General Software ProblemsQuality not quite what you expected? Need help with video capture, editing, encoding or playback. Post here for software not covered elsewhere.
If you have Windows XP then you already have a good bit of software in Windows Movie Maker installed. Have a look at it and see what you think. You can put together a decent clip with Movie Maker and it has loads of transitions etc to keep you occupied.
Another cheap and cheerful NLE I have worked with a couple of years ago is MGI VideoWave. A simple, storyboard approach with loads of (somewhat cheesy) transitions and FX, at the same time offering quite advanced features, such as PIP, audio dubbing etc.
Hi (and welcome). So nice to see parents who recognise and foster an interest or talent in their child. JT and svhs are both correct of course. Once the lad has mastered those, will you be splashing out on something more extravagant? Welcome to the world of never-ending-pocket-emptying video making!
To get the most mileage out of the software, you'll want something that can "grow" as he learns. There's a few packages that offer storyboard editing in addition to timeline based editing:
Storyboard Editing: This is where the software displays a series of windows at the bottom of the screen. You then drag and drop your video onto one of these windows to create a scene. Eventually you will build up a series of scenes, which you can then output. You can normally drop transitions between these scenes, and combined with scene detect capture, this is the simplest way of editing.
Timeline Editing: There's simply a long strip at the bottom of the software where you drop video. More advanced, but lets you really play around with effects etc.
I suggest you download the trial for Ulead VideoStudio and let him have a play with that.
As a 12 year old boy my self I will tell you how I started. I first had a go at windows movie maker and stayed with that for about three months. I then went onto a £30-£50 NLE during that time saving money to buy adobe premier. If you think he is going to be a "whiz kid" and master windows movie maker 2 straight away then think about slightly more expensive but still simple software.
Hi,
Many thanks to all of you for your speedy and incredibly useful replies. Your enthusiasm is quite obvious and I can see that my son has hours of fun ahead of him.
Happy New Year to you all,
Sally
Editing software suitable for children 
Linear Mode
