Impressions from Offshore Europe 2019

Snippets from the exhibition

Comments on the video editor

I used Lightworks to compose a family holiday video a few years ago. Since I’ve started vlogging, Offshore Europe was a neat opportunity to remind myself of how to work the software. It was fun creating the video above even though it is not exactly a masterpiece.

Lightworks is a tremendous tool. More complex than some other free video editors I have come across, but worth the time to learn some basics.

Some tools applied in the video

• Video and sound sequences can be cut at any point. Other free editors only allow trimming the ends.
• Overlays of image and sound are possible. Image and sound tracks from the video source file are separated by the software, which means they can be manipulated independently. I applied those functions to isolate my voice and overlay it with text and other video sequences.
• There can be several sound tracks in parallel, and volumes can be manipulated independently. I muted the music during my voice sequences.
• Visual transitions (like cross-fading or wipe) are only possible if the image sequences are long enough because they need enough frames. My snippets were too short.
• Unlike Kapwing, which I used for my first vlog, Lightworks does not offer auto-captioning. Text can be added manually (as I did), but I would not use it for captions.
• There are text effects. I used some styles (shadow, outline, colour) and fade-outs.
• I could only use videos with 24 fps or higher. I essentially lost some footage because some videos had the wrong frame rate for Lightworks even though they were recorded with the same mobile, and I didn’t change any settings.