Group Test: Video-editing applications

Digital Arts UK by James Morris

There’s no doubt about it: video is on the rise. Thanks to ever-speedier broadband connections, it’s flourishing online, where the quality of video it’s possible to stream gets better all the time. New waves of sophisticated cameras and camcorders have put HD filming into the hands of the masses and creatives of every budget. Meanwhile, at the upper end of the scale, technological innovations are driving resolutions and image quality off the scale.

All of this means that the potential for video has exploded at every price point – but so have people’s expectations. Better quality of video online means that people now expect better craftsmanship, too, with more creative editing, effects, and so on.

As video becomes more widespread, more and more clients also expect it as a routine part of design services, meaning that mastering video-editing software is now a key skill for creatives.

That’s not to say that everything’s peachy in videoland, however. In a stormy media climate, the post-production industry in particular has undergone rapid upheaval as the impact of online distribution makes itself felt.

In this environment, flexibility is key. Whether you’re working in broadcast, feature film, corporate video, or producing video as part of wider design services, content must be produced with a wide range of output formats in mind, from mobile devices and the Internet, all the way up to big-screen film projection. read more...