Edit Video Like
a Professional
1
COLLECT AND ADD YOUR FILES
Start by dragging and dropping videos, pictures, and audio
to the Project Files pane—a range of formats is supported.
Use the “Video,” “Audio,” and “Image” tabs of the Filter box to
filter the view as required. Press Ctrl-S to save your project.
>> You’re now ready to start putting your movie together
using the Timeline pane at the bottom. Five tracks are set up by
default—Track 5 at the top, Track 1 at the bottom. Think of these
as layers. Anything placed on Track 1 is your “background,” with
all other elements appearing on top of it—more on this later.
>> For now, we’re going to start with two simple tracks: one
video stream containing your video clips (including any sound)
and still images, and a separate audio stream for background
music. Right-click “Track 5” and choose “Remove,” followed
by “Track 4” and “Track 3.” Click “V” next to a track and choose
“Rename Track” if you want to make it more identifiable.
>> Now drag your first clip or image from the Project Files
pane on to the video track and place it right at the start of the
timeline. Your clip appears as a draggable object, its length
corresponding to the duration of the track. The play-head/ruler
above the track helps indicate the length of each track, as well
as your overall movie. If you’re working with short clips, you may
wish to adjust the magnification of the ruler; click the “+” and “–”
buttons (or drag the slider) to adjust the intervals up or down
from the default 15 seconds [Image A].JUST HOW MANY PHOTOS AND VIDEO CLIPS have you accumulated over the years? Whether
you’ve got dedicated equipment or just love snapping and videoing on your phone, now is
the time to do something creative with them. OpenShot is a brilliant video-editing tool that’s
relatively simple to learn, yet packed with features that enable you to turn last holiday’s rough
video footage into a polished movie you’ll be happy to show to friends and family. In this tutorial,
we run through the program’s main features to help you bring your footage together, edit it, add
special effects and titles, and finally export it for sharing with others.
The tutorial has been written for Windows users, but can be easily adapted to work in Linux,
too—we recommend downloading the latest 64-bit appimage and running that directly, rather
than installing the outdated version of OpenShot through your package manager.
Note: If you’re running the current stable version of OpenShot (2.4.4), you need to download
Blender 2.79b (www.blender.org/download/previous-versions) if you want to create animated
titles with it. If you’re running the daily version of OpenShot, it should work with the latest
version of Blender (2.80 or later).–NICK PEERSYOU’LL NEED THIS
OPENSHOT
VIDEO EDITOR
Download this free app from
http://www.openshot.org.BLENDER
This open-source 3D tool is
available from http://www.blender.org.INKSCAPE
Use this free app from https://
inkscape.org to create titles.2
PREVIEW AND TRIM CLIPS
Use the Video Preview window to see how your
editing is progressing, providing a rough view of
your video and audio tracks, plus any additional effects
applied. Use the playback controls underneath or adjust
the playback position precisely using the play-head/
ruler. Some clips may be perfectly formed, but chances
are one or two need trimming, while other, longer files
might benefit from being split into separate clips. Why
choose the latter option? One reason is to introduce
fades or other transition effects within a single clip.
>> It’s possible to edit clips directly on the timeline—
just position the play-head at the point where you’d like
to split your clip, right-click the clip, and choose “Slice >
Keep Left Side” to end the clip at that point, “Keep Right
Side” to start the clip at the play-head point, or “Keep
Both Sides” to split the clip in two. Note that the original
clip is left untouched.
>> You can also trim clips from the Project Files
pane—a trimmed copy appears next to the original
here—enabling you to produce multiple clips from
a single file. First, right-click your chosen clip in the
Project Files window and choose “Split Clip.” Use
the slider or click “Play” to locate the exact point where
you’d like your edited clip to start. Click “Start” and youBA©^MI
CROSOFT,^ OPENSHOT^ STUDI
OS56 MAXIMUMPC MAR 2020 maximumpc.com
R&D