Making Your Box Office Debut
J. Kevin Tumlinson

Video editing used to be strictly the domain of a scant few professionals, hidden away in darkened rooms with flickering monitors as the only source of light and a board with so many controls and knobs that the crew of the Enterprise would be intimidated. Now, though, anyone with a computer and a video camera can piece together a blockbuster. Technology has finally caught up to the demand, and home video editing is becoming not only more accessible, but more enjoyable as well.

But simply owning a computer and a camera are not enough. You still need three very essential ingredients - time, imagination, and software.

We can't help you with time or imagination, but for video editing software you should look no further than Adobe Premiere. For years, this video editing suite has been consistently the most popular and most versatile on the market. It's so powerful that even professional studios use it, yet it's easy enough to learn that an amateur could have it down in just a few sessions. Features include time-based editing, plenty of transitions, scrolling credits, and the ability to include graphics and effects from other software packages. You can also work with DV video and audio files.

The latest version of Adobe Premiere allows you complete DV support - a new feature that has been long awaited in the video editing community.

Adobe Premiere is a bit on the expensive side at just under $600, but for video enthusiasts it's a must have. Upgrades from earlier versions are also available, at a lower cost.

You can find Adobe Premiere at www.adobe.com.