How To Use OpenShot

 

  1. Open Openshot
  2. On the top left hand corner of the screen click File>New Project
  3. To add videos and photos to your project you can drag files from file explorer into the project files section of OpenShot or you can choose file>Import Files and then import the files that you need
  4. Find the Pictures or Videos you wish to add to your movie and click open.
  5. The video/picture will appear in the middle of the screen. This is your timeline.
  6. Above the timeline is ths slider.
    1. Moving the slider towards the right compresses the video/picture on your timeline to make it smaller and easier to see your entire project. 
    2. Moving the slider towards the left makes the video/pictures on your timeline expand so it is easier to edit smaller portions of your project.
  7. To move video or pictures around on your timeline just click and drag the video.
  8. To add music/audio drag an audio clip onto the timeline from the Audio section of your Project Files

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NOTE:

- KeepVid.com: use this service to download YouTube videos. (Video and audio under copyright cannot be played for more than 30 seconds.)

- We also recommend you download AdBlock, an extension for your web browser. Do a Google search for more information.

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Transitions

  1. For transitions you could either overlap two clips to automatically add a transition between them or you can drag a transition from the transitions pane onto the beginning or end of a clip to transition out of that clip. If you are transitioning from one clip to another and you would like to use a transition in the transitions pane then you would need to use two of those transitions. You would drag the first transition onto the end of the clip that you are transitioning out of and the second transition onto the beginning of the clip that you are transitioning to. You may need to select one of the transitions and and right click on it and select “reverse transition” to get the transition to transition in the right direction

Video Effects

  1. To remove part of a video clip in order to achieve the 30 second time limit, first add the clip to the timeline.  Then start by moving the playback indicator to the time you wish to start cutting the clip.
  2. *Remember* - Copyright video and audio cannot be played for more than 30 seconds.
  3. Select the Edit tab on the top of the screen. (It will also say Video Tools in yellow above it).
  4. Press Split.  The video will then be cut at the point you selected in the timeline.
  5. If the portion of the clip you wish to remove is not at the beginning or the end of the clip, repeat the last step.  The portion of the clip you want to remove should be in between two splits.
  6. To delete the portion you just selected, right click on it and choose Remove.  The clips after the deleted portion will move into the unoccupied space.

Audio Effects

  1. You could split the audio from video clip by right clicking on the video clip and then mousing over Seperate Audio then clicking Single Clip.
  2. Volume control- You could adjust the volume of a video or audio clip by right clicking on it and mousing over the volume option
  3. Fade in/out-You could choose for audio to fade in or fade out by right clicking o an audio clip and mousing over the audio option and choosing for it to fade in or fade out at the beginning of the clip or at the end of the clip or both

Tools – Title and Credits

  1. You can create a title by selecting the “title” tab at the top of the window and clicking on title. Then after you make the title you can add the title to your movie by dragging the title from the project files to the track for your project
  2. To add credits:
    1. There is a title that sort of looks like credits so you could use that for credits, it is called “standard 4” in OpenShot. It is not scrolling though so if you need multiple of these then you could make multiple “slides” of these credits
  3. You can create a text overlay in Openshot if you create a title slide with the text that you want and then drag that title slide onto a track lined up with the picture that you want the text overlay to be on. So you would have 2 tracks, one with the picture on it and one with the title slide on it and you would have the picture and the title slide occurring at the same time.

Save Project As

  1. To save your project, select the blue button on the top left of the screen > Save Project As or press the F12 key.
  2. Select the folder on your computer you wish to save the project.
  3. Type in a file name for the project and click Save.
  4. You should save your project every couple of steps to ensure your changes are kept.
  5. PLEASE NOTE: You are only saving the project file. You are not saving or producing a movie file.
  6. Make sure that you keep all of the files for the project together.  If you move the files they will disappear in your movie until it is published.

Producing the Video

  1. Click file>”export video”, then specify the name of the file and the place where you would like the file to be stored.
  2. Note that this is different from saving the “Project.”
    1. You are actually PRODUCING the video when you select “Export Video.”
  3. Wait for your video to save. This will take several minutes.

Uploading to YouTube

  1. After the video is done exporting, open your web browser and go to YouTube. Log in using the username and password you were given, and upload your video, following the on-screen instructions.
If you need help using OpenShot please ask one of the TechCons for help. You can go to this webpage: scranton.edu/ctlelab for the hours that the Resource Lab  is open or contact aileen.mchale@scranton.edu. It’s best to make an appointment in advance and not wait until a few days before the project is due!

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