Video Editing Done… My Way

A big part of my day-to-day responsibilities at work circles around being an agent of change. I am the one to introduce folks to Twitter, set up their iGoogle pages, help them contribute to wikis or download podcasts. It is truly an enjoyable task through which I have gained new nicknames (such as “Wiki”) or inspired new versions of popular songs such as this one by the Eagles

Woo hoo, wiki (instead of ‘witchy’) woman,
See how high she flies…

Setting up a Twitter account or configuring a WordPress blog is a task I have no trouble performing. Yet, in the spirit of full social media participation, one of my new year resolutions has been to fully emerge myself and create content that includes something other than a written word… I wanted to produce videos entirely on my own.

The chance to take out my flip video camera presented itself rather quickly right at the beginning of 2009. On the morning of January 2nd I found myself recording a VP of Communications talking about a recent not-for-profit initiative at my work. The setting was uncomplicated and the shooting took less then 10 minutes since I was dealing with a very savvy communications professional. Despite a Chia Pet stuck in the background and rather poor lighting, the video came out fine. The problem was that it was still on my video camera and it needed to end up on YouTube in a matter of a day or so.

Some of you might know that the flip video camera offers very rudimentary tools to edit and post videos to online distribution channels. I did not want to settle for that. I wanted control over background music, adding b-roll and fancy transitions. A few hours and several Google searches later I was drowning in various video converters, movie file types and video editing software. But most importantly I did not give up. I kept at it and produced what definitely is not a video editing masterpiece, but something that includes clear video and sound, which was recorded, edited and uploaded by me… a truly awesome and liberating feeling.

Here is the video I’ve shot and edited.

I continue to work on my video editing skills and even picked up a few video enthusiasts who now follow me on Twitter.

Moral? Don’t be afraid to reach a bit further and experiment with media outside of your safety zone. It might give you a new appreciation for the technology and what you can do with it.

Have a technology story to share?

Video Resources:
Windows Movie Maker – free video editing software for PC
AVS Video Converter – helps to convert video to a format editable by the video editing software
Flip Video Camera – no frills video camera that fits in your purse
VideoUniversity.com – Video editing resources
Book: Marketing with Digital Video by Hal Landen – basic info. re. video shooting and editing for small business and non-profits