I am looking for an efficient and affordable software to edit movies. $100.00 or less- a home version of something that will make great home movies and also do some special effects and good editing. I know nothing about this type software and would appreciate any help. Thanks
I use Pinnacle Studio and it does a nice job. It comes with a few special effects and then you can buy additional ones if you'd like (they have a "locked" version which displays a watermark, but you can see how they look). It generally runs around $99.00. I think it MAY have been free (or about $30) after rebates at Best Buy last Friday. The thing I like best about version 10 is that it does a GREAT job at scene splitting. In essence, you save your video to disk from your camera (or whatever source you choose). You then load it into the program and it splits the movie up into X number of scenes. You can then mix, match and edit. The version I purchased a couple of years ago came with a "green screen" (a big green sheet) which you can use like weathermen and hollywood to insert your subjects into different scenes. It's very simple to use. See www.pinnaclesys.com for more info.
There is also Adobe Premier Elements: http://www.adobe.com/products/premiereel/main.html http://reviews.cnet.com/Adobe_Premiere_Elements_2/4540-3670_7-31515394-4.html?tag=sub
Wow, someone willing to pay for software? Maybe mankind as we know it isn't going to hell in a handbasket afterall? ;-)