The term video editing can refer to:
Video editing is the process of editing segments of motion video footage, special effects and sound recordings. Motion picture film editing is a predecessor to video editing and, in several ways, video editing simulates motion picture film editing, in theory and the use of non-linear and linear editing systems. Using video or film, a director can communicate non-fictional and fictional events. The goals of editing is to manipulate these events for better or for worse communication. It is a visual art.
Early video recorders were very expensive, and the quality degradation caused by copying was so great, 2 inch Quadruplex videotape was edited by visualizing the recorded track with ferrofluid, cutting with a razor blade or guillotine cutter and splicing with tape. Improvements in quality and economy, and the invention of the flying erase head, allowed new video to be inserted cleanly into an existing tape. This technique was referred to as linear editing. If an early scene needed to be lengthened, all the later scenes would need to be added again. Multiple sources could be played back simultaneously through a vision mixer to be mixed or keyed.
Editor in linear VCR suite
Modern non-linear editing systems are computer-based, though there was a transitional analog period using multiple source VCRs or LaserDisc players. Footage is played and captured on a hard drive. Content is ingested and recorded natively in the approriate codec which will be used by software such as Sony Vegas Pro, MAGIX Video Pro X, Avid's Media Composer and Xpress Pro, Apple's Final Cut Pro, and Adobe's Premiere to manipulate the captured footage. High definition video is becoming more popular and can be readily edited using the same software along with related motion graphics programs. Clips are arranged on a timeline, music tracks and titles are added, effects can be created, and the finished program is "rendered" into a finished video. The video may then be distributed in a variety of ways including DVD, web streaming, Quicktime Movies, iPod, CD-ROM, or videotape.
For the home market, consumer-friendly products such as MAGIX Movie Edit Pro, Adobe Premiere Elements, AVID Express DV, CyberLink PowerDirector, Final Cut Express, Sony Vegas, Pinnacle Studio, ULead VideoStudio, Roxio Easy Media Creator, and muvee autoProducer have come on the market with the emergence of computer video editing for the home PC. Two free programs that are bundled with computers are Apple's iMovie and Microsoft's Windows Movie Maker. There are many other free opensource video-editing software, too.
See also
