lancecarr12 's List: This Week's Picks

This is a pretty basic titling effect that most video editing software will have as stock in some form. Generally speaking the effect will be under the titling module as an effect or animation. It is shown here in PowerDirector but the reason I am adding it this week is that most often the effect at default settings will be unrealistic. That's usually because the timing will be off so the "typing" will be way too fast or too slow. Like most effects in video editing it is always important to do a little tweaking to get it just right and really "sell" the effect.

PowerDirector Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gla26PE-IIw

When I first started shooting videos for my wife's YouTube channel many years ago I went through hours of YouTube videos trying to work it all out. Before that I was strictly "editing only" so the world of shooting and cameras was all new to me.

At times it seemed like once I had one thing under control there was something else I now had to learn! Now my brother-in-law is an award winning cinematographer so you would think he would have been a big help right? Wrong! The problem with pro's is that they can only really communicate with other pro's! He kept telling me the video looked "too flat" but both my wife and I could never work out what the hell he was talking about until I realized he was talking about depth of field. Now for me it's easy, back then... not so much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5bYKk3XvMY

One area of video editing that has greatly benefitted from the rise of A.I. is in the field of enhancements. This holds true for both audio and video and in the case of audio we have tools like Studio Sound from Descript and the free Adobe Podcast Enhancer. Those two in particular have matured over time and can really make a difference. The good news is that these tools and others like them will only get better as they are developed and gain access to more data to draw from. In the world of video enhancement things have been "OK" but for the most part the results aren't quite there yet with one exception. That exception is Topaz Labs Video AI which is the one I personally use and is an absolute beast. Yes it is a bit pricey but you really do get what you pay for. Some other alternatives are mentioned in the video below, results may vary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q1Qf6kUnaI

If you have previously dipped your toes into the YouTube cesspool, gained a little traction then gave up then all is not lost! Possibly you have taken a little break and maybe now you are ready to dive back in! Well rather than start from scratch it is possible and probably better to try to rebuild what you already have. There are definitely some steps you can take to improve your chances and you can follow along in the video below. However before you go that far bear in mind that if the original reason you gave up on the channel was the grind of creating new content regularly then nothing has changed in that respect.

Movavi Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho1yIZ5gGSk

Although the title of this video refers to product videos in truth it applies to any video or video sequence involving an object you are trying to highlight. Sure this is what most product type videos are but you may also be shooting an object in isolation for b-roll or something else. Adding interest to shots like this can not only highlight the object itself but make it or it's place in the project way better.

Filmora Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieRkpLeeVlY

One particular drum I keep banging on is that the Fusion Page in DaVinci Resolve is one of the most powerful tools you can use. Of course it's not all beer and skittles because the Fusion Page is by far the most complex to learn. That's not so much because it is any more or less complex in itself. It's because the design of it doesn't really relate to anything a newcomer would be familiar with through having used other video editing software. Anyway my experience with the Fusion Page in Resolve has been that the best way to learn it is to use it in a guided manner which brings us to this week's offering from Casey Faris. It's a cool logo animation done in Fusion and worth checking out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydZQBm6373o