Super simple video editing software?
 

All,

I'm working on a small project at work where I will be creating video based equipment operating instructions for our associates. This is just the proof of concept phase so I don't need to get carried away with production quality.

These will be short <1min clips that need to be silent but annotated (the environment they will be viewed in makes audio useless). I want a program that has great annotation tools (text placement, ability to highlight or circle features, perhaps pause/zoom, etc..). The YouTube online interface is almost good enough if that helps.

Again...proof of concept phase so I want freeware if possible. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thx much!

Avidemux - Main Page

Free and easy

iMovie is free if you have a mac. adobe premiere elements is cheap at 70 bucks or so. Both can do what you want.

iMovie sucks sweaty donkey balls.

I have Adobe Premiere. I don't think it's the Elements version. If you have an older version of MS Windows 7, then you might have Movie Maker. I don't know why MS ever did away with that.

Thanks guys, I have movie maker but the annotation tools are weak (unless I'm missing something)

No, they are weak.

HP also makes a good movie editing software if you have an HP.

Otherwise there are good downloads. VP or some such thing allows you to add watermarks, which I like.

iMovie does just fine. it is every bit as good as premiere elements and its easier to use/learn for someone who has never done video editing before.

Interesting, looks like it may be more of a professional style cutting tool than what I'm looking for but I'll dig in to it a bit. Thx

I'll give it a shot, thx.

He'll be annotating, which takes him beyond the beginner phase right away. That will mean inserting most likely still shots of the frames and defining the duration in X seconds. I think Adobe Premier might be the way to go.

Upload your stuff to YouTube

Use their editor and annotation

Make your charnel private so only those with the link can see it

Or go to aviary.com

I thought about that (the YouTube option), their tool is almost perfect but I wondered about the privacy of the whole thing.

You have multiple privacy settings.

You can publish a video / playlist via hidden URL or Private where you specify who can view.

Yeah, your channel can be public, but your individual movies can be specified as private. So long as a person has the URL they can view it.

I think the nagging issue in my mind is that we have a lot of proprietary processes and even though it's "private" I don't feel comfortable uploading it to the web period.

Hmm, ignore aviary, looks like they shut their suite down. Shame, they had a bunch of cool free tools.