Video Editing for Those Who'd Rather Not

Shooting video is one thing; editing and uploading it to the web where people can share it is another, much more difficult, thing. One True Media, a new web site for creating, organizing, and sharing your videos, does a nice job of upping your chance for success. But like any other video editor, it'll take a bit of getting used to the metaphors.

The heart of the site is a web-based video application that lets you quickly edit by moving, copying, or deleting frames; create simple transitions; and add things like music. Because the application can render the video frames in real time, editing action is fast and responsive (at least for relatively short clips).

One True Media will also act as a service bureau if you'd rather; converting your video and sending you back a DVD. You can upload a file to them or send them physical media. They use MPEG2 for editing, but the final video you post for sharing is Flash. You can email your video to friends and family along with a One True Media player, link to your video as I've done here, or—if you're a MySpace, Typepad, LiveJournal, Facebook, or even a BabyCenter user—you can copy the code right into your page. Video to share with your world.

The site is not a hip, YouTube sort of experience; it wants to feel more like the Kodak EasyShare Gallery or Snapfish of video. It's not very deep. A few simple transitions and moving clips around is about the limit of what it can do. If you're really into video you'll be outta here. But those who want to give video a try and get some nice results will be happy with One True Media. The site is free for 60 days and you get 200MB a month up, to 1B of storage. From there it's $3.99 a month. It's fun, fast, and a great confidence builder.

Some advice from Mark Moore, the company's CEO?

• Stick to eight to 10 minute videos.
• Incorporate still frames or photos to balance and smooth out the video.
• Keep your clips short; they're easier to work with.
• Audio tends to be poor, with wind noise and ambient sound; use background music to compensate.
• If you don't have a digital video camera yet, use your still camera's video feature to get started. You'll be amazed at what you can capture.