If you’re like me you are probably a jack of all trades. You can write, you can shoot, and you can edit. You may not be the best at any one thing, but due to your education you were taught the basics of each. In fact, you might even be one of those people who would prefer to focus on just one of these aspects of production, but continue to find yourself scoring gigs in all three areas. Believe it or not, if this is the case then you are one of the lucky ones. Having a diversified set of skills is going to make you an appealing candidate for years to come.

With that being said, I have tended to focus on shooting and cameras during these weekly blogs. This week I’d like to dig into the different editing programs available and why I use the program I use. Let’s dive in.

1.       Vegas – I have never personally used this software. As far as I know this is a PC based program and a fairly basic one. From the little research I’ve done in regards to the program, I see that it is primarily used in the corporate sector. Nothing wrong with that. If you have a PC and want to get started with non-linear editing, give Vegas a shot.

2.       Avid- The old workhorse. Avid is a staple in any news room and is still used heavily in Hollywood by major production houses. In my opinion, Avid is a bit too clunky. The program refers to capturing footage as ingesting footage… which always made me wrinkle my brow. Aside from that, Avid is a great editing tool, I’m only not a fan because I can only remember editing one project on it in college and never really found my groove with the hot keys.

3.       Premiere- A great mid level editor. This was the program I was first taught at Ball State. I really enjoyed Premiere. The layout of the software is very intuitive and user friendly. More recent versions of the program work hand in hand with other Adobe products such as
Photoshop and After Effects. Files can be easily swapped between programs for additional editing. Premiere is good for getting for feet wet. If Premiere is your first bike without training wheels, than the last program on this list is…

4.       Final Cut Pro – A ten Speed. I love this program. I learned it one weekend in college, because I had to. I didn’t have access to the computers on campus that had Premiere and one my roommates had Final Cut Pro. So I sat down with my footage and by the end of the weekend had a complete project. What I love most about this program is the ease of use. At first, there is a learning curve, but one you take the time to learn the hotkeys you will find a fairly simple workflow. Final Cut is used quite a bit on industry films including The Coen Brother’s “True Grit”. Unfortunately, Final Cut is a Mac only program so you would need a Mac to run it. If you have the cash and are considering buying a Mac I would absolutely say go for it.