Automatic Video and Slideshow Editing

autoProducer 6 (Muvee Technologies, www.muvee.com, $129.99) is an easy way out of slaving over a movie editing program, trying to get all the video clips, photos and music just right. With autoProducer 6, just select the video clips, photos and music or download your video clips from your digital video camera and choose a style that suits your needs. The program then grinds away for a few minutes, doing its editing thing on the video clips and pictures while matching the music to the video–-and out comes the finished creation--worthy of a pop-style editor. That easy, and way cool.

The program works by using its own intelligent editor, which has been created by interviews with many award-winning real-life video editors to gather information about how they edit. muvee (pronounced "moovie") Technologies then uses various techniques incorporated into algorithms in analyzing each video clip or photo. Analysis takes into consideration shot boundaries, action (or lack thereof) in a clip, identifiable closeups, over-all brightness, coloring of the clips and tempo and mood of the music. The program automatically trims each clip to an appropriate length, depending on content, applies fades and effects according to its editing rules, applies the style you’ve chosen, arranges your clips and photos and--bingo, you’ve got a near-professional show.

Included with the program are 25 styles, each of which uses a different look and feel for your final creation. Styles include Pro fast, medium or slow-paced, using simple cuts and dissolves; black & white or sepia-toned for that old-fashioned TV or movie look; Flower Power, with psychedelic color and trippy effects; Music Video, using high energy up-tempo cuts and fades timed to the music beat; Fire, using a red/orange color tint with moderate pacing; Slideshow, black and white, fast, slow or sepia, using single framed stills created from the video clips; Kids, decorated with cute clipart and moving cartoon characters; or Cool Moon, with blue tint and slight smearing effect. There’s a style to suit almost every taste, and you can preview any style that would be applied to your own media quickly and easily to see if it’s "you." If not, more than 100 other optional Style Packs are available from muvee’s Web site. Something there is sure to do the job.

Although you can use the program in fully automatic default mode, you are able to exert some control in the duration of the show, audio and video effects. For example, for video, you can mark specific video clips or parts of clips that you want the program to keep or parts that must be excluded. For photos, you can also select the range, type and pan effect used. Other optional settings allow you to select the duration of the show by optimizing a combination of the video and music length or having the program force the video length to match the music or set a specific time duration for the video.

Some styles will randomize your clips and photos, but you can choose to keep your clips and photos in the sequence you’ve set in the Media window--or shuffle them less or more if the style selected uses a random or patterned sequence. For audio, you can instruct the program to use every song, and the program will trim parts of each selection and cross fade the parts to match the length of the video. You can also set the degree of blending of the volume of the original video soundtrack with the music and choose to use music only or soundtrack only, with or without a voice-over.

Once you’re satisfied with your production, you’ll have several options for saving it. The program can save in avi, divX, MPG-1 or MPG-2, WMV, WMV-HD, Quicktime or export as DV directly back to your camcorder. Using whatever format you think is the most appropriate, you can e-mail your show or put it on a Web site. You can burn your show to DVD, SVCD or VCD formats directly from the program. If you burn to a DVD, your show can have an opening menu if you choose.

Help is available from tool tips and online help that explains most of the features of the program and how to use them.

When we first heard about autoProducer we were skeptical. How can a program do in minutes what it usually takes us hours of editing to accomplish? Well, we found that it can--with more flair, imagination and creativeness than we ever applied, and with surprisingly good results. Now you’ll know what to do with those hours of video from your children’s sports, recitals, concerts and videos of parties, reunions, weddings, anniversaries and such. Just "muvee" them, for yourself or to give as gifts. It’s quick, fun and easy, and we know you’ll like the results.

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