This has been the longest time that I have went without publishing a blog post since I relaunched this blog over two years ago.
You will be glad to hear that I have not been wasting my time. Over the last week or so, I have been spending a lot of time learning more about recording good videos. I am really excited about connecting with all my readers via video and providing useful content to you all in a different format.
I have purchased a lot of new equipment so that I can regularly publish good tutorials and videos for you all on YouTube. Though I am tackling this project as a beginner as my knowledge on video editing was next to nothing. Apart from editing a movie on Windows Movie Maker a few years ago and using iMovie to join two clips together recently, I had absolutely no experience with editing videos.
Windows Movie Maker is too basic for what I am trying to achieve with video recording. And as much as people recommend it, I just do not like iMovie. I really do not like the interface and how everything works.
My preference was to start using a video editor solution that was available for both Mac and Windows. This would allow me to use the same software to edit videos on my iMac and my Lenovo laptop. My search for a suitable video editor led me to a video editor entitled Lightworks. It was recommended as a great free solution.
I spent a day or so learning about how Lightworks works. I was really pleased with what it could do. By the end, I was trimming clips, merging clips, modifying audio levels, and more.
Unfortunately, the free version of the application is a little limited. It only allows you to record in 720p, which is a major problem for me as I want to record all my videos in 1080p. Many features are restricted in the free version too.
Upgrading to the premium version of Lightworks costs a whopping £249.99, which is around $390 in US dollars. I am reluctant to spend so much on video editing software at the moment since I am just a beginner. If I continue to record videos, I am keen to upgrade to a solution such as the Mac only application Final Cut Pro, which is £229.99 in the UK, or the more expensive cross-platform solution Adobe Premiere Pro CC, which is £17.15 per month if you pay annually and £26.88 if you pay month to month. (which works out at £205.80 and £322.56 annually).
My attention soon turned to ScreenFlow. I have seen this video editing software recommended by many vloggers and podcasters online over the last few years.
It is available for Mac and retails at $99.99.
I was a tiny bit reluctant to go with an application that could only be used with my Mac, however I downloaded a trial of the software and was incredibly pleased with it.
Not only does it have more features than the free version of Lightworks, I also found ScreenFlow much easier to use. Little things like inserting clips was pain free.
For example, in order to improve my knowledge of Lightworks, I created a funny little video and sent it to my friends. I inserted a dozen clips into one main recording. It was easy to do this, however everything was out of sync because my phone had recorded all the clips at different frame rates. The only solution I found was to export all the clips to my Windows laptop, open each one up in Windows Movie Maker, and save them all for high definition devices. This converted the clips to 30 frames per second each. I was then able to transfer the files back to my iMac and insert them into Lightworks correctly.
ScreenFlow gave me no such problem. When I inserted the clips with different frame rates, the video and audio synced perfectly.
I was particularly happy with the simple, yet intuitive, interface that ScreenFlow adopts. I still have a lot to learn, however I have found tasks such as text and annotations very easy to add.
I was all set to buy ScreenFlow for $99 when I saw an advertisement for a Mac bundle that contained ScreenFlow. It was being sold for only $44.99 and I found a coupon code that reduced the price by five dollars more. The bundle also game with seven other pieces of software.
As you would expect, I purchased the bundle right away.
How to Get ScreenFlow and 7 Other Great Apps for Only $39.99
If you own an Apple computer, I recommend checking out The Ultimate Premium Mac Bundle; particularly if you plan on publishing videos online at a later date as ScreenFlow is one of the best video editing solutions around.
In addition to ScreenFlow, which sells for $99, the bundle contains seven other great applications. The total value of the included software is a whopping $469.
- Things 2 ($50) – An extremely popular task manager
- Data Rescue 4 ($100) – A data recovery utility that can recover data from Macs with failed drives
- ExpanDrive 4 ($50) – A fast way of accessing data stored in the cloud – it supports Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, OneDrive, S3, SFTP, WebDav, and more
- AfterShot Pro 2 ($80) – A powerful image editing applications that allows you to edit and optimise your photographs
- Typed ($25) – A beautiful minimalist writing editor that bloggers will love
- Snapselect ($15) – A photography tool that helps you select the best photographs
- Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth ($50) – The latest game in the award winning strategy series Civilization
As someone who has purchased Civilization games in the past for PC, PS3, and iOS, I was extremely happy to see the latest version of the game packaged in the bundle (it was only released on Mac on 26 November 2014). It still retails at £29.99 on Steam.
I was also pleased to see that all applications are redeemed from official websites. Once you have purchased the bundle, you will be provided with serial games for each item. For example, with ScreenFlow, I just had to enter the serial code into the trial software I had already downloaded. And with Civilization: Beyond Earth, I had to redeem the code via Steam.
This ensures that all of the products you purchase will continue to be updated and supported by developers.
In order to reduce the price of the bundle from, $44.99 to $39.99, simply enter the coupon code Ultra5 when you reach the checkout page.
This bundle is available for the next eight days, so if you do like what is on offer, I recommend taking action before the bundle expires.
I also encourage you all to subscribe to my YouTube channel as I will be publishing lots of great content there over the next months.
Good luck.
Kevin