One of the best things about videos is that they have a strong emotional and visual impact. The mere thought of being able to embed an appealing video on your website turns the visitors into potential buyers more often than not. In this article, we will help you learn how to create videos and how to use video creation tools to improve your video production process and ROI.
Here, I will provide you with the best creation tools that you can apply to work.
Filmora from Wondershare
When it comes to video editing software, Filmora is about as multi-faceted as they come. Filmora is Wondershare’s standard, simple, high-quality video editing offering; but Wondershare also offers FilmoraGo (for mobile editing) and Filmora Scrn (for screen recording and editing). The design is intuitive and easy to use, and comes replete with filters, overlays, motion elements, transitions, and a small selection of royalty-free music. Here are a few more of the “basics” Filmora offers:
4k and gif support are boilerplate features for most video editing products today, but one thing Filmora does particularly well is titles. Title tools are trending in video software, and while Filmora’s doesn’t have the functionality of say, an Apple Final Cut Pro X, which can superimpose 3D titles over your videos and rotate them on three axes, it nonetheless has some snazzy titling features for the money you’re spending.
Another Filmora feature beginners to video editing will find attractive is “Easy Mode,” which allows you to create fun, polished edits by merely dragging and dropping clips, choosing a theme, and selecting music (how to use music in your marketing here).
Standout features: Title tool; mobile and screen editing; “Easy Mode”
Pricing: Starts at $59.99 for a lifetime license; or, $39.99 for a year.
Corel VideoStudio
Corel VideoStudio has all the characteristics of the other top-of-the-line products on this list, including 360-degree VR and 4k support, but it also has the distinction of being the first piece of consumer video editing software to offer motion tracking—which, if you’re not already familiar, is a feature that allows you to track specific objects throughout your cut (if you wanted, say, to point an arrow at one of your characters, blur out his face, or bestow him with a funny hat). Most of the products on this list come equipped with motion tracking, but VideoStudio still boasts one of the best motion tracking systems around.
One of the knocks on VideoStudio is its speed, which lags notably behind some of the faster systems on this list, like CyberLink PowerDirector and Pinnacle Studio. Still: for a one-time payment of $51.99? You can do much worse.
Standout Features: Motion tracking
Pricing: One-time payment of $51.99
CyberLink PowerDirector
So—we stretched the meaning of “software” a bit earlier; now, we’re going to stretch the meaning of “beginner.” We included CyberLink PowerDirector on this list because its interface is, at the end of the day, pretty straightforward. Head to the product page, run through the tutorials, and you’ll be alright. There is within the interface, however, an embarrassment of options and effects. If you’re not willing to invest the time in learning all of them, it can get a bit overwhelming.
Don’t be scared of CyberLink’s extra features; just be wary of your commitment level!
In terms of rendering, PowerDirector is regarded as one of the fastest video editing systems around. It also operates consistently in the sphere of the innovative and cutting edge. PowerDirector led the charge in the switch to 4k, and today, it’s one of the first systems to support 360-degree virtual reality footage.
Price: you get what you pay for! $79.99 gets you unlimited access to one of the most capable pieces of video editing software around.
Standout Features: Lightning-fast rendering; comprehensive suite of effects
Pricing: One-time payment of $79.99
HitFilm Express
Simple free video editor with professional visual effects and tutorials
If you don’t have a lot of experience with video editing, HitFilm Express may feel a little advanced at first—it’s used to produce Hollywood-style films—but it’s worth the learning curve, as it’s one of the best all-in-one free video editors available. (HitFilm does ask you to share a social media status update when you download the software, but that’s a small price to pay.)
HitFilm includes animation tools that let you create and edit audio and video transitions without the need to create composite shots, which is a huge time saver when editing. It also offers cool 3D effects for films, music videos, and even YouTube videos, plus features you’d find in a paid video editing software, like 4K video, 360-degree editing, and a library of special effects.
Features include:
- Professional-grade video editing with motion tracking, color pickers, and cropping tools
- Composite shot enhancements that allow you to animate two separate shots together for surreal video effects
- An auto-stabilizer to make shaky footage look smooth
- Unlimited video and audio timeline track creation
- An adaptive trimmer that lets you re-trim your clips after adding them to the timeline
- Ability to copy a group of attributes from one clip and apply them directly to another or to a whole project
- Audio mixer for fine tuning sound for professional quality output
- Various transition options, such as push, zoom, and dissolve
Available for: Mac and Windows
Price: Free; $349 for the Pro version
G2 rating: ⭐ 4.5/5
DaVinci Resolve
Top free video editor for advanced editors
DaVinci Resolve combines professional 8K editing, color correction, visual effects, and audio post-production in a single production tool, which is why it’s the software of choice for many professional editors of films, television shows, and commercials.
DaVinci allows for both offline and online editing, and its high-performance playback engine saves time when editing and trimming—even for processor-intensive file formats like H.264 and RAW. DaVinci Resolve’s complex features may be too extensive for some users, but its free version is perfect for more advanced projects.
Features include:
- Dual timeline for quick navigation, cutting, and trimming
- A dedicated trim interface that gives you the ability to edit in minute detail
- Intelligent auto-editing that syncs audio and video clips for you
- Built-in tools for picture-in-picture effects, retiming, stabilization, dynamic zoom, text, and audio
- Facial recognition that detects faces in your clips and automatically creates bins based on the people in each shot
- High-quality motion estimation speed changes and frame rate conversions to easily and realistically speed up or slow-down clips
Available for: Windows, Mac, and Linux
Price: Free; $269 for the full Studio version
G2 rating: ⭐ 4.6/5
VSDC Free Video Editor
Best no watermark editor for Windows
VSDC’s desktop video editing software is available as both a free and a paid version. Although the free version has reduced features, it still comes with VSDC’s full video editing suite—including a mask tool and chroma key functionality for green-screen video effects.
If you have the funds to spring for the full version, the suite of tools expands to include video stabilization, robust post-production effects, slideshow/presentation capabilities, 3D diagram templates, and direct social media publishing.
Features include:
- Color-correction tools for a more professional look
- A full suite of transitional effects
- Easy-to-use image filters, similar to what you’d find on Instagram
- Mask tools for hiding, blurring, or highlighting specific elements
- Social media link for sharing videos on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Vimeo
- HEVC/H.265 (an advanced video-compression standard), for maintaining the highest quality at the minimum file size—essential for processing 4K and HD files
Available for: Windows
Price: Free; $19.99 for Pro version
G2 rating: ⭐ 4/5
OpenShot
The easiest free video editing software for intermediate editors
OpenShot’s easy-to-use user interface makes it a great video editing program for intermediate editors. While more complex tools may offer more editing components, OpenShot’s intuitive interface and minimal design are perfect for simple editing.
OpenShot is an efficient option for small businesses and is best for clip resizing, scaling, trimming, snapping, and rotation. It also offers credit scrolling, frame stepping, time mapping, audio editing, and real-time preview.
Features include:
- Unlimited layers for watermarks, background videos, and audio tracks
- Customizable title-card templates
- Drag-and-drop functionality for easily adding video, audio, or image files
- Digital video effects, including brightness, gamma, hue, greyscale, and chroma key compositing for green-screen effects
- Powerful key-frame animation capabilities for creating animated videos
Available for: Windows, Mac, and Linux
Price: Free
G2 rating: ⭐ 4.5/5
Shotcut
Best open-source movie maker for audiophiles
Shotcut is an open-source, cross-platform video editor with a vast collection of tutorial videos. It also supports a wide range of formats, including FFmpeg, 4K, ProRes, and DNxHD. A warning, however: Shotcut was originally designed for Linux, so some may find the interface a little quirky. Despite this, it’s still a top-notch editor.
Shotcut also provides extensive audio editing options, making it ideal for audiophiles. Its host of fine-tuning audio tools allows users to make bass and treble adjustments, create bandpass filters, adjust gain, add dynamic compression, and much more.
Features include:
- Support for the latest audio and video formats via FFmpeg, the leading multimedia framework
- Native timeline editing, which allows users to import video files directly into their project file rather than a media library
- Multi-format timeline for mixing and matching resolutions and frame rates within a project
- Advanced audio filters like balance, bass and treble, bandpass filters, compressor, and more
- Support for AV1 decoding and encoding
Available for: Windows, Mac, and Linux
Price: Free
G2 rating: ⭐ 4.2/5
Conclusion
There’s no question that video creation has become a hugely popular form of content online. YouTube is full of videos, and as time goes on, they’re becoming more and more important as part of an online marketing strategy. As such, it’s only natural that a huge number of tools have been developed specifically to help you make the most of video creation. These tools can be extremely convenient, but you should also realize that making great video content is not easy, so don’t expect everything to be perfect the first time around. All in all, these video creation tools can be incredibly powerful if used properly. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start creating!