So last year a bought a digital SLR that shoots HD video (Canon 6000D) and a GoPro to create the Welcome video. My editor Mike edited the Welcome video with me but everything else on the site I have created.
On the filming front I was relatively confidant. I take pretty OK still photos, understand light and have been in creative, visual industries all my working life and in video for the last 12 years. And I think visually.
The editing was the problem. All my guys work in Final Cut Pro on Macs. I work on PC and needed to find a suitable, cheap but effective, editing programme. I tried all the free ones. No good. I trialled a number of others and even tried to trial the expensive Premiere for PC but it entirely failed even to download.
This program I am using, which I am thrilled with, is from NCH and cost me $38 Australian dollars – almost free! It looks and works just like Final Cut to the extent that, after years of sitting beside editors, I can use it intuitively and have bought the software with no support because it is very user-friendly and has good online help. It has a timeline and sequence view, you can layer on lots of video and audio, and it has a reasonable number of effects. The only problem is that it crashes quite often – and sometimes crashes my whole computer – so you just have to make sure you ‘ Save’ a lot and bear with it if you have to re-boot. But I think it’s worth it for $38.
So, in my eagerness to film more and better for you, I am also planning to buy a macro lens for insect and flower details, I am investigating microphones because I may start doing some pieces to camera – if I feel brave enough - and I intend to improve my editing skills – so keep watching this space!