So I decided to learn video editing in my spare time. My background is primarily in graphic and web design but I've always been interested in video production so I thought it might be cool to experiment with some Giant Bomb videos.

Since Windows doesn't come packaged with a decent video editing program like iMovie, I started looking for a good freeware video editing suite. I wanted something where I could drop a file or files on a timeline and make some very basic linear cuts.

I came across Lightworks which seemed like a decent free suite with a relatively straightforward interface. After spending 15-20 hours doing some very basic linear editing, I'd say that it's a pretty good option.

The Mario Party 2 premium video was a joy to edit. So many great moments. I wasn't really trying to form any sort of narrative, just cut together what I thought were the best bits. The original video is 3 hours long and I managed to cut it down to about 19 minutes.

My first pass was alright. I spent most of my time scrubbing around to find where a 'bit' started and ended and then cutting out everything around until I was left with consecutive goofs. This means I had the entire 3 hour video sitting on the timeline and I was making my edits when and where I saw them, which I'm positive is the wrong way to go about things. The term 'destructive editing' comes to mind but I was more concerned with finishing this project quickly and figured I could learn how to do it 'the right way' later. Here's my timeline for that project:

My timeline for the Mario Party 2 video.

In the end I was pretty pleased with how the video turned out. I realize now that if I wanted to go back and re-edit this video, it would be very time-consuming due to the way I just haphazardly sliced out parts of footage in one massive edit. I didn't mess with any of the effects and most of the clips were edited in the order they appeared (save for one or two bits).

Feeling satisfied and perhaps a little overconfident I decided that my next project should be editing together the best bits of the 96 hour extra life livestreams. I finished the Iron Galaxy portion, but I'm planning on writing a separate blog for that.

You can watch the Mario Party video below. If you guys have any hot editing tips I'd love to hear them.