Get started with vidding with Corel VideoStudio.

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Now that you've got your HD clips prepared, you can start to edit them in VideoStudio!

Now I'm going to show a few of the features of VideoStudio. But there's no way I can cover everything, so if you haven't done so already, watch Corel's intro to VIdeoStudio linked to on the previous page. It gives a thorough overview of what VideoStudio has to offer.

Corel VideoStudio X2 screenshot: Clicking on the "Edit" tab (see big red arrow) takes you to the editing area, where you'll spend most of your time as you make your fan video.

The area in the aqua box are your collection of media (video clips) which you can use in your fan video. The area in the green box (color correction) appears when you need to lighten, darken, and fix the color in your clip. (Hint: To lighten a dark clip, adjust the Gamma first. It looks nicer than fiddling with contrast and brightness.) The color correction feature is similar in VideoStudio X3.

Corel VideoStudio X2 (screenshot above): This screenshot shows the audio controls in VideoStudio. The red box is around the audio controls for the main video track. You see that I've muted the audio (there's a little red circle with a bar through it). It's common to mute the video clips' audio for fanvids.

 

Corel VideoStudio X3 (screenshot above): You see in this new version of VideoStudio, there are now only three tabs at the top: 1: Capture video from your camcorder (we vidders don't use this), 2: Edit (we spend most of our time here) and 3: Share (export the finished video to YouTube and/or save a copy to our hard drive). The area circled in pink shows where a lot of the controls have been moved to, like the media area, transitions, titling, filters (FX) and music.

 

Corel VideoStudio X3 (screenshot above): Above you can see the audio control area, which is similar to X2. Click on the audio symbol (outlined by green box) to be taken to the audio area. Audio controls and levels are available for you there.

Reminder (both X2 & X3): You'll see in the screenshot above that I have a .WAV file in my music track. It's important that you only import .WAV files for your music/song track. Sometimes MP3 or iTunes formatted files will seem to work fine in VideoStudio, but other times you'll get audio breaking up, popping, and static. Follow the iTunes-to-WAV tutorial to convert your music to a VideoStudio-friendly WAV file.

 

Corel VideoStudio X2 (this feature is similar in X3): Another nice feature of VideoStudio is the "overlay" or "video within a video." You drag a clip to the second video track (it's located below the top or main video track) and then adjust the size of the second video, the position, and the type of "frame" or "mask" that will be used with it. You can see several examples of masking (or overlays) in Spikesbint's video "How Can I Not Love You" which is edited with VideoStudio.

 

Corel VideoStudio X2 (this feature is similar in X3): Chapter markers (circled in orange in the screenshot above) help you edit to the beat of the music in your fanvid. Click on the "+" symbol (circled in fuscia in screenshot above) to the time of the music, and markers (little gold triangles) appear in your timeline. Then you can trim each individual clip so they align with the markers.

 

VideoStudio X2 and X3 both have a feature where you can distort the clip (or in the example I'm showing above, UNdistort a clip). If your footage shows up in VideoStudio looking squished and distorted (in this case too elongated), you can fix it manually. (If you prepare your clips by following the tutorials here at Foolishpassion.org, you should never have to worry about distorted clips, because video distortion is a major pet peeve of mine and I take pains to explain how to avoid it! LOL.)

The distort filter allows you to drag the corners of the frame so it is no longer squished. In the screenshot above, I am in the process of unsquishing a clip (making it fill the frame). (Yes I know there's a spelling error in that screenshot. I don't feel like redoing it right now, okay? LOL.)

The distort clip feature should only be used when your clips show up distorted and you want to fix them and make them normal again. Some people erroneously try to get rid of "ugly black bars" on clips by stretching them out to fill the frame—even though the black bars need to be there in order to make everything in the clip look normal. (This YouTube aspect ratio tutorial explains more about why the black bars are in some videos and not others, and why it's important to try to keep everything looking in proportion.)

Some people are not overly bothered by video distortion (where round moons look oval, and your favorite actors' faces look elongated and skinny, or squashed down and too fat) but many will notice it right away. You're always better off keeping the proportions in the video looking normal, even if that means keeping the "ugly" black bars. Distorted aspect ratio is a flaw that will stamp your fan video as lesser quality in many viewers' eyes. Some viewers even consider a distorted video to be unwatchable.