Testimonial:
Pinnacle Real User: Jaime Martinez
As a Senior Journalist/Webcasterfor PNN.com, responsible for recording all her own content and doing all her own editing, you might think Jaime Martinez would be very familiar with all things video. Funny thing is, Jaime doesn't even own her own camcorder and when interviewed, had only been using Pinnacle Studio™ video editing software for four months.
"I've never had my own camcorder, but I'm able to use one of the PNN.com camcorders that we have here when I'm working on an assignment," explained Jaime. "I first picked up a camcorder, when I went to Wales for two weeks to document my experience there and to capture a little bit of Welsh life. I had spent a year there before, for school; so I was already familiar with the area, and wanted to record certain aspects of it for a piece. I took some footage and I had my laptop with me which had Pinnacle Studio already loaded on it, so that's what I used to edit my videos. I really appreciated Studio's ease of use when my computer died and I had to re-do the entire Wales video at work using a different program."
It was Jaime's father, John Martinez, a professional video producer himself, who first recommended she use Pinnacle Studio.
"My Dad produces videos too, but he started long before me," said Jaime. "He's the Founder and Editor for Reseller Advocate Magazine's RAM TV; and they have a professional studio and everything, but he's the one that recommended Pinnacle to me and got me a copy of Studio. I'm pretty experienced with the computer," Jaime continued. "I mean, that's what I do all day at work. I do have experience with a lot of other movie editing software too, so Pinnacle was really easy to adapt to."
Once Jaime arrived in Wales, she began capturing footage. Because she had so little previous experience with a video camera, she decided to shoot as much as possible, and work the rest out in editing where she would be able to control the length and order of each shot.
"For example,"said Jaime, "during a drive in Wales, we stopped to get gas and I started shooting some impromptu footage on the differences between gas prices in America and Wales. I asked my friend who was driving about it and he gave me his thoughts. Because he had lived in both California and Wales, I felt he had a good perspective on the subject. Then, the next day, I spliced together the footage and posted it to the web. I choose to edit my content because it just makes for a better, more interesting video," Jaime continued. "People who view video on the web generally don't want to watch long pieces. Also, there are lots of lulls when you film like this; boring moments to watch where you kind of just look out the window and think. Nobody wants to watch that. So, editing just gives me a little more creative control."
When she finishes editing, Jaime can easily choose the final size and format for her movie, export it, and she's ready for the next assignment.
"Then, I just put it up on the web and it's ready to share," said Jaime. "Some of the other video editing software I've used takes a long time to produce or create the final movie file, but Pinnacle Studio is really fast, which was definitely helpful because that's pretty much what I do at work. I make movies or podcasts and post them to the web, so I'm very familiar with the time you spend waiting for the software to finalize the movie. After finalizing it, you still have to post it to the Internet and wait for it to upload, and then wait for it to convert when it's on the Internet. There's a lot of waiting around for the movie to basically pull itself together after you've edited it, so it definitely helps that Pinnacle Studio has a shorter 'create movie' session. The Pinnacle software worked great! My laptop kind of died," joked Jaime, "but Studio worked just fine."
As a journalist with a deadline, there were many features with Pinnacle Studio that Jaime appreciated. Key among them was the software's ease of use and the ability to get the results she needed right out of the box.
"I really didn't think Pinnacle Studio was hard to use," said Jaime. "I recently tried to use Final Cut Pro, and even though I had a lot of experience with other editing programs, I really didn't know what I was doing in that program. I figured Studio out much more quickly."
Jaime also appreciates the titling flexibility that Pinnacle Studio offers over other editing applications she's tried.
"Pinnacle Studio lets you put them anywhere," Jaime said, "which is really cool because usually, unless you get really fancy, expensive editing software, the titles are kind of standard. I really like the screen-in-screen option too, where you can have a little picture or a little video going on say in the bottom corner or something like that. Overall," Jaime continued, "Pinnacle is a very user-friendly program that gives you that freedom with titles. It's also really easy to find and use all of the features because they're all on a sidebar on the left side of the screen. That really helps, and so does the little graphic they have for each option."
Jaime was recently able to test her editing skills working on a new PNN.com series called Super Sub which takes professionals from a broad range of careers, to a school to be 'Super Substitute Teachers' for a day, teaching the students about their craft.
"We had our first Super Sub day about a month ago in Los Angeles," Jaime explained, "and I had the opportunity to take three students and teach them about journalism. The students shot footage of all the lessons their fellow students were learning that day. They conducted interviews with their peers, the teachers and the Super Subs. Then I put that video together using Pinnacle Studio. That's when I started using features like overlaying audio and organizing it with existing audio attached to the clip," continued Jaime. "It was pretty easy. I remember the only thing that gave me a little trouble was if I decided I wanted to put a clip in between two clips that had already been put together, but then I figured out how to do it and it was fine."
Still, it's the creative control that Studio offers that Jaime appreciates most as a video journalist.
"It's really important to me that I have creative editorial control over the videos I produce," said Jaime. "Pinnacle Studio gives me the flexibility I need to make my videos flow they way I want, just as if I was writing an article. With Pinnacle Studio, it's easy enough to do your own editing. The results are very professional-looking and so far, all of the videos I've produced have all had a good response."
About Pinnacle Studio Software version 11
To meet the video authoring and budget needs of consumers, ranging from beginners to experienced users, the award-winning Pinnacle Studio™ version 11 family of products includes Pinnacle Studio, Pinnacle Studio Plus and Pinnacle Studio Ultimate. Equipped with powerful personal video creation and sharing capabilities, Pinnacle Studio can be used to create Hollywood-style DVDs that can be played on any set-top DVD player or PC. Movies can even be enjoyed on a Sony® PSP™, Apple® iPod® and other portable devices. The Pinnacle Studio version 11 family of products is available now through e-tail and retail stores.
About Pinnacle Systems, Inc.
Pinnacle Systems, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Avid Technology, Inc. is an industry leader in video editing solutions, TV tuners for the PC and digital media adapters for the consumer market. The company's product lines include Pinnacle PCTV™, Dazzle®, Pinnacle ShowCenter™, Pinnacle Mobile Media™ and its flagship Pinnacle Studio™ line. For more information, visit www.pinnaclesys.com.
About Avid Technology, Inc.
Avid Technology, Inc. is the world leader in digital nonlinear media creation, management and distribution solutions, enabling film, video, audio, animation, games and broadcast professionals to work more efficiently, productively and creatively. Avid received an Oscar Statuette representing the 1998 Scientific and Technical Award for the concept, design and engineering of the Avid® Film Composer® system for motion picture editing. Digidesign, Avid's audio division, received an Oscar Statuette representing the 2003 Scientific and Technical Award for the design, development and implementation of its Pro Tools® digital audio work station. For more information about the company's Oscar®, Grammy® and Emmy® award-winning products and services, please visit: www.avid.com.
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