Video editing program for teen

amother

Seafoam

Mon, Nov 19 2018, 12:59 pm

My 16 year old daughter is very creative and really enjoys taking pictures/videos. She has been begging me to buy her a video editing program where she can easily create slideshows with music and special effects.

We decided to buy her this program for chanuka.. the question is, which program is the best to buy? I can't spend so much on it ($50 give or take). She doesn't know what program she wants either, as long as it's not powerpoint.

I turn to you my dear imas, what video editing program do I buy her?!

little neshamala

Mon, Nov 19 2018, 1:30 pm

Ok, be careful what you buy, because while they're all amazing for the actual editing and movie making, when it comes to saving it can be a serious pain. I invested in top quality video editing programs like Nero and tried saving to DVD, and then just to files-it was not compatable with everything. Some devices would read it, others wouldnt. Some wuld play back with errors. I called Nero and spoke to some tech people and learned that there are waaaaaaay to many "codec" issues that can arise when saving certain types of files.

Now, I could be wrong, and please if anyone out here is more knowledgable PLEASE chime in, but it seems like the easiest most foolproof way is to save your file to a cloud based site like youtube (you can make it private). As far as programs, there are many free ones you can download. Look for movie editing apps- (and google ways to use an app on your computer. Like with bluestacks or something like that). Im literally in the middle of researching this now....I found a few highly recommended movie editing apps(all free), I think one of them is kinemaster.

(Windows movie maker gave me issues in the past once my video got too big. It crashed a lot)

PractclyPerfect

Mon, Nov 19 2018, 6:02 pm

Not sure about the price, but Pinnacle Studios is fantastic and has a variety of interesting effects. You may be able to get an older version for a bit cheaper. Only works on a PC, though.

Hashem_Yaazor

Tue, Nov 20 2018, 5:47 pm

My son is working with Premiere Elements now, but we didn't research at all. I think it's closer to $100 but perhaps there will be a Cyber Monday deal or a student discount....I don't really know. Also there are 2 components, I don't remember what they are. Perhaps if you only get the video part it's cheaper.

PractclyPerfect

Tue, Nov 20 2018, 8:47 pm

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

Premiere is great, but if she is looking for cool effects and transitions I would recommend Pinnacle over that.