Video Editing Software

Students: Please contribute to this page with your advice and suggestions.

[edit] Recommended Video Editing Software for Windows

Adobe Premiere

Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 is the basic version of Adobe Premiere. It retails for $100. (As a qualifying student or educator, this software retails for $69 at the Education Store.) The trial version is available here.
Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 is one of the leaders in professional video editing software. It retails for $800. (As a qualifying student or educator, this software retails for $349 at the Education Store.) It will be much more complex than Elements, but is worth learning how to use if you plan on doing more high end editing work in the future. The trial version is available here.
Both trial versions are available for 30 days and some software functions are restricted. For example, you will only be able to save your file as .avi file. This means, you will need to use an additional program to convert your video to an mpeg format, such as Media Convert or WinAVI video converter (free options).

Tutorials for Adobe Premiere Elements

For a a very basic tutorial of Adobe Premiere Elements try Adobe Digital Kids Club: Video Tutorials from Total Training. There are 8 short tutorials.

Sony Vegas

Sony Vegas Movie Studio is fairly popular, easy to use video editing software. It retails for $80. The trial version is available here.
There are a variety of "Show Me How" video tutorials built into the software.
There are more advanced, higher end versions of the software available as well. Learn more about the Vegas Product Family.
The trial version is available for 30 days. I don't know if its functionality is restricted at all. Anyone else know?

Ulead

Ulead Video Studio is also a popular, basic video editing software. It retails for $60. The trial version is available to download here.
The trial version is available for 30 days and appears to be a full function version.
I'm not aware of the tutorial and help resources available for Ulead. Anyone else know?

MovieMaker 2

This is free software that comes with Windows XP. (I'm not sure if it also comes with Windows Vista.) It is not a very good or sophisticated editing program, but it is sufficient for basic editing projects. If you think you might want to do more with video editing beyond this class, I recommend learning a higher quality editing program that will give you more options and finer editing capabilities (such as those listed under "Recommended Video Editing Software for Windows").

iMovie

This is the entry level video editing software for the Mac. It is a fully capable editing program and fairly easy to use. There are many useful books that you can purchase about using iMovie, as well as good Help and Getting Started resources available from the Help menu and online.

Final Cut Pro

This is professional level video editing software for the Mac. It is very powerful software, but only recommended for those who want to invest considerable time in learning the software.