Digital Media Advice

Video Editing Software Comparison – Which one the best?

Which Video Editing Software is right for you – A Comparison

There are three major video editing software platforms that rule the market. Let’s break down the pros and cons of each.

Video Editing Software for YOUR Content Type

Before you start looking to much into what video editing software you should use, you first need to think about the types of content you create and the types of content you plan on creating in the future. This factor has a large impact on which editing software is going to be the best for YOU. If you’re creating content mainly for website development, you might want a different software than one that’s used more for production video content.

With the three main video editing software being Adobe Premiere Pro, Black Magic Davinci Resolve, and Apple’s Final Cut Pro, you get a fairly decent amount of premium options as well as a few free ones that could suite your needs. In this article I’m going to go over the features each application brings to the table as well as some use cases for each one that makes it stand out from the others.

Your Experience with Video Editing Software

Whether you are a beginner in video editing or a professional video editor, picking one program to use and learn can be a daunting task. Thankfully, there are a ton of online resources to help you through the process.

At Missoula Media Company, with all of our combined experience in video and media creation, we want to use the video editing software that’s going to provide the best quality for our clients. With the constant changes to video editing software, sometimes the one you’ve been using for years just isn’t up to par anymore. That means we are always learning a new software that comes on the market, and even with all of our experience, it’s always a daunting task.

The Big Three – The Best Video Editing Software Platforms on the Market

Adobe Premiere Pro video editing software

Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe with their Creative Cloud platform brings a lot to the table that you can use with Premiere Pro, like After Effects and Photoshop. Though this is behind a monthly subscription cost of $54.99 if you want access to their entire suite, or $20.99 if you’re just looking to pick up Premiere Pro. When you pick up Premiere Pro, though you’re paying monthly for it, you have access to all of it’s features so you won’t find yourself spending more to get more FX library’s or special plugins to get the work you need to do, done.

With great features like color matching, exporting directly to social channels, a large FX library, and a ton of premade transition effects and animations to choose from, Premiere Pro really does pack a lot into their software. Premier does a great job of delivering for both the classic film maker as well as the modern online content creator, picking up big points for versatility in the process.

So whether you’re a content creator that needs a great video editing software to publish your videos quickly and easily to popular platforms like YouTube, or a documentary filmmaker who is looking to create high-production value films, Premiere Pro might just be the choice for you. However, there are a couple of other options for filmmakers who are looking to provide the top-notch color corrections and post production edits – Davinci Resolve and Resolve Studio.

Davinci Resolve video editing software

Blackmagic Davinci Resolve – Studio

For Blackmagic’s Davinci Resolve you don’t need to worry about a monthly or annual cost but instead you can pick up Davinci Resolve for a one time fee of $295.00. Which if you look at the cost of just Premiere Pro for one year, you’re looking at $251.88 which you’ll continue to pay for as long as you’re using it. So in the long term you’re going to save a tremendous amount of money going with Davinci Resolve over Premiere Pro.

Though Davinci Resolve does have a free version that packs in a ton of great features. The main difference being Davinci Resolve Studio (Paid version) brings in the features mainly used by professional post production crews like noise reduction, lens correction, their entire FX library and much more. The main defining feature that Davinci Resolve Studio brings to the table is the immense increase in media quality & delivery.

When you go with the paid version of Davinci Resolve you are able to output video up to 32K at 120fps with HDR delivery. This feature is really geared towards film makers and post production crews, and it will certainly eat up disk space like it’s nobodies business. Lastly – let’s chat about Final Cut…

Final Cut Pro video editing software

Final Cut Pro

Final Cut, much like Davinci Resolve is a one time fee application, this one being $299.00. Though there is no free version of Final Cut you do get a ton of features packed into the software. From importing and editing up to 8K video INCLUDING most major professional camera formats like ProRes and ProRes RAW. You also get the option to edit 360 degree video, titles, and graphics, as well as having the ability to do virtual reality playback. You also have the ability to automatically balance your colors as well as match colors, making your work flow faster without compromising video quality.

The one really large drawback for some people is the fact that Final Cut Pro is the only video editing software on this list that is exclusive to Apple products. It also has some wonky saving features. Last we checked, they removed the “Save as” feature…which is a little stressful. So if you’re editing on a PC or looking for more control over your project files, Final Cut Pro isn’t an option. But, if you are using Apple products not only do you have the option of Final Cut Pro, but Premiere Pro and Davinci Resolve are available for iOS as well.

Need a Video to be edited or want some help with a project?

At the end of the day, video editing takes much more than a computer and a program – you need to have extensive experience with timing, color correction, transitions, titles, etc if you want to produce a professional-looking video. If you need some help editing a video you’ve already shot or need help on another project, feel free to contact us below! We have over 2 decades worth of combined experience in professional video production, script writing, and video editing, and we are here to help you get started or finish that new video for your company or that new passion project you’ve been dreaming about.

Send us a message

Are you interested in working with Missoula Media Company on an upcoming project? Fill out the form to see portfolio samples or ask about our services! And don’t worry, we won’t share your email with anyone without your permission.

Or give us a call:

101 E. Broadway
STE 502
Missoula, Montana 59802

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SEO Tips & Tricks – A Local SEO Company can help you improve your search rankings

A local SEO company can help you improve your search rankings

A local SEO company can combine local market knowledge, experience, and cutting-edge software to build a campaign that will drive local search traffic to your business.

SEO Keyword Research

There are a lot of factors that go into keyword research. From looking for that perfect keyword phrase for your post to making sure your posts are optimized as much as possible to boost your SEO rankings on major search engines like Google and Yahoo. Missoula Media Company offers professional SEO services, and we know from experience that worrying about finding the perfect keyword phrase can seem overwhelming. With worrying about all the factors from clickthrough rates to search engine priority and the competition of other sites using similar keyword phrases. With a local SEO company you can find that boost without losing the personal touch that larger companies just can’t give you.

A local SEO company could be your key to business growth

How a local SEO Company can help your business show up in local search results

A local SEO company can help getting your posted content to rank higher on popular search engines or they can write the content for you and manage your entire SEO campaign. At Missoula Media Company, we take pride in our ability to help boost traffic and conversion rates through thoughtful, efficient SEO practices. We do this through a detailed analysis of possible keywords using state-of-the-art software, and carefully craft a research guide that recommends keyword phrases you could use on your site.

That’s just the start of what we do, but it’s the foundation that will make or break your campaign. Read more to learn how research-driven SEO will always outperform rudderless SEO campaigns.

Why does working with a local SEO company make a difference?

A local SEO company also brings in the possibility to go into an office and have a face to face conversation on your SEO goals. It also allows you to give and get feedback in a more streamlined process than waiting for emails all day. Instead you could schedule a meeting to talk about how the SEO campaign is going or to get an opinion on a piece of content you’re currently writing. Either way, it’s almost impossible for a larger company to offer the intimacies and nuanced local knowledge that a local SEO company can provide.

This isn’t to say there aren’t great SEO companies in other areas, rather that you don’t have to go with a larger company to get the same quality of SEO research and content creation. It’s better to work with someone who understands the market you are targeting. Having the ability to create quality content combined with local market awareness is tough to beat.

Your local Missoula SEO Company

If you have any questions on how to improve your SEO rankings or want to get an analysis done for your website feel free to contact us down below. We would love to chat with you, learn more about your business, and see how we can help you improve your traffic and conversion rate.

Send us a message

Are you interested in working with Missoula Media Company on an upcoming project? Fill out the form to see portfolio samples or ask about our services! And don’t worry, we won’t share your email with anyone without your permission.

Or give us a call:

101 E. Broadway
STE 502
Missoula, Montana 59802

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AI Generated Art

AI Generated Art

AI Generated Art
– tech continues to shake up the design world

With AI generated art becoming more accessible and useful, it’s opened up a new avenue for content creators to churn out unique graphics.

What exactly is AI generated art?

Perhaps the biggest thing to break the internet in 2022 was the launch of several prominent AI art generating platforms, which allow you to type in anything that comes to your mind and artificial intelligence will create an image based off your text. With the majority of programs using two sets of algorithms, one (let’s call this one the checker) that is fed a vast array of artwork from the real world and throughout history with the focus to tell what human made art looks like. The other (Generator) is tasked with creating art based off text input from a user and usually a style that the user chooses, for example “create a cool image, in the style of HP Lovecraft”. Then the checker and generator algorithms work with each other so that the generator creating the image must create an image close enough to the human style as to get past the checker that’s testing if it was created by a human.

This has led to AI art being used more frequently in website design and content creation, which is great for people that can’t afford to have custom graphics created for them from a website designer or graphic artist. Though, you may find it hard to create a specific graphic with an art generator, a local website designer can help you build a custom graphic or logo more precise to the image in your head while working with whatever your budget may be.

AI generated art – born from a dream

The first implementation of AI generated art was back in 2015 by a Google engineer, Alexander Mordvintsev. He figured out that Google’s DeepDream software, which was intended to find faces in images, could be used to create psychedelic images through a neural network to find and enhance patterns in an image. This has further been built upon by the many AI art generators out there now.

Now you can find an AI art generator in every corner of the internet with some being free and others offering premium features, such as MidJourney, which allows you to upscale images or generate more art based off an image you just created.

DeepDream AI generated art
Prompt-based AI art generated using DeepDream

Art on demand

With the abundance of AI art generators out there, content creators now have the ability to generate custom graphics faster than ever. This gives them the ability to take that spur of the moment creative thought and turn it into something they can see and share with the world easily from their computer or smartphone. One of the greatest parts about all of these AI art generators is that it gives people that aren’t proficient at drawing a way to express the creativity in their minds that wasn’t possible before.

However, this brings in the argument that AI generated art is making it harder for artists and graphic designers to get their name out there with physical and digital artwork due to market saturation. To that, there is a philosophical and ethical discussion to be had which we will go over in a future article, so stay tuned to the MMCO blog for more on this topic.

ai self portrait
ai self portrait

Using AI generated art in media creation

Being a Missoula media creation company, we are always looking for ways to create unique and captivating graphic while staying true and original to who we are. We are a company founded by artists after all, and we don’t need AI generated art to create something unique for our clients. However, we also love leveraging emerging technologies in our creative process, so we won’t ignore the benefits of utilizing AI art when creating content for budget-focused projects like blog writing and newsletter creation.

Though it is a very niche market it does have it’s use cases in media creation that needs to be acknowledged. Do we think it will one day rule over all media creation?

Hell no.

Though the creative madness that can come from AI generated art is simply amazing sometimes, nothing quite beats a physical oil painting hanging up on your wall and knowing someone poured their heart and soul into creating it. And from a media production perspective, AI is not capable of developing your media production strategy, and choosing graphics that will actually drive sales while staying true to your brand.

Missoula Website Design

The importance of human decision making in marketing

While bringing your ideas to life is important, it’s also key to make sure the implementation of that media is effective, as your content needs to convey a very specific message. It’s easy to run to a art generator like MidJourney to churn out ideas, but without a media company to guide you, you risk lowering your conversion rate, which even a 1% shift could mean thousands of dollars in lost revenue every year. Saving a few dollars on the creation process could cost you much more in the end.

Create media for your brand with the help of Missoula Media Company

With over a decade of photography and graphic design experience under our belts at Missoula Media Company, we are fully equipped to help you with any aspect of photography, graphic design, and website design. Get in contact with us below and let us know how we can help you bring your vision to life!

Send us a message

Are you interested in working with Missoula Media Company on an upcoming project? Fill out the form to see portfolio samples or ask about our services! And don’t worry, we won’t share your email with anyone without your permission.

Or give us a call:

101 E. Broadway
STE 502
Missoula, Montana 59802

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101 E. Broadway
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Top 3 Reasons why You Should Give Film Photography a Shot

Top 3 Reasons why You Should Give Film Photography a Shot

In today’s world of quantity over quality, I think taking a little extra time and slowing down would benefit us all. Here are my top three reasons on why you should give film photography a shot.

My story of discovering and falling in love with shooting photos on film

There are so many incredible photography cameras out there today to capture all of the moments in our lives.  Everything from high end professional DSLRs to the smartphones in our pockets.  While I do find these cameras useful and fun, I wanted to share my story of exploring the world of 35mm film photography.  In the past few years I have dove into the world of shooting on film and it has changed my life in regards to photography. 

At first I just needed something different to use in my personal life away from the work grind of professional digital photography and videography.  I found myself leaving my cameras at home on travels and nature trips because shooting photos and video was my job and I was feeling burned out.  In walked 35 film cameras.  I grew up with a mother who loved shooting on her film camera and when her father passed away I was given an old chest of photography and film equipment. Among the 8mm film cameras and old SLR cameras was a Zeiss Ikon Contessa.  It is a beautiful old camera with a built-in lens that folds out from a drop down window.  And being a Zeiss camera, it worked perfectly after years of no use.  I took the camera to Europe for the first time traveling with my partner, and fell in love. 

Film photography can capture tones, textures and lighting in truly unique ways.

Shortly after the trip the old camera started acting up so I looked to find a film camera that was mine.  One that I picked out and could use for the rest of my life.  After weeks of research I bought my first Leica – an M4 built in Germany around 1968.  Equipped with a matching Leica 35mm lens, I have never looked back.  Being a rangefinder camera and built like a tank, I use it everywhere from the tops of mountain peaks to the busy city streets.  It is the only camera I bring on personal travel and special occasions with family and friends. 

Why shoot film photography when you have a camera phone in your pocket?

After years of using the film camera, and starting to realize that we all have thousands of photos stored in our phone, I began to think back to family albums and how precious certain photos used to be.  It got me thinking about how we walk through life and how we all have a desire to capture moments.  There is not one of us that doesn’t have years of photos on our smart phone.  But what will we do with these photos?  Where will they all go in the future?  Surely we can’t keep them all.  And if we did, would we ever look back at all of them?  Probably not.  This is where I think everyone who loves shooting photos can benefit from shooting on film.  In today’s world of more more more, quick quick quick, I think taking a little extra time and slowing down would benefit us all.  Here are my top three reasons on why shooting on film will change your life.

Top 3 Reasons why You Should Give Film Photography a Shot

Reason Number 1: Aesthetics

The real treat of film photography is the look.  No Instagram filters needed.  No hours on photoshop.  Just find the film stocks you like and shoot away.  What you shoot is what you get, and you won’t be disappointed.  Diving into the plethora of film stock out there will keep your artistic juices flowing and the idea of editing these photos digitally will become laughable.  I have read countless articles lately on getting your digital film and video to look like film.  There are hundreds of aftermarket filters and apps to create a “film look” for your photos you share with the world.  Why not just buy a cheap film camera and create it that way?  When you shoot through a particular camera with a particular lens and a particular film stock, the look is yours and yours alone.       

Reason Number 2: Time

You will slow down shooting film.  Since you have only 30 photos in a roll, each snap is precious.  You will be hunting for the precise moment, the perfect light, the exact scene.  You won’t be running around shooting every little thing and moment that passes by.  In doing this, you will also enjoy not looking through a lens a lot more as well.  Instead of seeing something interesting and immediately grabbing the phone to shoot a quick snap, you might just enjoy the moment for the moment’s sake, and that is a thing of beauty in itself.  And the photos that do come out will mean so much more.  The ones you took the time to get the light right, the moment perfect, and the scene exact.      

Reason Number 3: Unplug

I am a big believer we need to be doing more manual things in our ever increasing digital world.  Any time we can spend away from digital devices, I believe, is becoming more and more important.   I am reading a great book right now on the beauty of manual work entitled, Shop Class as SoulCraft, and it has blown my mind open a bit.  In our pursuit to make things easier and faster, we have lost the beauty of working with our hands.  Now shooting on a film camera is not exactly hard manual labor but it is in its core essence manual. You have to load the film, use a light meter, set the shutter speed, the aperture, wind, and shoot! There is less time staring at a digital screen, and everyone could use a break from staring at their phone. As a bonus it becomes something you need to care for. Cleaning and maintenance is a must with film cameras and you slowly develop a relationship with your creative tool. That will only make those beautiful images you capture later ever more meaningful.   

If you are interested in learning more about shooting on film or would like to hire a professional photographer in Montana to shoot your project on film, drop us a message. We would love to connect with you regardless of whether you are a life-long film professional, just learning, or interested in hiring a professional photographer!

– Ben

Ben Zeimet is Missoula Media Company’s lead photographer and videographer, and is a truly gifted artist with years of professional experience behind the lens.

What is the best cloud storage for business

What is the best cloud storage for business?

As new technologies emerge and file sizes continue to grow, media production companies need to continually ask, “what is the best cloud storage for business?” This is especially true when looking for the best cloud storage for videos and other large files.

Google Drive: Is it the best cloud storage for business?

Google Drive (which apparently is now “Google One”) definitely takes the cake when it comes to sheer convenience. From a pricing perspective, it is usually pretty affordable, but in recent months prices seem to have gone up a bit. The biggest issue that we see with Google Drive is that the UI often results in a lot of disorganization. It doesn’t immediately present you with a recognizable directory structure like Dropbox does, and it floods the immediate viewport with all of the recently accessed files. Consequently, a lot of files end up getting stored in the root directory, which can turn into a big organization issue very quickly.

Google Drive can also be really slow. Why is Google Drive so slow? It’s really hard to say, but the best solution we have found involves a bit of manual work when you first set up a new, larger synced drive. For Montana video production teams like Missoula Media Company, we prefer another solution.

Dropbox: well-rounded cloud storage for videos

Our Blackfoot River Sessions files are shared on Google Drive and pCloud. We also use YouTube and Vimeo for video hosting

As mentioned previously, Dropbox is a better cloud storage solution for businesses that prioritize directory structure organization. The UI is pretty similar to Mac and Windows operating systems, making it easy for most users to intuitively maintain a degree of organization. Dropbox is a great solution for sharing videos. It isn’t perfect, but it gets a number of things right that Google Drive does not.

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Our Blackfoot River Sessions files are shared on Google Drive and pCloud. We also use YouTube and Vimeo for video hosting

The main drawback we see with Dropbox is that the software can really slow down your computer, and upload/download speeds can be problematic if you are transferring a lot of data. In some instances, we have simply not been able to set up a new computer with a large Dropbox synced folder. This is essentially the same issue we described with Google Drive running slowly.

pCloud: fast, affordable cloud storage for business

We use pCloud, it is great for digital media agencies. It isn’t free cloud storage, but it is quite affordable. It essentially runs like Dropbox on your local system, but my goodness is it faster than both Google Drive and Dropbox. We are able to share large video files quickly and efficiently, which really makes it viable to rely on cloud storage for video editing. Otherwise we are running back and forth across the office with thumb drives (which by the way, isn’t as bad as it sounds).

Our development team really benefits from the speed and efficiency of pCloud. We use it to sync development projects that often have thousands of smaller files, and pCloud cruises through those like a hot knife through butter. It does, however, create conflicts with Git repositories, so keep that in mind.

Send us a message

Are you interested in working with Missoula Media Company on an upcoming project? Fill out the form to see portfolio samples or ask about our services! And don’t worry, we won’t share your email with anyone without your permission.

Or give us a call:

101 E. Broadway
STE 502
Missoula, Montana 59802

Contact Us

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101 E. Broadway
STE 502
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