Video Editing Software

[Metonym]

+1 to Lightworks or HitFilm Express
+1 to free and good not really being a thing in video editing software

If you only need to cut and put together and enjoy going through painful processes, you can do it all in FFMPEG on the command line.

Otherwise, windows movie maker is not that bad of a tool and can be great if you find students that know how to use a camera well.

Also make use of that trial period on Adobe software because it gives you full access and can let you learn a really amazing tool.

[sanddrag]

While not anywhere close to free, we use Avid Media Composer 8.4. It's a very professional grade editing software, and it does just about anything you'd ever want to do to a video (and audio).

I believe you can get Autodesk Smoke for free on the education community, but it's Mac OSX only.

Here's a page with some free linux video editing tools.

The only thing I know about for free for Windows is Live movie maker and windows Movie Maker 2.6, neither of which are fantastic.

[jaredhk]

I know you asked for free so my suggestion may be invalid but hopefully it is still helpful.

Adobe Premiere Elements is a lightweight version of Adobe Premiere. There is a great education deal. Currently it is being sold in conjunction with Photoshop Elements for $80. An advantage of this is that it is a one time buy so there is no recurring subscription fee. A disadvantage is that it does not automatically upgrade to newer versions.

[rfolea]

+1 on Premiere Elements

[techhelpbb]

I usually use VirtualDub for training videos.
You can also get it to run without install if you have PortableApps installed. This makes it easy for environments that make you run as guest.

[tr6scott]

I asked the same question on another forum for doing a time lapse video, and the answer I got back was the Go Pro editing software. I used it to create this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJXXA_fKdI8

I would suggest to check out what other features it has, and if it meets your needs.

I have been using Corel VideoStudio x9, and like it's features, but it is also around $80

[dirtbikerxz]

I have found DaVinci Resolve to be very very useful, and also free. It is very resourceful, and there are many tutorials online for all the various things you might want to do with it.