<p>Honestly, Adobe Premiere is not hard to use at a basic level.  You import photos or videos, drag them from a bin on to your timeline, adjust their length and cut them on the timeline and then drag effects and transitions on to them.  There is a free trial so she can try before buying to see if it is too complex for her, but there are a wealth of tutorials available to help with most basic tasks.  The main concern she is likely to run in to is that if she is mixing assets of different sizes, she'll have to be careful on the import settings so that they fit the sequence, but it still isn't too hard, you just have to select the right options.</p>

<p>If it is too complication, there is also Premiere Elements which is a more user friendly video editor targeted at the consumer market.  It functions completely differently from Premiere and is far more limited, but it is also does a lot more hand holding.</p>

<p>I generally would recommend staying away from most of the free offerings if complexity is a concern.  There are some very functional free offerings out there, but for the most part, they don't have the same level of time and money to spend on refining their UIs, so they tend to be more clunky to work with from the ones I've tried.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-07T17:21:10.673Z
Update, from the discussion in KC McLaughlin's post, it does sound like perhaps Lightworks has improved their game in the most recent version, so it might also be worth taking a look at when comparing things.
AJ Henderson
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-07T16:01:10.547Z
2014-11-07T16:01:10.547Z
AJ Henderson
<p>EditShare Lightworks is a very good editor and one of my favorites.  It has a free version which will work fine as long as you don't need higher resolution than 720p.  Lightworks does have some weird ways of doing things which will take some getting used to, but overall it's much easier to use and more intuitive than, say, Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.lwks.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.lwks.com/</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-07T15:57:16.063Z
I'm not really sure I'd classify Lightworks as easier than Premiere.  In my experience, the interface of Lightworks is far less developed and more clunky than Premiere, but based around all the same professional UI designs that are consistent to pretty much all professional video software.  They just don't implement them as smoothly.
AJ Henderson
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-07T16:00:03.057Z
@AJHenderson I find lightworks much easier for importing and exporting footage and chroma keying. The interface isn't as developed as premiere, but it still does the job.
KC McLaughlin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-07T16:03:06.430Z
How do you import in premiere that it is easier in Lightworks?  In Premiere, you right click the project bin, select import and choose your files, when you drag it to the timeline it automatically asks if you want to adjust the sequence settings.  The last time I tried lightworks, it was trickier to get the files loaded and if the formats and sizes didn't exactly match the sequence, then things just didn't work or blew up.  Maybe they've improved since I last used them though.
AJ Henderson
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-07T17:05:03.607Z
@AJHenderson I should note my experience with Adobe Premiere is mainly with CS5 and some CS6.  My experience with Lightworks is with the most recent version; 12.  In my experience with both, Lightworks is much better about setting up a sequence.  CS6 (but not CS5) does warn you if your sequence settings don't match your videos, but Lightworks takes care of all of the sequence settings automatically when you import your videos.  Exporting videos is also smoother, I've had issues like windowboxing in Premiere but never in Lightworks.
KC McLaughlin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-07T14:28:53.230Z
2014-11-07T14:28:53.230Z
KC McLaughlin
<p>My wife is looking for video editor and therefore we have few unusual requirements on it.
First of all it's a first time she will use this type of software so, it shouldn't be difficult to use. 
Second, it should have a relative short learning curve before she will get a finished product, otherwise it's a huge chance that she will abandon it.
Third, only Windows right now. We considering to buy Mac, but now it isn't an option. Btw, she tried to use Movie Maker but wasn't happy with it.
She doesn't want to make something complex, just a short movie from a bunch of photos + soundtrack + subtitles. But I know her, and she will want more if a first attempt will be successful and I absolutely interesting that it will be successful.
Thank you for you suggestions and h</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-06T22:22:05.547Z
Similar question was asked recently: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/10891/looking-for-free-program-that-allows-pip-and-cutting-splicing/12940
altarvic
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-07T00:08:44.207Z
It's a shame she isn't on a Mac, because iMovie is pretty simple and intuitive. It even includes automatic features that improve the look of "slideshow" videos (made from photos), like the automatic Ken Burns effect that slowly zooms in and out on different photos. There are also fun themes (filmstrip, comic book, scrapbook...) that set the tone for slideshow videos and other simple videos. And it's free on every Mac.
BrettFromLA
<software-recommendation>
Choosing video editor for my wife
Anatoly
# Choosing video editor for my wife

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-11-06)

My wife is looking for video editor and therefore we have few unusual requirements on it.
First of all it's a first time she will use this type of software so, it shouldn't be difficult to use.
Second, it should have a relative short learning curve before she will get a finished product, otherwise it's a huge chance that she will abandon it.
Third, only Windows right now. We considering to buy Mac, but now it isn't an option. Btw, she tried to use Movie Maker but wasn't happy with it.
She doesn't want to make something complex, just a short movie from a bunch of photos + soundtrack + subtitles. But I know her, and she will want more if a first attempt will be successful and I absolutely interesting that it will be successful.
Thank you for you suggestions and h

**Tags:** software-recommendation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Similar question was asked recently: http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/10891/looking-for-free-program-that-allows-pip-and-cutting-splicing/12940  
> **username_2**: It's a shame she isn't on a Mac, because iMovie is pretty simple and intuitive. It even includes automatic features that improve the look of "slideshow" videos (made from photos), like the automatic Ken Burns effect that slowly zooms in and out on different photos. There are also fun themes (filmstrip, comic book, scrapbook...) that set the tone for slideshow videos and other simple videos. And it's free on every Mac.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2014-11-07. Score: 0

Honestly, Adobe Premiere is not hard to use at a basic level. You import photos or videos, drag them from a bin on to your timeline, adjust their length and cut them on the timeline and then drag effects and transitions on to them. There is a free trial so she can try before buying to see if it is too complex for her, but there are a wealth of tutorials available to help with most basic tasks. The main concern she is likely to run in to is that if she is mixing assets of different sizes, she'll have to be careful on the import settings so that they fit the sequence, but it still isn't too hard, you just have to select the right options.

If it is too complication, there is also Premiere Elements which is a more user friendly video editor targeted at the consumer market. It functions completely differently from Premiere and is far more limited, but it is also does a lot more hand holding.

I generally would recommend staying away from most of the free offerings if complexity is a concern. There are some very functional free offerings out there, but for the most part, they don't have the same level of time and money to spend on refining their UIs, so they tend to be more clunky to work with from the ones I've tried.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: Update, from the discussion in username_4's post, it does sound like perhaps Lightworks has improved their game in the most recent version, so it might also be worth taking a look at when comparing things.  

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### Answer by username_4 on 2014-11-07. Score: 0

EditShare Lightworks is a very good editor and one of my favorites. It has a free version which will work fine as long as you don't need higher resolution than 720p. Lightworks does have some weird ways of doing things which will take some getting used to, but overall it's much easier to use and more intuitive than, say, Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas.

<http://www.lwks.com/>

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: I'm not really sure I'd classify Lightworks as easier than Premiere.  In my experience, the interface of Lightworks is far less developed and more clunky than Premiere, but based around all the same professional UI designs that are consistent to pretty much all professional video software.  They just don't implement them as smoothly.  
> **username_4**: @AJHenderson I find lightworks much easier for importing and exporting footage and chroma keying. The interface isn't as developed as premiere, but it still does the job.  
> **username_3**: How do you import in premiere that it is easier in Lightworks?  In Premiere, you right click the project bin, select import and choose your files, when you drag it to the timeline it automatically asks if you want to adjust the sequence settings.  The last time I tried lightworks, it was trickier to get the files loaded and if the formats and sizes didn't exactly match the sequence, then things just didn't work or blew up.  Maybe they've improved since I last used them though.  
> **username_4**: @AJHenderson I should note my experience with Adobe Premiere is mainly with CS5 and some CS6.  My experience with Lightworks is with the most recent version; 12.  In my experience with both, Lightworks is much better about setting up a sequence.  CS6 (but not CS5) does warn you if your sequence settings don't match your videos, but Lightworks takes care of all of the sequence settings automatically when you import your videos.  Exporting videos is also smoother, I've had issues like windowboxing in Premiere but never in Lightworks.  

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