Movie editing softwares - Apple Inc.

We are now on the second part of our movie editing software series and today's list will be coming from one of the giants in the industry Apple Inc. As we all know, Apple has provided the ever famous and highly coveted Mac OS. But this is not the focus of our topic today. Today we will try to discuss see what makes Final Cut Express, Final Cut Pro, and iMovie stand up from their competitors.

Final Cut Express

If you are trying to edit your newly shot footage but are still intimidated by Final Cut Pro or limited by iMovie, then this software is for you.

You won't see much of the difference between Express and Pro, in fact, it almost looks the same except for some features that had been taken out. It's also so much the same that you might forget you are using a consumer application, dv-only editing software!

"But come on, let's get into the features already" I hear you say...

Apple made the Audio/Video menu panel idiot-proof by removing much of the confusion in the choices and replaced it with easy to use configuration options. This makes setting up your DV camera a breeze so you could go on with your editing already.

You will also notice a difference in the capture process. Final Cut Express does not allow multiple batch capture anymore, instead, you have no choice but to get into the in and out of the clip and capture. Now this forces much of the users to just capture all and minimize the effort. But one of the features of Final Cut Express is the ability to capture from a project file! Imagine you deleted all your captures just to find out you have to make very minor changes. Instead of painstakingly going through the whole process again, just press the "capture project" and the deleted capture clips are back again as if nothing happened.

Trimming buttons for your trimming needs has been left unchanged in the timeline. And Apple also decided to leave the trimming window as well.

By default, clips are being view as large thumbnails rather than the previous list view. This makes it easier from folks coming from iMovie to see their clips.

What you will find lacking in Final Cut Express is the animating tool. But this is understandable since they want to keep it simple for the users. However, you can still animate with the basic properties such as position, scale, and rotation.

You will also find it useful to have a Voice Over Tool which actually came from Pro.


Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro handles everything from basic digital video editing to uncompressed High-Definition video processing. Final Cut Pro is both powerful and affordable for a wide range on professionals.

Movie editing software has never been made this way before.

Open Format Timeline is the most notable feature of FCP. Now you can mix clips with different frame sizes, frame rates, and codecs into one sequence and FCP handles all the conversions in realtime. Though it's not perfect, it's a step ahead from its competition.

SmoothCam is an FCP plugin that stabilizes shots where other plugins failed. But the plugin still has rough edges. You will notice a slowdown in the performance when working with an HD footage since FCP always renders the entire shot.

Surround Sound is an additional feature unlike the previous versions. But you will need an additional hardware since Mac's audio port does not support this.

Suite Integration of FCP with other softwares makes it easy to move project application to another. FCP comes in with Motion, Soundtrack Pro, Compressor, DVD Studio Pro, and Color all in the Final Cut Studio Bundle.

Reliable Performance has always been an issue in movie editing softwares and Final Cut Pro delivers it well. It has always been noted with FCP's however, this is in exchange of the very steep machine requirements.


iMovie

With the popularity of broadband internet access comes iMovie's transformation to more of an online tool to get your videos published fast. iMovie is now focused on helping people organize, view, and edit movies all in one place. Best of all, uploading it directly to YouTube is part of options if you choose to. But some of the features from the previous version had been taken off. However, the thing that will amaze you is how iMovie has taken a different approach in editing videos. The interface looks more like iPhoto for moving pictures. This approach has restarted the learning curve from the previous version since the experience will be totally different. I recommend viewing online tutorials so as to get you started (right).

Skimming is a new feature that lets you skim through frames of your video. Want a specific frame? Skim, click, and drag to project window! Beginners and professionals would find this very useful. And this is the recurring theme in iMovie as it takes out the technical complexities so you could focus more on fun. For example, you don't have to bother about the frame rate and frame size, all of it is handled internally when starting your project with a few clicks.

YouTube is now integrated with as few as three clicks, your videos will be viewed by millions even before you get home from a party!

Simplicity has never been like this for iMovie. Even a total computer illiterate can start taking and editing videos. Of course, Apple has to sacrifice much of the advance features that people from the previous versions enjoyed, but nontheless the ease of use over shadows the advance features and the market will love it.


That's it for Apple's list of movie editing softwares. I hope you come back for more as we take a look into one of the considered professional movie editing software out in the market coming from Avid Technology.