Muvee magic: video editing in minutes.(Software Review)(Product/Service Evaluation)

Making cool-looking videos is now a lot easier than it was five, 10 or 20 years ago. There are dozens of easy-to-use nonlinear video-editing (NLE) programs on the market that enable you to import video from almost any source, cut and paste it together in whatever order you like, and add fancy titles and text, as well as creative transitions and effects.

On top of that, most of the these video-editing programs let you output your finished movie in a variety of formats, suitable for watching on the computer, burning to a DVD, copying back to tape, or even posting on the Web. Despite all that, many people still never edit their videos and prefer to sit and watch their raw tapes, stoically sifting through shaky shots, outtakes and stuff that should never be inflicted on the eyes of mankind.

For most people, editing videos is still too hard. However, there is a solution---automatic video editing. Automatic video editing, or automatic moviemaking, means that a program can scan through raw footage, pick out the best shots, and then edit them together to a music track, making sure that all the cuts are on the beat. Automatic moviemaking also provides a choice of styles, transitions, titles and output formats. There is no easier way to make a good-looking music video.

However, the leader in automatic movie-making is muvee Technologies and its aptly named muvee autoProducer program. In addition to making the stand-alone autoProducer program, the company also provides the raw code underpinning to other companies offering automatic movie-making, as well as a various computer and peripheral makers who bundle the muvee software into their products.

According to Philip Morgan, CEO of muvee, "The real magic of muvee autoProducer is how it uses all this information to create great productions. Our key insight was to recognize that …