Video editing

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Please improve this article if you can. (April 2008)

A professional video editing console.

The term video editing can refer to:

non-linear editing system, using computers with video editing software
linear video editing, using videotape

Video editing is the process of re-arranging or modifying segments of video to form another piece of video. The goals of video editing are the same as in film editing — the removal of unwanted footage, the isolation of desired footage, and the arrangement of footage in time to synthesize a new piece of footage.

Early video recorders were very expensive, and the quality loss of copying was so great, that 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.

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 into a computer and captured on a hard drive. Editors use software such as 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-grade products such as Pinnacle Studio, ULead VideoStudio, Roxio Easy Media Creator, Magix Movie Edit Pro and muvee autoProducer serve a similar purpose, although typically with a reduced feature set. Two free programs that are bundled with computers are Apple's IMovie and Microsoft's Windows Movie Maker.