Producing Home Movies

[Mountain Maniac]

I am working on making a movie with all the video clips and pictures of our group taken sledding last year. I have plenty of material to make a pretty decent movie in both length and quality. I have been using Windows Movie Maker but it doesn't let me do some of the in depth graphic design with editing movies, pictures and music. I want to make the movie more like a professional movie than something just thrown together! I was wondering if any of you have made movies your self? What program did you use and how did it turn out?

Thanks for the input!

 

[Vertical-Extreme]

adobe premier works good, but is expensive. if you want to cough up big bucks you can get the premier suit and get dream weaver and photoshop too.

 

[x-guy]

adobe premier elements 8 $79.99 US, works great for me, its usually at the top for reasonably priced video editing software.

http://www.adobe.com/products/premiereel/?promoid=121DJGSC_P_US_FP2_PRE_MN&tt=P_US_FP2_PRE_MN

 

[firecatguy]

Windows movie maker is a great place to start you will get used to all the functions, Then go out and get youself something more advanced.
I use pinacle studio plus 11. Its great to watch all the stuff in the summer time.

here some of our stuff from last year

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aodjihcqgmg&feature=channel_page
this was Togwotee last march..

Togwotee last jan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMRszO7gF90&feature=channel_page

one more!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgnPxoFQMtc&feature=channel_page

have fun!!!

 

[sledmanhof]

another vote here for the pinnacle studios software. that what i use and it works very well and has tons of features i havent even used yet

heres a couple movies i put together with the program.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8ccMJKoC48&feature=related
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b9-JRDr5cQ

very simple to use imo

 

[Jonce]

firecatguy and sledmanhof - nice video's!

Do you guys have the problem that I run into sometimes...you are the only one taking movies while everyone else is ripping up the powder?

 

[mac900rmk]

I'd say Premiere Elements is a good place to start. If you get better and need the power of Premiere, then you have the basics down. I think Premiere Elements also has multiple video track capability which I think is a must to create nice video.
I hope pinnacle has gotten better. I used it when it was version 9 and it worked well for editing but I could never get it to render and then burn to DVD. I didn't like the canned transitions and titles. I wanted more.
Another choice that was very reliable for me was Ulead Movie Studio.
Our company bought the Adobe Professional Suite so I can use the programs at work, legally, at home.
I played with a trial version of Vegas and was blown away by some of the standard features.

 

[sledmanhof]

firecatguy and sledmanhof - nice video's!

Do you guys have the problem that I run into sometimes...you are the only one taking movies while everyone else is ripping up the powder?

thats the only problem with making videos, someone has to do the filming

 

[Mountain Maniac]

thanks for the info....keep it rolling!!

firecatguy I was watching one of your videos on another thread last night and watched alot more on youtube. I am glad you wrote because I was interested in what you used......i liked the movies! The helmet cam shots on the move of another rider are pretty sweet.....might have to invest in one sometime! I think I have reached the boundaries of Windows Movie Maker and need something more in depth to do what I want to with my movie production.

sledmanhof nice videos! Its fun to look back at previous trips!

 

[knee deep in it]

making movies is a lot like sledding. You get better with lots of seat time.

Windows Moviemaker is a great way to get your feet wet. Pinnacle Studios is a logical next step. Do not buy a version 11 set as it will lock up constantly. It is completely unusable. Studio 12 and above is what you want.

Take your time and you can make something that the whole group can look at during the summer or show their friends after the ride.

http://www.zshare.net/video/6586183905dc0274/

 

[boondockinboy]

get a mac, best editing machine ever, imovie is a great editor that is cheap or free if u own a mac, and like said before adobe is good aswell

 

[firecatguy]

firecatguy and sledmanhof - nice video's!

Do you guys have the problem that I run into sometimes...you are the only one taking movies while everyone else is ripping up the powder?

some of the guys I ride with also have helmet cams which makes that easy and we take turns with hand held--its alot fun and the guys are itching to try more this year!!

thanks for the info....keep it rolling!!

firecatguy I was watching one of your videos on another thread last night and watched alot more on youtube. I am glad you wrote because I was interested in what you used......i liked the movies! The helmet cam shots on the move of another rider are pretty sweet.....might have to invest in one sometime! I think I have reached the boundaries of Windows Movie Maker and need something more in depth to do what I want to with my movie production.

Thanks..once you start it gets addicting!!!lol



if anyone has Vegas please let us know what you think? im thinking of trying it out!!

 

[Mountain Maniac]

No kidding about addicting! Im really liking working on it.
True that about seat time knee deep! Sure takes awhile to get it how you want it. My roommate and dorm friends are getting tired of me saying "Hey guys look at it now!!!" o well haha
I have a HP so the Mac idea is out for now....but maybe later.

 

[HighMark Adventures]

Well I have used a lot over the years. Premier Pro is a great product but there will be a learning curve for sure. But then again there will be a learning curve with any of them. Some more difficult then others. I also used Vegas for awhile and really liked that program a lot but that was a few years ago now. My video editing now is done on a mac.

I would download the trial version and give them a test drive and see what works best for you for what your trying to achieve.

What do you mean by more professional look. Ie better graphics, color correction etc etc. Just curious.

Filming is one thing but editing is a whole other beast and not everyone can do it. Not everyone can lock themselves in a room for lo=ng hrs on end while not being disturbed to stare and monitors till your eyes look like piss holes in the snow watching the same clips over and over frame by frame.............well you get the point lol

Good luck

 

[mtn_rider08]

I just bought a Canon GL2 video camera, so this helps me too.

I downloaded the Sony Vegas trial, seem like it will work. The one I downloaded was the vegas movie studio, not Vegas Pro. I'm going to download the Pro vesion next.

 

[JustinB]

I have made thousands of movies on everything from movie maker to final cut pro which I use now the easiest all around and best product is Imovie for a PC use adobe elements for a cheap route with good output. Hope that helps!

 

[LakeEffect]

We have been using Sony Vegas for a while now. I don't make the HQ videos, but even a fool like me could figure it out. Adobe Premier seemed to be way to many features that take a while to learn, plus it was a memory hog. I tried a basic version of Pinnacle, but I think it was too consumer based because it was pretty limiting.

I think our main editor just upgraded to Vegas 9? I am still using 5 which is good enough for me (Here is the last one I made http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpjKobKQ_BY&feature=channel_page )

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=timner8811&view=videos&sort=v

http://www.vimeo.com/teamkesslers/videos (Higher quality with sound on all of them here)

The movies posted above are all great as well. Helps the summer months go by thats for sure.

 

[Cheynespub]

Is anyone using a new HD camcorder? I have the JVC HD camera and it takes great video. Its a little choppy if you have shaky hands like me. However, it records to flash cards and they are in the AVCHD format stored in a .mts bin. This is a highly compressed format that only works on the best software.

Anyone had any luck with this type of vidoe recording yet?

 

[tomx]

Me and the bro's have a little amateur video production crew called OneShot Productions (http://www.oneshotproduction.net/) and we've made several feature length action sports type films. We use Windows PC's with Sony Vegas Pro (V4.0-9.0 depending on who's editing what) and it works killer. Vegas is mid priced ($300 for pro, $80 for studio) and very powerful (I'd go with pro). If you want to learn a kick arse tool for the PC thats pretty intuitive I'd say that Vegas is the way to go. Lots of great support sites and tutorials out there on the web too. Lastest versions have support for HD. I took some HD footage this summer but haven't tried editing anything yet, so I can't get perspective there.

I haven't used Adobe Premier since 4.0, but I always found it much more difficult top use and the price tag ($900+) was hard to swallow. If you got all the money in the world and you wouldn't rather mod your sled, then do what Richie Rich does and buy a Mac with Adobe Premier..that's pro. Ask that smug Mac Genius guy. He's a snappy dresser. Else be like the common man, grab a half rack of Coors, build a $500 PC with as much RAM, HD space, and Processor as you can afford, pick up Vegas, pops them Keers, and have at it.

With that all said, it don't mean nothing until you get quality footage. Cams, perspective, good riders/subject matter, shooting in snow conditions, and other filming nuisances is a whole nother ball of wax.

 

[mtn_rider08]

So who all carries a tripod out with them for filming? I have been using one for biking the last week or so and it makes it much easyer.