Music Video Production

Want to produce your own music videos for free on the PC or Mac? Here is a quick rundown of the tools you will need and instructions on how to get started producing and directing your own music videos immediately. The first thing you might want to purchase if you don't already own one is a digital video camera. You can buy them online from anywhere between $50 and $1000. I recommend the SVP-400 as a good starter camera for video production, having HD quality and running in the $100 price range.

The next thing you will need is some video editing software. There are many different suites to choose from, each one having there own positive and negative attributes. If you own a Windows PC you will have had a copy of Windows Movie Maker installed when you purchased the computer. This is a very basic video editing program with many disadvantages to more professional software packages, however it does get the job done if you are a beginner. You can find it in your start menu. There are many video editing and production software packages to choose from, fortunately through many websites online you can utilize a free trial period in selecting a video editing suite that is right for you. Here is a brief list of some of those video editing programs along with links to download trial copies as well as my personal experiences with them.

Mpeg Video Wizard
This software is very well priced and very stable. The trial also lasts a very long time and is not handicapped in anyway. Definitely my choice for the beginner, it makes alot of significant improvements over the competition, allows for unlimited layering, and has a very fast compilation speed.

Sony Vegas
Definitely the most professional out of the bunch. Quick to compile videos, alot better then previous versions of the same software.

Corel VideoStudio Pro
A fairly decent program if you are interested in using alot of old 80s-style video effects and easy to find fairly cheaply at some places.