YouTube has given its video uploading service a major boost by adding an editing feature to it. Last year, the website added a video editor that allows users to give their videos a few very basic touch ups, such as color correction and stabilizing shots that may be a little too shaky. It also allows users to change their video from color to black and white or give the video a vintage film look. Earlier this year, YouTube updated it by adding a "one-click" feature that allows users to color correct an underexposed (not well-lit) video and stabilize a shaky video, along with trimming the ends of clips and putting multiple clips together into one video.
YouTube's Video Editor - Optioning color correction for underexposed videos.
The following video also gives a brief explanation about what this new internet feature does for YouTube users.
Again, while this is a very basic new tool, it is something of a revolutionary technology being introduced to the video editing world. It has the power to compete with professional editing software such as Apple's Final Cut Pro and Adobe's Premiere, should YouTube choose to add more specific features to it in the future. What makes it different from those professional editing suites is that it is available to YouTube users for free, as opposed to spending hundreds of dollars on Final Cut Pro. Though, at this moment it is not quite on par with a software such as Windows Movie Maker or iMovie.
This is a way for YouTube to enhance the quality of the videos that are uploaded to the site. While some videos that users upload are quite decently professional-looking, there are some uploaded videos with very poor picture quality, such as those shot on cell phones. It seems like a nice idea for amateur video makers who would like their videos to look a little better, though I don't think it's something that film students or professional filmmakers would find useful just because it is so basic compared to the many features of professional editing suites that we/they are used to. However, this new YouTube feature seems to have potential to grow into something a little more extensive.
I find these developments to be exciting. I have never uploaded anything on YouTube, but I have watched video on it. The instructor of one of my classes frequently shows us clips from YouTube as an educational tool. While the clips get the point across; I have noticed the coloring issues that you discuss in your post. I would also imagine that some of these developments might be enough encouragement for individual who have not previously used YouTube to try it out. For example, I can see where an amateur’s shots would be shaky, and therefore benefit from the new stabilization tool.
ReplyDeleteI am a little embarrassed to say but I have never used this tool but after reading this I am quite interested. I have noticed, especially in college, how useful YouTube can be. I cannot count how many times I have used it for an assignment or presentation, and professors use it even more. You can literally find anything! This tool proves to extremely useful for multiple populations and things.
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