Splice Video Clips
Most modern digital cameras are capable of recording short video clips along with digital still images. Combining these video clips into one movie will allow you to create a more unified video story with your camera. The movie can be copied to a DVD that can be shared with others. Using the free movie application that is included in both Windows and Mac operating systems offers the easiest method. It's a simple process to combine spliced video clips and edit out certain sections!
Steps
- Transfer your video clips from your camera to make a video.
- You can connect the camera directly to your computer using a USB cable. This will allow your computer to treat the camera as an external drive. Drag video clips from the camera into your personal documents folder.
- Your computer may have a memory card reader. If so, you can turn your camera off and remove the memory card. Insert the card into the proper card slot on your computer to access and edit video clips contained on it.
- Launch the free movie application that came pre-installed on your computer.
- In Windows, the application is called Windows Movie Maker or Windows Live Movie Maker.
- On a Mac, the application is called iMovie.
- Create a new project and provide a descriptive title before you begin to edit video.
- Import the video clips into your project by using the Import Media button.
- Click and drag each clip down into the Video section of the Timeline at the bottom of the application window.
- Edit video clips to remove any unwanted sections.
- Play the timeline. When you arrive at a section you want to remove, take note of the times at which the section begins and ends; the section between will be where you edit the video.
- Move the progress bar to the beginning of the section you want to remove. In Movie Maker, click the Trim button. In iMovie, choose "Split video clip at Playhead" under the Edit menu.
- Repeat this process at the point in the clip where your unwanted section ends.
- Delete the unwanted portion of the video clip from your timeline.
- Review the timeline again, making sure that the removed portion of the clip no longer appears.
- Add transitions between the clips, apply background music or make title and credit screens to play at the beginning and end to make a video.
- Publish your spliced video.
- In Windows Movie Maker, click "Save Movie" and then choose "This Computer" if you will only be playing your movie back from a file saved on the hard drive or if you want to upload your movie to a website.
- Choose "DVD" if you will be copying your movie to a writable DVD.
- In iMovie, publish your movie through the Share button. You can choose to publish directly to YouTube, Facebook or another sharing website.
- You can also choose to burn your movie to a DVD by choosing the iDVD option in the Share menu.
Tips
- If you make a mistake while splicing or editing your video clips, you can use the Undo utility or even delete a clip from your project and upload another original copy.
Things You'll Need
- Digital camera or camcorder
- USB cable or removable memory card
- Computer
Related Articles
- Use Any DVD Converter to Merge Video Files/Clips
- Convert a Video Into a Gif Animation
- Edit a Video Clip
- Organize Video Clips for Editing
