If you want to learn how to edit videos, you first need to get the right video editing software.
I recommend Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere.
Both of these software programs are user friendly and have a reasonable learning curve.
When you launch your project, you will see four panels including: A bin panel A clip viewer panel A timeline viewer panel A timeline The bin panel is where you import your footage.
The clip viewer panel is where you can preview your footage.
The timeline viewer panel is where you can view what you have edited onto your timeline.
Finally, the timeline is where you drag your footage so you can trim it.
To bring footage into your computer, you must either "log and capture" your footage or "log and transfer" your footage.
The log and capture function works for capturing footage from tapes.
The log and transfer function works well for copying files from compact flash cards, express cards and other cards that can hold digital files.
The original footage you shot was compressed onto a tape or card with something known as a codec.
Codec stands for "compression decompression" and it is a method to compress video footage to a very small size so it can fit onto a digital chip and then be unwrapped on your video timeline so you can view the imagery in high resolution.
When you buy a camera, you must learn what codec the camera uses to compress video footage down to a small size.
Knowing the codec that was used will help you create your timeline settings in Final Cut Pro or other video editing software.
Think of a codec as something that can squeeze a bucket of chocolate syrup into a solid chocolate bar and then remelt the chocolate bar back into chocolate syrup.
The reason we use codecs is that raw, uncompressed footage would be too big for video editing software.
As a result, we need a way to make the footage smaller so it is manageable in video editing software.
Engineers came up with the idea of the codec to accomplish this task.