Australian company Blackmagic Design offers their video editing application DaVinci Resolve for a wide range of high quality ultra HD effects, render queue, and video uploading options among other features.
$0
Free
Filmora
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Filmora from Wondershare is the company's video editing software available for a monthly or annual subscription, with support for 4k editing and a wide (and growing) range of available effects.
DaVinci Resolve is perfect for any video editing needs. It provides a lot of tools to control images, logos, text, transitions, as well as any other imported media that has been dragged to the timeline. It lets you create deliverables of very good quality and control every single detail from setup to final video export. It might not be the best option for a quick, simple video edit if the user does not how to use it because it will take a while to get on board on how to use it, even for simple edits.
It is a good program when you just start editing videos to get into it and have successful end products. If you have more requirements on a program you might need to be able to look into something more advanced. But it is totally sufficient to start out with when editing the first videos.
Resolve isn't extremely difficult to learn, at least from a UI perspective. I've found learning the node system isn't a steep learning curve. Users who can visualize how they want a grade or match to look can find their way around the software and use simple tools to get close to their result. People can do this without a lot of experience with the software.
Resolve provides extremely complex color grading opportunities, depending on how deeply you wish to use the software. One can fine tune an image, or use a plethora of masks, camera tracking, effects, and small tweaks to get images precisely where they want. It's a versatile software with so many options for every color grading scenario.
Resolve is free to use. I'm not too familiar with the NLE function of the program, but as a free software, one can accomplish a lot of work without needing to pay. Noise reduction can be a critical element of Resolve, so in that case, you'll need to purchase the full version to utilize the software to its fullest.
Resolve is popular enough that the internet provides many resources, forums, and tutorial videos to better learn the software. This is a big deal for helping to navigate Resolve's capabilities.
Records the screen of your computer perfectly. This is great if you are an architect because you can show on a video how you make your renderings and plans with Autocad, chief architect premier, Adobe photoshop or even revit.
You can cut videos perfectly and add music to them easily.
You can use several predesigned themes to create any video you desire.
You can add as much text as you want to your videos
There are several filters you can use to improve the images on the recordings.
Da Vinci Resolve is up there amongst the big, professional video editing packages like Apple's FinalCutPro and Adobe Premier Pro. To just be included in this league, the package needs to have a plethora of features that the common man does not need. In essence, this overwhelming amount of features makes the product tricky to learn, but once you have the hang of it, it is a dream.
Filmora is an all rounder video editing software. Besides editing videos, you can generate videos, images, and music! So, even if you are not shooting any videos on your own, you can create highly engaging explainer videos, demo videos, or any kind of information videos. Filmora is powerfully useful to content creators, video editors, podcasters, or even for enthusiasts!
Not only do they have classes available in Los Angeles, but they'll also allow you to work from home with the manual and demo materials, and then let you test out to get a certification. They get back to you quickly when you email, and they've got a "family" approach to customer service, they make you feel like you're important to them.
I'm giving this a ten because I haven't needed the support in any way, however, I've gotten correspondence from them letting me know that they are available if needed. I've seen reviews saying the support is lacking but those were years ago. I'm assuming they've figured everything out by now.
I learned so much from this instructional exercise, and I appreciated how the educator is an expert all-day colorist. The section on sound reduction was particularly instructive. I noticed a few inconsistencies between certain methodologies in this instructional exercise and approaches suggested in the Advanced Color Grading in Resolve 15 instructional exercise (e.g., where to place sound reduction in the hub tree), but this is to be expected given that there is no one right way to do any of this. I also learned a lot about Resolve's "Restoration" modules for working with authentic film. This instructional exercise will come up again and again in my work.
Adobe Premiere Pro is the gold standard for video editing but it was overkill for our needs, which entails educational and advertising videos on Youtube and other social media platforms. The cost and learning curve to train staff made it unusable so we switched to Filmora where we now have several staff trained on how to use it. It's just more fun all around and easier to use than Premiere Pro.
Davinci Resolve allows us to make quick edits and improve the sound on our company webinars and demo videos. This adds a lot of polish, and since we can do it in-house, it's cheaper and allows us to post and share those videos quickly.
We've used the software for some flashier marketing videos, and that does drive some positive attention and business our way. Most of that higher-level work is handled by outside agencies, but the fact that we can do some of it in-house saved us money.
