You may edit movies directly from your web browser.
Online Movie Maker is an intriguing free service, however, it appears to lack the option to preview any changes made to clips or even the complete project. Until this is fixed, there is no need to use it when there are alternative free video editors available that operate as an advertised free online movie maker.
Pros+
- Free +
- Multiplatform (computer, tablet, and phone) +
- new user interface
Cons
- The interface is perplexing –
- Unable to preview changes –
- It may take some time to upload media.
When you think about video editing tools, you probably envision some zany program for your computer or a video editor app for your phone or tablet. But what if we told you there’s no need to spend money on pricey editing suites and cutting-edge workstations (if you want such, we’ve compiled a list of the best video editing PCs for editors and producers)?
What if we told you that you could easily modify movies on your browser with Online Movie Maker?
Set your browser to Online Movie Maker and you’ll be greeted with a simple website with a few options. Uploading your files, selecting stock photos, downloading free music, adjusting the backdrop color, and writing text This is the most user-friendly video editing software available.
It is as simple as selecting the files you require from your disc to use your media. However, you will have to wait a little time for them to be posted to the service’s servers. You’re also warned that your media will only be available for 24 hours (or maybe less), so you’d best get to work quickly.
Pixabay provided the stock pictures. Search for certain keywords, then click the images you want to utilize by clicking on the thumbnails. Those that have been picked receive an ‘added’ overlay, making it apparent which ones have already been chosen.
Those are only pictures. If you want to utilize images from another service or upload stock videos, you must go to their websites, download them, and then upload them to ‘Online Movie Maker‘ as you would any other media.
This is also what happens when you click on the service’s ‘Free Music’ button: you are given directions on where to go, how to download the music samples to your computer, and how to upload it back to your project. All of this is rather complicated and time-consuming.
Browser-based video editing
If you’re used to working with more traditional video editors, you’ll envision your project’s chronology as something you create from left to right. Not so in this case. The entire UI has a top-down sense, which might be perplexing.
You have a music column, a background column, the main column, and a text column. The fourth column on the right is named Preview, and it displays thumbnails of your project as it progresses.
To modify a specific clip, select a thumbnail and click the cogwheel symbol. This is where you may access cropping tools, and modify the opacity, rotation, volume, and playback speed. You may also use the ‘effect’ option to apply as many filters as you like to your chosen clip.
This is also where you may select a transition to enter or exit your clip. You may select its length, style, and even motion. It’s all quite simple, but there’s a catch: clicking the play button to see the consequences of your changes may take a long time. A very long time. We tried it several times and couldn’t get past the 0% mark.
This makes determining if the changes you’re making will benefit your final product difficult.
Transitions and global effects
Scroll down to the bottom of your media columns to get global controls for transitions and video effects. The process is identical to that for individual clips, except that these changes will affect all clips in a certain column.
From column to column
You’ll see that you may change clips from one column to another; they’re effectively utilized as many video layers. Because the Background column is at the bottom of the pile, if a clip is present in the Main column at the same timeframe, it will appear in the final output rather than the one under it.
Even though we were still unable to preview the changes we were making. So we decided to ‘Make’ the movie to see how it turned out.
Video exporting
As your movie is rendered, the process takes a little time. However, once completed, you will receive a little video preview that you can enjoy at your leisure. That is, at least, the theory.
Our video just showed a series of static thumbnails for some reason.
Wait long enough (in our case, nearly half an hour for a 1:30min video) and we could watch a preview of the finished job. Perhaps this is the same problem that occurs when attempting to preview individual clips. But who has so much time to waste only to get a preview of a video?
We assumed this was a browser bug and chose to download the video instead (something you only have an hour to do before the link expires). Choose ‘download linked file’ from the context menu when you right-click on the link. Fortunately, the downloaded movie played in full motion, including transitions and effects.
Problems with the video editing in a browser
Could our problems have been caused by the browser we were using (Safari v.15.2)? To be sure, we tested all of the above on Firefox (v.99.0.1). Unfortunately, we ran into the same clips: we couldn’t preview clips, changes, effects, or transitions – either individually or for the full column/layer.
As a result, we must assume that these glitches would affect all customers – at least during the time we tested the service. However, the downloaded copy included all of the editing selections we made.
Last words
The ability to edit directly from your web browser is an intriguing concept, but there are just too many obstacles and glitches to suggest this service for that purpose. The idea of columns rather than layers is interesting, and it’s always fantastic to see people challenging the established structure – that’s how things may change for the better, and there are plenty of effects and transitions to choose from.
We also liked the fact that they could be applied to a single clip or a whole column. However, the inability to preview your media or your full project is a deal-breaker. Even if the downloaded project appears to be alright, all of the changes you make until then will be simply guessing, which is no way to edit a video – no matter how brief.
