USA Today had a great article today on editing video and creating slideshows. Plenty of good stuff in there for youth ministries. Here’s a clip:

It may seem daunting, but editing video has gotten much easier. Just look at the millions of homemade videos on websites, such as YouTube and MySpace.

With movie-editing software, you can make a real production. Apple’s iMovie, Microsoft’s free Windows Movie Maker and Muvee Technologies’ $99.95 Muvee AutoProducer even have tools to make “automatic movies” that take your clips and
edit them for you.

But any real director wants to be in control, and that entails deciding how your movie opens and ends. Apple’s iMovie is drop-dead easy for editing clips, adding titles and music. To edit, you import your clips into the software by locating the videos on your computer, bringing them in and then arranging them into a timeline window that displays the order of the clips for your production.

In iMovie, you edit by arranging two arrows under the video clip to show the portion you want to use, and deleting the excess. After you’re satisfied with the beginning, middle and end of your production, you reach into the grab bag of graphic goodies that comes with the software for titles, captions and transitions, such as fade-outs. Add music and DVD chapters and click “Share” to start the DVD burn.

Apple also lets you save the movie as a file for showing on the Net, or in the popular MV4 format used for its video iPod and podcasts in its iTunes Music Store.

JG