Need general information on video editing solutions

[Aro2220]

My youngest sister enjoys making movies on youtube. They're silly music video type movies, where she picks a song she likes and a tv series / movie she likes and synchronizes actions to the song or something like that. I'm sure you've probably came across something like that if you've ever looked up a song on youtube.

She has a cheap dell computer which I've upgraded (ram, hard drive, formatted the bundled software os and put on a clean one, gave her good software, etc) but she has been using Windows Movie Maker and she never stops complaining about it.

I looked for other windows solutions and I found three: Ulead, Adobe Premiere and Sony Vegas. Sony Vegas seemed to be the best one. We tried Adobe Premiere but there were sound glitches right out of the box so we returned it and I didn't like Ulead.

Anyway, I think Sony Vegas is a little confusing for her. I suggested a Mac for iMovie, but I don't have any personal experience with macs (at all) so I can't really say if it will be a pain in the butt for her or not.

I realize iMovie is easy to use, so why would I worry about it being a pain in the butt? Read on,

She downloads movies / tv series off torrents which are usually in .avi using some random codec. I know, I know, "but Aro, that's illegal!" I don't really feel bad about it...she's not making a profit and she owns all the original DVD's and CD's (she's pretty adament about buying her music/dvds) but it's easier to just have her download a torrent with the .avi than to teach her how to rip a protected dvd.

She's just playing around and wants to have fun. She's a fan. I don't see anything morally wrong with this...I hope that has relaxed any tensions, so now I will get back to the problem:

I was told by a long-time mac user that iMovie would have major problems using .avi's due to codec problems. Basically, iMovie won't really use anything that isn't in some kind of quicktime format. She's already having a big problem with all these codec problems in movie maker as it is.

All she wants is something better than movie maker that is easy to use and at least fairly powerful (so she can do transitions and make sure everything is timed well). I thought iMovie is pretty good. I hear there are other solutions, like final cut...again, no clue what any of that is like since I've never had personal experience (so here I am)

What would you suggest? I need a simple solution so she can make these music videos for youtube. They make her pretty happy and I like seeing my sister smile.

Thanks

 

[KeithPratt]

I thought this post was really sweet, so I thought I'd reply even though I'm probably not going to be of much help.

I agree there's nothing morally wrong with what she's doing. But... I've had friends receive e-mails from their ISPs about downloading torrents. And using iMovie in this situation will be a massive hassle. It might actually be simpler to rip stuff from DVDs in DV or mp4.

There are probably more programs on Windows — ones that will undoubtedly be better suited to editing AVIs — but I don't know of any.

That wasn't much help was it?

 

[VanMac]

iMovie

Hello Aro2220

You are being a good big brother. Keep it up.

Your little sister will love having a little mac, and using iMovie.

I have got both my older sister and mother (in her late 60's) using macbooks now and they love them. Much more intuitive, and typically less hassles.

I've done a few movies in iMovie and it is very easy to use. I'm sure your sister will pick it up quickly. Sounds like she is the creative type, so other applications on the mac she will enjoy as well. I'm just starting to make my first movie with Final Cut Pro, so she will have some cool software to look forward to as she advances.

As far as .avi and iMovie goes, some will just plunk right in, others might not. You will get that with any software. There are many simple tools for converting to a correct format (Quick Time Pro should do most). Really, all that you need to to is make that step part of the process. ie: dl->convert->import.

Anywho, enjoy your quest.