Chairman's Video

[NickMarsh]

What video editing software(s) should we use in order to create a Grade A video for the Chairman's Award?

[Andrew141WOBOT]

Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0. It has sooooooo many great features, you can do anything you want with it. Unfortunately, its expensive, but I got it from our school's video productions class.

Its what I used for our Engineering Inspiration award videos (first link) and team montages (second link).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMrJa...el_video_title

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVLcS...el_video_title

[J_Miles]

I'll second the motion for Premier Pro. We planned on using it, and it is an excellent program; however, it has a fairly steep learning curve and takes some time to figure out and work with. We ended up making it simply using iMovie. Our award-winning Chairman's video can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0_NaTD0JlY

Your software can only take you so far. It's possible to make a great video with very simple software if your video is recorded and organized well.

[apalrd]

Our video was edited by a student who owns Premiere Pro CS4, After Effects CS4, and a few other useful pieces of software. The result is here.

I don't know what percentage of that is Premiere Pro or After Affects, but I do know that, since they are both Adobe, they play very nicely together, and that Jonathon likes to overdo After Effects stuff.

The music was made mostly by three students using a MIDI keyboard and a synthesizer on a computer.

[OZ_341]

We recently switched to Premiere for the 2011 season and like it very much. But our Chairman's Award Video in 2010 was done using Final Cut on an iMac. (also a great program)

[rachelholladay]

We had the problem of deciding. Every year a different student made our videos with different software and we didn't like how nonuniform it was. We consulted a video making company, who, for our purposes, suggested Adobe Premier Pro. We bought it this summer and two of us students have begun to learn it. Although it was a bit pricey, we wanted to give more attention to our videos and clean up the process. I haven't done much more than starting it but so far it seems nice..

[HannahF]

We use IMovie because it is the only software we have available at our school. With a well thought out script and careful planning, great videos can be made using IMovie.

here is our 2011 video: http://youtu.be/dNRheqEHc1s

[tim-tim]

I like to use Edius by Canopus for the timeline. Great audio and video channel selections. I use Photoshop for stills, and use a lot of products from DigitalJuice.com for the special effects and final touches.

[mesamb1]

Personally I use Final Cut Pro, but I would agree with J_Miles. Your video quality is very reliant on the footage you shoot. With good footage, I have seen some awesome videos made on iMovie.
Check out Paul Lazarus's video on making chairman award videos if you havent allready.
http://youtu.be/7OLsjhk-VN8

What ever video editor program you choose, make sure to have students make practice movies to feel comfertable with it. You dont want the first time your figuring out how to use a feature be when your trying to make your grade 'A' chairmans award video.

[Phoenix Spud]

We used Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 to make our 2011 video. The nice thing about it is you can get a 30 day trial for free!

[Alex2614]

I used iMovie and an online program called Animoto. Here is the final result. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohuLx2smItI

By the way, if anyone has any questions about video editing/design, PM me and I will be glad to help out.

[KelliV]

When I edit my videos of FIRST events I use Avid Media Composer or Final Cut Pro, bit I've seen some great Chairman's videos done in iMovie and Windows MovieMaker.

As said by a few people before me it's not what program you edit in but what footage you edit. Make sure you have a list of shots you want prior to making your video and watch Paul Lazarus's videos, they are a great help.

I also recommend checking out your local colleges and seeing if they have a summer program where they will show you how to create some really great media for your teams.