my latest videos (but no zombies, sorry!)

One of the main problems I encountered with trying to make May Be Side Effects was that I had to rely on other people to do the things I could not do myself, such as the editing. (Though I tend to know which shots I want to use and in which order, I don't have the technical expertise to use an editing program, and so am invariably reduced to standing over someone else's shoulder shouting: "No, not there! There!")

I got an iphone 4 (which shoots video) for my birthday in late November, and then - wonder of wonders! - for Christmas I got a new computer which actually has enough disk space to hold an editing program. 

So I've spent the last couple of weeks trying to teach myself to edit video. This is going very slowly (largely because I am living proof of the veracity of the old saying that the person who is "self taught" had an idiot for a teacher, and partly because the editing program I am trying to teach myself is Final Cut Pro 7, which isn't really tailored for absolute beginners such as myself) but despite the constant urge to tear my hair out, I persevere, and have so far uploaded three of my practice runs at editing to youtube. 

They are all just a mish-mash of pictures and video shot on my phone, roughly glued together and riddled with beginner's mistakes (and sorry, there aren't any zombies in them!), but on the off-chance anyone is interested in having a look, my first attempt was this short promo for a themed weekend which I co-hosted on the icanhascheezburger.com website:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkbyzddSbyQ

My second attempt was a bit of a cheat (just an iphoto slideshow of some pics I took on my previous phone, saved as a quicktime movie to which I added some free music I'd found on the internet):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9LOCDaZblQ

And my most recent attempt is this compilation of pics and video taken on my phone following the recent snow in London. I had nearly half an hour's worth of material, which I've cut down to two and a half minutes. It's kind of rough and very far from perfect, so please keep in mind that I'm just a beginner and really don't have any idea what I'm doing! ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqBgJ2qS1b8

The material I'm planning to practice on next is a mix of photos and video taken on my phone at a winter carnival in Hyde Park (the little bit of footage I used in the cheezburger video came from that carnival), so I may post that here when I've got it done. I've got well over half an hour's worth of material from that carnival, so be warned it may take me a while to get it down to a manageable length. ;)

Hope everyone here had a great Christmas - or Zombiemas, or any other holiday you celebrate ;) - and that 2011 will be your best year ever!