Introduction

Software

2D Stop Motion Animation
Shadow Films

Time Lapse
Reverse Video

FILM MAKING FOR KIDS

Software

Note: When it comes to film making I only have experience of Microsoft Windows so some of the following will only apply to Windows I am afraid.

There is so much software available for producing and editing films that it is difficult to know where to start. The software falls broadly into two types - video producing and video editing. Some software does a combination of the two.

1. Video producing software

This is any software that takes some kind of visual input and outputs a digital video clip. The output of this software will be a digital video clip with a file extension such as .MOV, .WVM, .AVI, .3GP For example:

• software built into your camera. You don't need to worry about this - just download / copy the resulting clips to your computer
• an application that came with your webcam and allows you to record live video to your computer
• stop motion software which captures a series of images from your camera and assembles them into a video clip (an animation)
• time lapse software which automatically captures images from your camera at regular intervals and generates a video clip from them
• animation software which allows you to create cartoon style animations
• video capture software which takes streaming video from one device and stores it digitally - eg from tape based camcorders, VCRs, your SKY box
• specialist visual device software - eg software that comes with digital microscopes
• and so on!

Some examples of video producing software:

• Pivot Stick Maker (Animation) FREE
• Helium Frog (Stop Motion Animation) FREE
• ZU3D (Stop Motion Animation)
• SAM (Stop Motion Animation) FREE
• Yawcam (Live video + time lapse + more) FREE
• Crazytalk (Animation)
• Stop Motion Pro Action (Stop Motion Animation)

Once you have generated/recorded/captured some video clips using any of the above software you can import them into your video editing software.

2. Video editing software

This is any software that allows you to put together all the lovely clips that you have produced into a polished production. Once you are happy with your production this software will allow you to save your movie either in any of the original formats (.MOV, .WVM etc) but also onto DVD ready for your TV. When I started out editing videos the software that I used was very sniffy about formats and in particular mixing formats / dimensions / frame rates. This meant that if I was mixing sources then I had to do a lot of converting of my clips before importing them into the editor. This was a right pain, but thankfully newer software is a lot more forgiving. However, before purchasing any editing software, check carefully that it will support any formats that you intend to import.

These are the kinds of things that you will be able to do with video editing software:

• shorten and split video clips
• combine video clips
• add transitions between clips (fades etc)
• add special effects
• add menus and titles
• add music, sound effects and voice overs
• speed up, slow down or reverse clips
• chromakey (blue screen / green screen)
• output to DVD

Some examples of video editing software:

• ULead
• Pinnacle Studio
• Adobe Premiere Elements
• Windows Movie Maker (and Windows Movie Maker Live) FREE

Before downloading or buying anything do a stock take of what you already have. It is possible that your camera will have been bundled with some video editing software which may be good enough to get your children started. If not, then I recommend that you give Windows Movie Maker (or Windows Movie Maker Live on Windows 7) a try. That may be all they need, but if they get really enthusiastic I recommend buying something like Pinnacle Studio which has lots of cool features (like chroma key) built in.

Trial versions are usually available for the examples above so you can check that they support all the file formats and features you expect.