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Believe it or not, but we also do a lot of video work here at Windows Central. Being a media company, we need the best editing tools in the business. You deserve the best too, which is why we rounded up the best video editing suites available for Windows 10. Adobe Premiere Pro is as powerful as it is complicated for newcomers. Should you find the time to master this incredible collection of tools and features, you'll become the master of video editing in no time at all.

• Video Editor Adobe Premiere
• Premier Film Editing Software
• Premier Film Editing Software

Best Overall: Adobe Premiere Pro

Click the plus button in Adobe Spark, then select 'Video' to launch a new project in the video editor. Give your video a name to get started, then dive into the video editing. You can watch the brief tutorial on how to edit videos or skip straight to adding your own content to slides. Add media to the slides. Premiere Pro is the leading video editing software for film, TV, and the web. Creative tools, integration with other Adobe apps and services, and the power of Adobe Sensei help you craft footage into polished films and videos in one seamless workflow. OpenShot (Windows, Mac, and Linux) The easy-to-use interface. It's open source. Great user forum. Premiere Pro is the industry-leading video editing software for film, TV and the web. Creative tools, integration with other apps and services and the power of Adobe Sensei help you craft footage into polished films and videos. With Premiere Rush you can create and edit new projects from any device.

Pretty much everyone knows about Adobe Premiere Pro, but not everyone needs Adobe Premiere Pro. It's pricey, coming in at $21/month for the Creative Cloud subscription (and that's just for one app if you subscribe for 12 months!). You need to make sure the cost is outweighed by the functionality you'd be able to use regularly. If you happen to be developing a YouTube channel or wish to take the plunge and become the next big name in the video editing biz, Premiere Pro will be your best friend for life.

It's not all bad, though. The beauty of Adobe's Creative Cloud platform ensures you're always rocking the latest release of its software packages, and Premiere Pro is one of them. By installing the suite today and continuing the monthly (or annual) payments, you'll receive all future updates and major releases. Think of it much like Microsoft Office 365, but with for creative minds.

When you see or hear the name Adobe Premiere Pro, you immediately think about the best-rated video editor on the market. Used by professionals, amateurs, and everyone else in between, Premiere Pro plays a significant role in the day-to-day running of major content creation businesses, including many YouTubers.

Upon first encountering the immense UI of Premiere Pro and recovering from the immediate panic attack, it's required to spend some time getting accustomed to how everything works. Once you've mastered the basics, however, it quickly becomes quite an intuitive experience.

Adobe offers incredible performance with Premiere Pro.

What sets apart Adobe's Premiere Pro to alternatives is the scope of what you can do with the suite. From simple cut and paste jobs to actual movie edits, there's nothing you can't do with Premiere Pro, aside from more advanced audio editing and other tasks that require dedicated software. But even still, there are tools available here to do some of that without leaving the app.

The only drawback to this amount of power is the price, which is appropriate in the form of a monthly or annual subscription. What this does allow is the installation of regular updates released by Adobe, ensuring your installation is always rocking the latest from the highly talented team of developers.

Pros:

• Immense functionality
• Regular updates
• Works cross-platform
• Backed by Adobe's cloud platform
• Supports virtual reality

Cons:

• Subscription price hard to justify for many
• Incredible learning curve
• Requires a powerful PC

Best Overall

Adobe Premiere Pro

Video editing for professionals

Adobe has more than 15 years of experience in developing video editing tools. Initially released in 2003, Premiere Pro has always been the go-to tool on Windows for putting together clips and adding a whole manner of effects. The software has come a long way since and remains one of the best options out there.

Runner-up: CyberLink PowerDirector

If Adobe Premiere Pro is simply too much for what you require from a video editor, then PowerDirector from CyberLink is likely going to be a better fit. It's also substantially cheaper, not requiring a subscription, and makes it easy to get accustomed to the well-designed UI.

Some handy tools make creating incredible visual experiences a breeze, and there's an option for more advanced users to bypass the beginner-friendly approach and dive into more technical functionality. You could even edit 360-degree recorded footage.

It's a little easier to use for newcomers to video editing too, so if you want premium software out the gate, this may be the better choice for you. Siemens vas 5052 recovery dvd.

Pros:

• Advanced video editor
• Easier to use than Premiere Pro
• Single purchase
• Can edit 360-degree footage

Cons:

• Pricey
• Can still be daunting for newcomers

Runner-up

CyberLink PowerDirector 16

High-quality, premium video editing suite

CyberLink PowerDirector is a little less daunting than Adobe Premiere Pro but offers some advanced features and editing tools.

Best from Microsoft: Microsoft Photos

'Hang on a second, Microsoft doesn't make a video editor!' Actually, the company does, and it ships with Windows 10! Microsoft Photos is the app you can use to view media (both still and animated), as well as make edits to various supported file types. That includes video, allowing you to quickly crop, adjust, and make other alterations without over-the-top bloaty software.

The main benefit of using Photos is that it doesn't cost you anything and is pretty lightweight. There are some features included that allow you to crop and adjust footage, add special effects, and some text, as well as save everything, so it's ready to share with the world. It's all about getting the task done quickly.

That flipside to this is the functionality is .. well, basic. You do have effects, text, and other cool additions to video, but that's about it. If you want to really make your videos pop and stand out, you're going to need a dedicated video editing suite.

Pros:

• Free
• Comes with Windows 10
• Quick and simple
• Video effects
• Easy to use

Cons:

• Lacks many features
• Slow processing

Best from Microsoft

Microsoft Photos

Photos is available as soon as you install Windows 10

Microsoft used to have a dedicated video editing suite called Movie Maker. This has since been replaced by Photos, which not only handles all your still captures but can also do some video work.

Best Value: Adobe Premiere Elements

While not as advanced as the more expensive flagship video editor, Premiere Elements can do much of the basic editing required for throwing together some clips with added music. Depending on the content you desire to create, you may not need the full setup that more expensive and frightening suites offer, which is where something like Premiere Elements really shines.

It's the middle-ground between free software like Microsoft Photos and professional suites like Premiere Pro. You'll find a lack of features compared to the latter, though if you're looking to save money, this should be the least of your worries. For starting out, Adobe Premiere Elements is a solid commercial choice.

Pros:

• Single purchase
• Developed by Adobe
• Works cross-platform
• Good array of features
• Great value

Cons:

• Lacks advanced features
• Not worth upgrading if you own 2018/2019

Best Value

Adobe Premiere Elements 2020

Premiere Pro's younger sibling

Adobe offers Premiere Elements to those who are just starting out in the video editing game and want to continue testing the Adobe experience beyond what the free trial for Premiere Pro.

From the Store: Movie Edit Pro 2020 Plus

Should you not be a fan of Adobe products, or want to try something that isn't Premiere Pro, there are some pretty good video editing apps on the Microsoft Store. The added bonus of using the store on a Windows 10 PC is the ability to download these apps directly from Microsoft and keep them all updated. Movie Edit Pro Plus is a solid editor with a bunch of tools found in other suites.

Just don't go and expect to use professional plug-in effects from HitFilm, Red Giant, MotionStudios, and ProDAD as they're locked out for the Premium version. If you need them, it's worth the additional cost, but this is something to bear in mind. This Windows edition doesn't include all available features. It's also not the most affordable version available.

Pros:

• From the Windows Store
• Single purchase
• Good array of features
• Simple UI
• Good performance

Cons:

• Loses out on some features due to price tiers
• Not the most affordable version

From the Store

Movie Edit Pro 2020 Plus

Available for download on Windows 10

If you'd rather try an app from the Windows Store, or only have access to Windows 10 S, Movie Edit Pro Plus is the ideal choice.

Best Free: OpenShot

OpenShot is special in that it's an advanced video editor that's completely free to download and use. You can grab a copy on Windows, Mac, and Linux, allowing you to use the same software across different devices. Not only that, but it's actually rather good to use, thanks to the UI and ability to switch between simple and advanced modes.

It is a little slower compared to commercial software, as one could argue is to be expected. Still, if you're not going all out with countless files being rendered on a daily basis, OpenShot should be good enough for you to use until you can afford better.

Pros:

• FREE
• Somewhat easier to use
• Cross-platform
• Simple UI

Cons:

• Slower compared to commercial software

Best Free

OpenShot

Free video editing for all

OpenShot has been around for years and garnered a following thanks to being freely available on all platforms. It's not quite as good as our top pick, but hey .. it's free!

Bottom line

There are some excellent options available for video editing on Windows 10, thanks largely in part to the matured platform and OS. Whether you need the best tools available or to save a few pennies and pick up a solution tailored to amateur work, there's a video editor for everyone.

Adobe Premiere Pro is a glorious video editor to use. If you happen to be hunting for the absolute best software available for Windows 10, you cannot best this piece of kit. Available as a subscription allows Adobe to provide regular support and updates to enthusiasts and professionals, both of whom can take full advantage of all the latest innovations and features.

Credits — The team that worked on this guide

Rich Edmonds is a staff reviewer at Windows Central, which means he tests out more software and hardware than he cares to remember. Joining Mobile Nations in 2010, you can usually find him inside a PC case tinkering around when not at a screen fighting with Grammarly to use British words. Hit him up on Twitter: @RichEdmonds.

Daniel Rubino is executive editor of Windows Central. He has been covering Microsoft since 2009 back when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, Surface, HoloLens, Xbox, and future computing visions. Follow him on Twitter: @daniel_rubino.

Cover image via

These essential cuts will help any editor transform their footage into a gripping, solid narrative.

If your goal is to master the art of editing, you're going to need to know the essential cuts to use when editing a film or video. Let's go through eight of these and look at some examples of each. For said examples, we'll be using excerpts from various films — but keep in mind that you can use these same cuts in any editing session, be it narrative, documentary, commercial, industrial, or even animation.

1. The Standard

The hard cut is the basic type of cut in editing. This type of cut is utilized when you want to cut from clip to clip without any type of transition, or where you cut from the end of one clip to the beginning of another. The only down side of the hard cut is that (out of all the cuts we'll talk about) this one gives the least amount of visual meaning. To give you a quick overview of the history of cutting, here is a great video from Filmmaker IQ.

Video from Filmmaker IQ

2. Jump Cut

The jump cut is a technique which allows the editor to jump forward in time. We see an early version of this technique in Eisenstein‘s Battleship Potemkin, where the battleship fires a mortar round and we watch the destruction as various angles jump cut from one to another. In this very early version of the jump cut, contemporary audiences were introduced to a new way of time passage in film. It obviously gained traction and is one of the most used types of cuts today next to the hard cut.

Video from ChaniaArt

Another great place to use jump cuts is during an interview, especially if you film the interview with multiple cameras. This allows you to jump from one angle to the other without it being jarring for the audience. In order to really grasp this type of editing technique, here is a fantastic resource from Vimeo Video School on the Understanding of Jump Cuts.

Video from Riley Hooper

3. L Cut & J Cut

First, let's talk about the L Cut. This editing technique is used not only by narrative filmmakers, but is also a favorite of documentary filmmakers and commercial videographers. What L Cut means is that you are hearing the audio from the previous shot, even though we've moved on to another shot. So, the audience is is looking at clip B but still hearing audio from clip A.

Here is a great example of an L Cut from David Fincher'sFight Club where Tyler recites the rules as various characters ready themselves to fight. What is happening here is that the audience is introduced to the voice, and then we are given visual information on the environment where the voice is located. This technique will keep your film or video flowing naturally, while also giving your audience much needed spacial information.

Video feom Movieclips

Again, this type of editing technique is used to help lead audiences along in the narrative by giving them spacial information and audio. L Cuts are also used to contextualize a conversation or give it deeper meaning, as was done in Skyfall during the museum scene with Q and 007. As they are talking, we cut to the painting of the old warship on the wall while Q continues to talk, eexplaining what they are looking at while also correlating 007s career to the warship in the painting.

Video from Sony Pictures Entertainment

A J Cut is essentially the opposite of the L Cut. Here we hear the audio before we see the video. So, the audience is is looking at clip A but still hearing audio from clip B. This type of cut is used quite often in all forms of filmmaking and videography, but you can see it quite often in content featuring an interview.

Vimeo Video School has once again put together a great resource for users that want to gain a real understanding of what L and J Cuts are. Just like with L Cuts, you can give your audience additional visual information to go along with the dialogue that is being fed to the audience. As was with the video below, this allows your audience to gain a better understanding of the environment the character exists in.

Video from Etsy

4. Cutting on Action

The technique of cutting on action is a huge component of, well, action films. Of course, this type of cut can be used on less-explosive action as well. The basic idea of cutting for action is that the editorcuts from one shot to another and matches the action of the shots. Editing is all about motivation. Each time you cut to a new shot you need to ask yourself: why? In the words of Videomaker:

Don't be tempted to wait for a pause and then cut, unless you have a good reason.

Your film will develop a better ‘flow' if you cut on action instead of waiting for pauses. One of the best examples of motivated cutting is The Matrix. Watch the following clip closely and specifically look for instances of cutting on action. Almost every cut happens mid-action. This results in a much smoother transition and a more tense action scene.

Video from Movieclips

One of the best modern examples of cutting on action is the Watchtower of Turkey by Leonardo Dalessandri. The video is a great example of not only cutting on action but also using motivated edits to seamlessly transition between scenes.

Video from Leonardo Dalessandri

OpenShot has been around for years and garnered a following thanks to being freely available on all platforms. It's not quite as good as our top pick, but hey .. it's free!

Bottom line

There are some excellent options available for video editing on Windows 10, thanks largely in part to the matured platform and OS. Whether you need the best tools available or to save a few pennies and pick up a solution tailored to amateur work, there's a video editor for everyone.

Adobe Premiere Pro is a glorious video editor to use. If you happen to be hunting for the absolute best software available for Windows 10, you cannot best this piece of kit. Available as a subscription allows Adobe to provide regular support and updates to enthusiasts and professionals, both of whom can take full advantage of all the latest innovations and features.

Credits — The team that worked on this guide

Rich Edmonds is a staff reviewer at Windows Central, which means he tests out more software and hardware than he cares to remember. Joining Mobile Nations in 2010, you can usually find him inside a PC case tinkering around when not at a screen fighting with Grammarly to use British words. Hit him up on Twitter: @RichEdmonds.

Daniel Rubino is executive editor of Windows Central. He has been covering Microsoft since 2009 back when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, Surface, HoloLens, Xbox, and future computing visions. Follow him on Twitter: @daniel_rubino.

Cover image via

These essential cuts will help any editor transform their footage into a gripping, solid narrative.

If your goal is to master the art of editing, you're going to need to know the essential cuts to use when editing a film or video. Let's go through eight of these and look at some examples of each. For said examples, we'll be using excerpts from various films — but keep in mind that you can use these same cuts in any editing session, be it narrative, documentary, commercial, industrial, or even animation.

1. The Standard

The hard cut is the basic type of cut in editing. This type of cut is utilized when you want to cut from clip to clip without any type of transition, or where you cut from the end of one clip to the beginning of another. The only down side of the hard cut is that (out of all the cuts we'll talk about) this one gives the least amount of visual meaning. To give you a quick overview of the history of cutting, here is a great video from Filmmaker IQ.

Video from Filmmaker IQ

2. Jump Cut

The jump cut is a technique which allows the editor to jump forward in time. We see an early version of this technique in Eisenstein‘s Battleship Potemkin, where the battleship fires a mortar round and we watch the destruction as various angles jump cut from one to another. In this very early version of the jump cut, contemporary audiences were introduced to a new way of time passage in film. It obviously gained traction and is one of the most used types of cuts today next to the hard cut.

Video from ChaniaArt

Another great place to use jump cuts is during an interview, especially if you film the interview with multiple cameras. This allows you to jump from one angle to the other without it being jarring for the audience. In order to really grasp this type of editing technique, here is a fantastic resource from Vimeo Video School on the Understanding of Jump Cuts.

Video from Riley Hooper

3. L Cut & J Cut

First, let's talk about the L Cut. This editing technique is used not only by narrative filmmakers, but is also a favorite of documentary filmmakers and commercial videographers. What L Cut means is that you are hearing the audio from the previous shot, even though we've moved on to another shot. So, the audience is is looking at clip B but still hearing audio from clip A.

Here is a great example of an L Cut from David Fincher'sFight Club where Tyler recites the rules as various characters ready themselves to fight. What is happening here is that the audience is introduced to the voice, and then we are given visual information on the environment where the voice is located. This technique will keep your film or video flowing naturally, while also giving your audience much needed spacial information.

Video feom Movieclips

Again, this type of editing technique is used to help lead audiences along in the narrative by giving them spacial information and audio. L Cuts are also used to contextualize a conversation or give it deeper meaning, as was done in Skyfall during the museum scene with Q and 007. As they are talking, we cut to the painting of the old warship on the wall while Q continues to talk, eexplaining what they are looking at while also correlating 007s career to the warship in the painting.

Video from Sony Pictures Entertainment

A J Cut is essentially the opposite of the L Cut. Here we hear the audio before we see the video. So, the audience is is looking at clip A but still hearing audio from clip B. This type of cut is used quite often in all forms of filmmaking and videography, but you can see it quite often in content featuring an interview.

Vimeo Video School has once again put together a great resource for users that want to gain a real understanding of what L and J Cuts are. Just like with L Cuts, you can give your audience additional visual information to go along with the dialogue that is being fed to the audience. As was with the video below, this allows your audience to gain a better understanding of the environment the character exists in.

Video from Etsy

4. Cutting on Action

The technique of cutting on action is a huge component of, well, action films. Of course, this type of cut can be used on less-explosive action as well. The basic idea of cutting for action is that the editorcuts from one shot to another and matches the action of the shots. Editing is all about motivation. Each time you cut to a new shot you need to ask yourself: why? In the words of Videomaker:

Don't be tempted to wait for a pause and then cut, unless you have a good reason.

Your film will develop a better ‘flow' if you cut on action instead of waiting for pauses. One of the best examples of motivated cutting is The Matrix. Watch the following clip closely and specifically look for instances of cutting on action. Almost every cut happens mid-action. This results in a much smoother transition and a more tense action scene.

Video from Movieclips

One of the best modern examples of cutting on action is the Watchtower of Turkey by Leonardo Dalessandri. The video is a great example of not only cutting on action but also using motivated edits to seamlessly transition between scenes.

Video from Leonardo Dalessandri

5. Cutaways

Cutaways take the audience away from the main action or subject. These are used primarily as transition pieces to give the audience a view of what is happening outside of the main character's environment. This also goes a long way in helping you emphasize specific details of the mise-en-scène and allowing you to add meaning to them. You can see this clearly in this scene from the The Quick and the Dead where Sam Raimi cuts away from the gunfighters to the clock on the tower, which aids the dramatic tension.

Video from Welcome to the Wild West, son

Another way to use cutaways is during dialogue sequences. A great example of this is during a scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, where Rooney believes he is talking to Ferris, only to be met with the realization that he is on another line.

Video from Lena E

6. Cross-Cut

Fontagent 7 2 2. The technique of the cross-cut, also known as parallel editing Adobe cc 2017 torrent for mac. , is where you cut between two different scenes that are happening at the same time in different spaces. When done effectively you can tell two simultaneous stories at once and the information being given to the audience will make complete sense.

In the last 10 years, probably no filmmaker has loved using the cross-cut technique more than Christopher Nolan. He's used this technique on several films and always uses it effectively to connect the various stories lines in each film. In his 2010 film Inception, Nolan utilizes the cross-cut technique to aid the audience in keeping up with the various levels of the dream state. In fact, it often feels like the entire film is just one long series of cross-cuts. For an example of this cut, let's watch the now famous zero gravity fight scene and watch how it connects to the crew in the van in a previous dream level.

Video from Aniruddh Kumar

Utilizing this type of cut, you'll need to be careful in how you structure your multiple story lines. If not done correctly, you'll just confuse the audience more. When using the cross-cut technique, I've always found it extremely helpful to get a separate pair of eyes on the edit. It may make complete sense to you as the editor, but it may go right over the audiences' head. https://truekfile393.weebly.com/understand-5-0-943-download-free.html. For other examples of this type of cut, all you need to do is look to other work by Nolan. He successfully uses this technique in Memento, The Dark Knight, and Interstellar.

7. Montage

Montage is another technique that has been around for a long time, but isn't used as much as the previous cuts. The idea behind the montage is to use rapid cuts of imagery to help convey the passing of time or to help aid the context of the narrative. There are many different forms of montage, but one of our favorites is the rhythmic montage in��The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. During the three-way standoff, director Sergio Leone uses quick montage cuts to give the audience the facial reactions of all three characters. This works perfectly to heighten the tension of the moment.

Video from Movieclips

As we said, montage is also used quite often to help get the audience through a passage of time. There are great examples of this throughout film history, but one of our favorites is its usage during the original Karate Kid. Editor John G. Avildsen uses the montage to quickly get us through the karate tournament showing the main characters progress, as well as the progress of those he will eventually face.

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Video from TheChefDeadManInc

8. Match Cuts

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The match cut is the technique of matching the movement or space of two opposite environments together. This technique has been used for many years. It's most effective when you need to move the narrative along, but you need to find a way to connect them together seamlessly. There are two particular films that do this extremely well, and they are two of the most lauded films in history. The first film that we'll look at is 2001: A Space Odyssey, and how Stanley Kubrick found a way to move from the ‘Dawn of Man sequence' to the ‘Space Station sequence' in the span of a second without continuity issues. He did this by showing the primitive man throwing the bone up into the air and then replacing it with a spaceship floating through space. This was extremely effective and allowed the audience to move from one scene to another easily.

Video from Lee M

The second example comes from Lawrence of Arabia. After being introduced to Lawrence, director David Lean and editor Ann V. Coates needed a way to move from the space of the government offices to the deserts of Arabia. In this case they used the blowing out of the match to jump us forward in time to the rising sun of the desert. This cut works because we have the extinguishing of one light and the rise of another. Again, this keeps the flow and pace of the narrative going without disorientation to the audience.

Video from Movieclips

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Was this information helpful to you? Are there any other types of editing cuts you would like to learn about? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.