Basic video editing software for beginners.

Jam Warrior · June 2017

I have a bunch of video clips taken with my iPhone (but now on PC, not enough storage on the phone for them all at once) that I want to splice together into a Youtube video. Nothing fancy needed, just some basic chop and shuffle with a bit of overlapping audio (i.e. audio from one clip while image from another plays). This is just for putting together my daughter's take on the endless 'surprise bag opening' videos you get on Youtube for her entertainment, nothing more.

What would you recommend for basic video editing needs? I mainly want something really quick and user friendly. Free obviously preferable but I'm not averse to a moderate fee.

Lind · June 2017

I used to use Windows Movie maker back in the day. Not sure if that still exists on Windows 10.

Davinci Resolve is in version 14 (beta) and is free. Its really powerfull and looks complex but check out a youtube video or two and you can quickly just take a couple of shots and throw them together to get a nice movie. Ofc if you really want to you can make really advance color grading and stuff but just ignore that bit for now.

I think this movie is pretty good but remember to ignore the colorgrading stuff or it will look to hard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgTRPXsgv-I

see317 · June 2017

I use VSDC for work (it's not my job, but when the boss asks for a clip of a youtube video and I'm the only guy in the office...), it's a free video editor that I found on cnet (http://download.cnet.com/VSDC-Free-Video-Editor/3000-13631_4-75764187.html).
It's got a lot more functionality than I need, but for clipping and splicing together videos it's pretty straight forward.

Downside is that some of the more advanced functionality is locked behind a paywall. But if all you're doing is cutting and splicing clips or changing video formats it should do it for you.

djmitchella · June 2017

avidemux will let you glue videos together as long as they're all the same size, and do basic clipping/editing. Not sure about different audio track -vs- video track, though.

Windows movie maker is not on windows 10 any more, and 'windows live essentials' (which contained it) has also gone, though you can still find the download for that if you're prepared to trust installs from random internet sites.

Tofystedeth · June 2017

You can still get the installer for Windows Movie Maker from Microsoft, it just takes some work to find because you keep landing on articles saying that it's been replaced and not supported on Win10, then eventually you get to the 'i guess i can't convince you you don't want this ' page.

Fry · June 2017

If you just want to staple some videos together end-to-end, you can do that in YouTube itself. It also appears to have some functionality for audio, but I haven't messed around with that.