Free Stuff: Making Movies for Nothing

Welcome to one of the best authorities on free software! My point in starting this blog in the summer of 2008 was to prove whether or not you could do all sorts of media-related tasks (specifically video editing, special effects and 3D animation) for free with good, reliable software. I think I’ve proved my point: YES, YOU CAN.

To get started, click on the link below to go to the table of contents, where you can find reviews, tutorials and links to some of the best free software on the web!

Table of Contents - Click to get started. Knowledge awaits!

Note: This blog is no longer in development. I’m going on a 2-year mission to Bulgaria for my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from April 2009 – May 2011 or so.

This is me, signing out. See you in two years, when I return from Bulgaria.
~chrisColorado

I just got back from a trip to L.A./Hollywood. The weather is hot down there, horrific traffic, tons of people. I really dislike California. I was even born there, but it’s a bad place to be, what with house and gas prices and crazy laws.

As part of my Hollywood “tour”, I went through Universal Studios. Great stuff! One big thing that surprised me was the amount of buildings/physical sets/hardware equipment that those crews have built for various westerns, the Princess Diaries, Big Fat Liar, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future and more. WOW. With all the strides in software, I never even thought about building stuff like that. I have built some props/sets for some of my short films, but the scale of all that was astounding! I have always figured on using chroma keying/green screen plus CG sets for complex stuff. WOW. And don’t forget the costumes! Big fancy wolfman suits and all that. Amazing!

I got back to Denver tonight. Yes! There’s snow on the ground, it’s cold outside, I love Colorado. It’s gotta be the best state in America! There are only thirteen states I haven’t been to, but of the ones I have been to, Colorado takes the cake.

Well, the 2nd round of Final Fixes is here! The converters and conveditors section is done, with updates for all the chapters and a bunch of new ones.

Especially check out MPEG Streamclip’s chapter at http://videomaker.com/community/blogs/freeware/mpeg-streamclip/ since it has recently won Best Free Software of 2008 from Videomaker Magazine!

And there’s updates for the video section, especially where Jahshaka is concerned. There’s also two new pages, one for the coming Jahshaka tutorials and one for Links/Finding Freeware on your own.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Well, I’ve now come to the Encoders and Converters section of software to put into the new chapter format. After studying these programs, many of them are hybrid video converter/editors. You’ve heard of them: VirtualDub, Avidemux, MPEG Streamclip, AVIedit, AVI Trimmer, etc. These programs can’t really edit the same as Final Cut Pro, but they are not simply converters, like MediaCoder. They can edit, in a way.

I coined a new term for these things, a “ConvEditor” or maybe just “Conveditor”.  Maybe this will be a revolutionary new term, starting with little, ol’ me. LOL These programs seem to be everywhere. People actually try to use them for video editing. I know, it’s laughable. I even found what seems to be a popular site that sells VirtualDub on a CD-ROM(?) as the World’s Best Free Video Editor. What a ripoff! I hope few people get suckered into that one.

I also found an old site that sells a manual highlighting all the free software at the beginning of the Nineties. Come on, people. If it’s free software, shouldn’t the reviews/links/info/etc. be free as well? Take this blog for instance…

Section 6 – Converters and “Conveditors” – COMING SOON!!

P.S. I got CamStudio to work, so the Jahshaka tutorials will also be coming soon!