

[jimmy156]

You can rent adobe creative suit programmes on one month rolling contracts linky that could be a good bet if you cant get a free, fully functional trial

[GetCarter]

I'm not sure how tech you want to go. I use Premier and Windoze MM

You think Movie Maker can't do the biz? I think you might need to read the manual

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLeoJEZTxJ0

[otolith]

Sony Vegas is really good for the money.

edit - and the latest version of Windows Movie Maker has been further dumbed down - it's just awful.

There are things you can do with WMM that you can't do through the UI by manually editing the XML files used to define effects - or you could use something with a UI designed to do it!

Edited by otolith on Tuesday 7th August 19:06

[sgrimshaw]

Serif Movieplus Starter Version is free so worth a look.

http://www.serif.com/free-video-editing-software/?...

[ReaperCushions]

Interesting thanks chaps, the rental model from adobe looks ideal actually.

Does anyone have any experience of Sony Vegas at all? Easy to use?

[otolith]

ReaperCushions said:

Does anyone have any experience of Sony Vegas at all? Easy to use?

Dead easy - absolute piece of piss. I downloaded Adobe Premiere Elements and didn't like it.

This was a first attempt at putting a video together with it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SElDf3sDY3I

This was sticking some simple graphic overlays on it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvexB1K8v6k

Start of this is slowed down:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqxD3LzAyLE

Dead easy, and good enough for my limited ambitions.

[davepoth]

I use Avidemux, which is good because it's free.