No Budget Films
Software
What software do we use here at No Budget Films? What software do we recommend for aspiring filmmakers? This is the place to find out.
Windows Movie Maker
This is the video editor I personally started with all the way back in 2010. The software is simple, straight-forward, and was free of charge. It allows you to make simple edits like cutting video, adjusting volume, changing speed, adding a music track, doing a voiceover, adding titles and captions, adding transitions, and even adding a few neat looking color/visual adjustments. There's not much of a learning curve here, and most people will be able to jump right into it very quickly. However, if you're an intermediate to advanced user, you'll probably want to pass on this one, because it's missing a lot of critical video editing features such as green screening, layering clips together, and most dubiously, adding more than one audio track. That last one is what broke it for me, which is why I myself haven't used the software since 2011. And because it's no longer supported by Microsoft, there isn't really a reason for me to recommend this anymore.
Left: A blank Windows Movie Maker project. As you can tell, the software is very simplistic and shouldn't be too hard to figure out, even for beginners.
Cyberlink PowerDirector
This software for me is the gold standard. PowerDirector is much more advanced than Windows Movie Maker, in basically every way. It can do pretty much anything Movie Maker can, and a whole lot more. You've got unlimited video and audio tracks, green screening, a huge variety of text options, a huge variety of awesome transitions, a ton of effects, clipart, CGI effects, masking, and keyframe animation. This software is incredibly flexible and (as the name suggests) powerful. It's great for everything from family videos to full feature films. It's the software that I use to edit my movies, and I highly recommend it to any filmmaker using Windows. I don't have many complaints—sometimes it has a habit of messing up my keyframe settings, and newer versions have kinda botched the green screen feature, but overall it's still pretty great. The price tag is in the mid-range for video editing softwares, quite affordable for what you get. They may be moving towards a subscription model though, and that's kinda lame if you ask me.
Visit Cyberlink's website and check out their latest offerings.
Left: A blank PowerDirector 14 project. This software has far more features than WMM.
Adobe Photoshop
Everyone's heard of Photoshop. It's probably the best-known image editing software out there, as well as one of the most widely used. There are just so many things you can do with Photoshop, that I'm not gonna bother listing them all. Just about any edit you can imagine involving a still image, Photoshop can probably do it. I primarily use the software to make my video thumbnails, posters, as well as creating special effects stills with transparent backgrounds (examples below).
Visit Adobe's site if you're interested. I recommend Photoshop Elements for beginners (it also doesn't require a subscription).
Above: Adobe Photoshop CS4, looking a bit blank with no photos imported. Today we use Photoshop CS6 which is similar in its core design and functionality, just a bit modernized.
A laser effect, with a blur filter applied and background removed in Photoshop.
Another laser effect with the same Photoshop techniques applied. This is actually the laser effect used for the Roboraptor in the Dinosaur Attack series.
Microsoft Paint
A very famous and simple software packaged with every Windows computer. While advertised as a tool for making simple drawings and things, I've found it to be quite useful in the realm of special effects. Those laser effects you saw above in the Photoshop section were actually first made in Paint, although later edited in Photoshop. The whole process is illustrated below:
The basic shape of the laser effect is drawn in Paint.
The background is removed and made transparent in Photoshop.
The effect is blurred in Photoshop to give it a realistic look.
To complete the effect, I import it into my video editing software, and animate it using keyframes. Voila! A serviceable laser effect is achieved. Note that while the drawing part can also be done in Photoshop, I find it much easier to do in Paint.
Also, with the release of Paint 3D, transparent backgrounds are now supported so Photoshop isn't even needed for the second step. Go figure!
Cyberlink AudioDirector
This is a sort of a companion software for PowerDirector. As the name suggests, AudioDirector is designed to edit sound clips, and it does so quite well. Sounds can be tinkered with in terms of speed, pitch, and volume, and many effects can be applied such as a phone effect, robot voice, echo, reverb, and many more. Although PowerDirector can do a little of this, AudioDirector will take your sound to the next level. This software is how I've created many of my creature roars, robot voices, and booming echoes. Though with free alternatives like Audacity that can do pretty much the same and more, I don't know how much I can really recommend AudioDirector unless it comes packed in a bundle with PowerDirector (which was the case for me). Check out what your options are at cyberlink.com.
Left: Cyberlink AudioDirector 5