Continuing the fun with Muvee AutoProducer, once you’ve put your masterpiece together just as you’d like, the software can save it in various formats, from a tiny one suitable for e-mailing to a full-fledged, DVD-ready video. (Muvee can even burn that video to disc if you like, though Angela notes that during testing the Duo heard an odd hiss in the audio of that DVD, a problem the company’s already targeting for a fix.)
Steve, still amused by his Yakult Swallows oeuvre, remarks that though you wouldn’t use a product like Muvee AutoProducer to edit footage of, for instance, an interview with your great-grandmother, the software makes a pretty decent music-video-style compilation. The program did, however, make some curious cinematic choices, including a seconds-long shot of the back of a fan’s head that left Steve … well, scratching his head.
Couldn’t he have told the program to drop that shot, asks Angela? Yes, Steve says, but that serendipity–never knowing exactly what shots the program will choose for you–has its own appeal. And leaving the details to Muvee AutoProducer also allows the program to choose various effects that you either might not have known were available or might not have chosen (for whatever reason) to use.
Steve’s main reservation, in fact, is the price: The stand-alone package goes for $70, to which you can add another $20 or so for packs of styles. However, Angela points out, a lot of digital cameras are shipping with stripped-down versions of the software, and if you’d like to upgrade from there, you may be able to do so for as little as $10. Ideal for control freaks or Steven Spielberg? No. But if you’re looking simply to make that mass of unedited footage palatable to viewers, say the Duo, this Muvee’s worth a screening.
SAVE/DELETE
Steve: SAVE
Angela: SAVE
Muvee AutoProducer