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Top 3 Video Editing Software to Make Home Videos
(Plus Useful Tips!)
Videos are some of the most concrete reminders you can have of your favorite memories in life. Watching video footage from your graduation, engagement, or wedding day can instantly transport you back to your most treasured memories, allowing you to experience the emotions you felt in those moments again.
However, capturing footage of day-to-day activities with your family is just as important as remembering the most significant events in your life. In ten, twenty, or fifty years, you can watch this footage again and reflect on the everyday moments you shared with your spouse, children, and grandchildren.
Today, many people share photos or short clips of their lives on Instagram or Facebook. While these snippets are quick and easy to post, they do not capture memories as thoroughly as a long-form video would.
Instead, we recommend recording moments with your family throughout the day and piecing the clips together with a video-editing program. You can keep the final cuts on your hard drive to watch in the future or post them to YouTube like successful family vloggers The ACE Family or The LaBrant Family.
Using video-editing software may sound intimidating at first, but you can find several easy-to-use editing programs that include automated features and straightforward tools to streamline your process.
With so many editing programs available, you may have trouble knowing where to begin your search. To help you narrow down your choices, we have reviewed the three best home video editing software choices available today.
We compared three popular video editing software, PowerDirector, Corel Video Studio, and Pinnacle Studio Ultimate. PowerDirector, from CyberLink, is our top choice because of its easy learning curve, free tutorials, and affordable price point.
Read ahead to learn more about these beginner-friendly programs, then download PowerDirector to start making home video montages today.
- 3 Best Video Editors for Home Video
- 5 Tips on How to Make Home Videos
- Shoot Footage With Your Phone’s Rear Camera
- Record in Landscape Mode
- Save and Organize Footage Regularly
- Piece Clips Together with Transitions and Effects
- Add background music
- Comparison Chart
- Summary
3 Best Video Editors for Home Video
1. PowerDirector
If you’re in the market for an easy-to-use video-editing program that can produce professional-level results, PowerDirector is your best option.
PowerDirector is an affordable video editor available for Windows, Apple, iOS and Android devices. This program comes with a wide range of built-in features that can help you turn raw home video footage into a clean, entertaining final product with just a few clicks.
Unlike other professional video editors, PowerDirector has an easy learning curve and intuitive layout that makes it ideal for beginners. Additionally, the program comes with dozens of free tutorials to help you learn specific editing styles and techniques.
Among PowerDirector’s most intuitive features are its drag-and-drop templates. These free templates allow you to apply filters, text, and effects across your video, giving it a professional quality without requiring any special skills or expertise. You can easily incorporate built-in templates in your video by dragging them onto your editing timeline.
A unique feature to PowerDirector on Mac and PC is it’s Collage Designer. It allows you to combine multiple videos into animated split screens perfect for any home movie. The program also offers enhanced video stabilization, allowing you to straighten out shaky footage from handheld videos quickly.
If you are interested in more advanced features, PowerDirector has motion tracking, video masking, keyframe controls, multicam editing, and green screen editing.
Best yet, PowerDirector is one of the most affordable editing programs available. This software offers the best value among its competitors and includes stock libraries with music, effects, and templates in its upfront cost.
Key Features- Drag-and-drop templates
- Automated effects
- Free music library
- Beginner-friendly tutorials
- Affordable
- Music, effects, and stock contents included
- Beginner-friendly interface
- Easy-to-use templates and effects
- Wide selection of features can be overwhelming at first
2. Corel VideoStudio
Corel VideoStudio is a video-editing software with a selection of tools, effects, and features. This program includes everything you need to create top-quality videos while still utilizing a beginner-friendly interface.
Corel includes several drag-and-drop features along with more advanced tools like stop-motion animation, multi-camera editing, and more. The program also offers enhanced video stabilization, allowing you to straighten out shaky footage from handheld video cameras quickly.
This program makes it easy to identify and use its advanced tools, even if you are a complete beginner. Corel VideoStudio divides its features into helpful categories, such as “tutorials,” “templates,” and “edit,” allowing you to find the tool you need in no time.
A significant drawback of this program is its slow processing speed. Many users have reported the program lagging and crashing during regular use, which could slow down your editing process.
Additionally, Corel is only available for Windows. If you have a Mac computer or would like to edit videos on your phone, you’ll need to look for a different program.
Key Features- Impressive motion-tracking tools
- Drag-and-drop features
- Stop-motion animation
- Multi-camera editing
- Beginner-friendly tools
- Advanced features, like stop-motion animation
- Slow processing speeds
- Expensive price point
3. Pinnacle Studio Ultimate
Pinnacle Studio Ultimate is another advanced video-editing program from Corel. This software comes with high-end editing features that are ideal for experienced editors.
Pinnacle Studio Ultimate utilizes a clean interface with fast processing speeds. In addition, the program comes with a wide range of effects that can help you create your videos. A few of its most popular features are its multi-cam editing options, motion tracking, keyframe controls, and animated GIF creation.
One downside of Pinnacle Studio Ultimate is its steep price tag compared to more affordable programs like PowerDirector. If you’re a video editor looking to piece together home videos quickly, you may want to look for a less expensive option.
This program also requires some editing knowledge, making it less than ideal for complete beginners. If you have no previous editing experience, PowerDirector may be the better option.
Key Features- 360-degree VR editing
- Stop-motion animation
- Multicam editing
- Motion tracking
- Fast processing speeds
- High-end features
- VR editing
- Steep price tag
- Advanced interface
- Availability limited to Windows
5 Tips on How to Make Home Videos
Creating a video montage of clips from a particular family memory is an easy way to organize footage into a clean, easily watchable video. Here are a few tips to help you make a YouTube-worthy home video montage.
1. Shoot Footage with Your Phone’s Rear Camera
Most phones include high-quality, optically sharp cameras that take pretty impressive videos. Instead of purchasing an expensive video camera to shoot your home videos, you can pull out your phone and begin filming instantly.
If you shoot most of your footage on your phone, we recommend using your phone’s rear camera rather than the front selfie camera. Rear cameras tend to take higher-resolution videos than the front-facing ones, creating sharper, higher-quality footage.
2. Record in Landscape Mode
When you record a video with your phone, you can either position the phone in portrait (vertical) mode or landscape (horizontal) mode. If you plan to shoot home videos regularly, you should get into the habit of filming in landscape mode to optimize the quality of your final cut.
3. Save and Organize Footage Regularly
If you store all of your videos in your phone’s camera roll, they can become disorganized quickly. Instead, we recommend saving video footage to your computer weekly or monthly and organizing it by date, location, and subject.
4. Piece Clips Together with Transitions and Effects
Once you have enough clips to create a home video montage, you can drag-and-drop them into your video editor, then add transitions and effects between the clips to create a cohesive finished product. PowerDirector makes it easy to add built-in templates to your videos, reducing your editing time dramatically.
5. Add Background Music
Adding background music to your video montage is an easy way to take your footage to the next level. Programs like PowerDirector include royalty-free music that you can add to your videos with a few clicks of a button. If necessary, you can always lower the music’s volume to ensure that you can still hear the natural sounds in the footage.
Comparison Chart
 PowerDirector |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $5.83/month | 79.99 | $39.95 |
| User-Friendly | Easy, Beginner Friendly | Moderate | Moderate |
| Updates & New Features | Constantly/Year-Round | No | No |
| Transition & Effects Library | Large Collection & Growing | Yes | Yes |
| Text Animations & Title Templates | Wide Selection | Yes | Yes |
| Video Collage Designer | Yes | No | No |
Edit Your Family Memories
Life moves quickly, and filming everyday moments with your family is an easy way to stop the clock and savor the happy times you spend together in the here and now.
Creating home videos does not have to be complicated or time-consuming. You can shoot high-quality footage with a phone then edit clips together using one of the beginner-friendly editing programs on our list.
Try our top choice, PowerDirector which offers an intuitive, user-friendly interface with built-in tools and effects perfect for beginner editors. In addition, the program is one of the most affordable options on the market, making it ideal for amateurs who don’t want to break the bank on expensive software.
Download PowerDirector today to begin creating high-quality home videos instantly.
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