What can my kids use to edit Youtube videos?

Q My two sons and I want to create videos on a laptop to upload to their Youtube channels. Which free video-editing program would you suggest? David Lisle

AAt the very basic end, Youtube has some fairly decent, simple editing tools built into it. Sign into your channel, click your account icon at the topright corner, then click Creator Studio. Next, click the Edit button next to any of the videos you’ve uploaded and you’ll see options that let you add info and change the video’s settings. Along the top of that screen, you’ll see tabs offering further options. Click Enhancements, for example, for some quick ways to change contrast, saturation and colour. You can also slow down footage, add filters and effects, or trim bits you don’t want.

At the other extreme are free ‘lite’ versions of professionalgrade editing tools, such as Avid Media Composer First ( www.snipca.com/26249, see Best Free Software, Issue 516). It’s a little complicated to set up and use, but offers some amazing tools. Check out the video tutorials ( www.snipca. com/26251) to help you get started. Lightworks Free ( www. snipca.com/26526) is similarly powerful and offers direct output to Youtube and Vimeo at up to 720p HD quality.

If you have the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (version 1709) installed and the latest version of Windows 10’s Photos app, you’ll see it includes some new video-editing tools that are actually pretty good. Open Photos, click Create, then select ‘Video project’. Click the clips you want to include, then click Add to open the editing window. Here you can organise your clips in the timeline at the bottom of the screen, trim them, add filters, text and music, or apply themes, then export your finish work. Also see our Workshop on Microsoft’s updated ‘Films & TV’ app (page 35). Do you need our advice on what software to use? Just email us at letters@computeractive.co.uk