The Power of Expression through Video Editing...

My knowledge of video editing has been limited to two products in the past; Windows Movie Maker (free) and Adobe Premier (very expensive). Incorporating the thought voiced by Andrew Garrison “Media production offers a means for students to talk to whomever they think is an important audience” while providing a solid but affordable mechanism for doing that is quite a juggling act (Garrison, 1999). I want to provide my students with creative ways to deliver assessments that are not costly or frustrating. By having the opportunity to research and analyze two open source video editing software packages, I can construct quality assignments that my students will have the tools to complete with minimal hassle.

After analyzing several factors including the majority of schools and users are on a PC platform, I narrowed down my comparison to two packages; Avedimux and Zwel-Stein. “Though the Mac offers some of the best choices when thinking about purchasing the high-end editing software, the PC is actually better when it comes to using freeware editing software.”(Burley, 2009). Both packages offer popular output file formats such as AVI, WMV, and MP4. Avedimux has a easy to understand interface and allows the user to cut, reformat, resize, and encode videos with ease. Zwel-Stein has a more robust toolbox, but the interface is not as user-friendly and presents more of a challenge to learn – there are not as many step-by-step tutorials available. My choice for beginners would be Avedimux; more suited to the younger set, while Zwel-Stein may work for older students with time built in for learning the new software. I would like to incorporate a video project into my game curriculum for students to demonstrate their games through the use of multimedia, including video and audio, which could allow for a wider audience to view and critique their work.

References:

Burley, S. (2009, 06 30). The Best Freeware and Open Source Video Editing Software. Retrieved 09 04, 2010, from Bright Hub: http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/video/articles/2377.aspx

Garrison, A. (1999). Video basics and production projects for the classroom. Center for Media Literacy. Retrieved September 5, 2010, from http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article3.html