[Boatanchors] OT: Multimedia software

[Kludge]

Oh, dear.  Kludge is going off topic again.  

 

Background: It turns out Noelle has to undergo chemotherapy after all in a
last ditch effort to keep her alive.  All – and I do mean all – other
options have failed which isn’t really good news.  She’s terrified by the
potential consequences and I’m scared (which she knows) but I have to be her
strength and anchor as she endures this.

 

We all know I recently acquired a new-to-me computer with lots of speed and
stuff.  While I had intended to make occasional supportive video and MP3
products for her when things got bad, it would appear that this is taking on
a much, much higher priority.  To do this right, I need an editor to manage
the creation of the videos that can handle multiple video and audio
channels.  Way back when, I used Adobe Premiere when it was version 4 or 5
(I think it’s up around version 9 now.) and once I got past the complexity I
liked it.  After Effects was another delightful piece of work, again after I
got past the complexity.  (These weren’t mine; I spent some time helping
someone with video production after he discovered he was in way over his
head.)  They have Premiere Elements now which looks like it can do what I
want including chroma keying, up to 99 video and/or audio channels and all
those other fancy doodads although they don’t seem to have a stripped down
version of After Effects.  Bummer.

 

A number of GPL and other free options exist for the MP3s and part of the
audio work for the videos so they’re not a worry.  Video, on the other claw,
is a problem.   A search of open source software turned up nothing* that can
handle multiple channels the way Premiere and apparently Premiere Elements
can although I think Blender may be a good choice as an After Effects
substitute once the rest is finished.  Other commercial software exists but
I’ve absolutely no experience with the various packages that are available
and I’m a bit cautious about leaving my “comfort zone” on this.  OTOH, I’m
more than willing to listen to alternatives to Premiere Elements, especially
if they can accept Premiere’s plugins – the freebies that abound on the web
that I’ve used before.  

 

* I’m discounting command line processors.  A GUI is what I’ve become used
to for this and I don’t want to deal with the learning curve when time is an
issue.

 

Each treatment will be around 2 hours long which means producing unique 2
hour segments plus ones for each end to help settle her both before and
after the treatments.  There also need to be both video and MP3 products for
in between to help her morale and all that goes with it.  Anyone with
production experience knows that an hour of pretty much anything represents
many hours of production time so a lot of my time will be spent in front of
a mic and/or camera then doing a fair imitation of nothing anyone would care
to imagine outside a really bad trip trying to get all the pieces assembled
properly.  

 

Input will be from several mics (one at a time so I don’t have to do any
switching), a Creative webcam and a Canon camcorder in camera mode.  There
are also a green screen, various graphic (photos), video and audio samples
(Gotta love freebies!), subliminal scripts and other cool stuff to make it
all work as planned.  The bottom line is that Daddy will be right there with
her every step of the way no matter what even though being there physically
isn’t in the cards right now.

 

At this point I’m looking for ideas on software.  As I mentioned, I’m
familiar with Premiere.  Elements apparently has the primary features I need
plus I’ve seen an old release (7, I think) for sale for around $30.  If
anyone has alternate suggestions, I’m interested.

 

Mahalo.

 

Best regards,

 

Michael, WH7HG BL01xh
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/chapters/NTH/index.aspx 

http://wh7hg.blogspot.com/ 
http://kludges-other-blog.blogspot.com
<http://kludges-other-blog.blogspot.com/>  
Hiki Nô!