DIY SFX
When the kids discovered video production as a new hobby (initially doing stopped-motion movies with Danish bricks), their Dad soon also became involved, eager to try out some techniques used in movie-making for creating special effects. Thanks to the fact that nowadays digital video equipment is quite affordable, one can do incredible stuff at home and create effects that have for a long time been feasable in professional film-making only. And the best thing is: There are loads of free and open-source multimedia tools available for hobby film makers, most notably the KDE non-linear video editor Kdenlive!
Toolbox
Here's a list of tools that proved handy during video production and post-processing:
Graphics
- ImageMagick - for batch processing of images and pattern generation
- Gimp - for bitmap-based image manipulation
- Inkscape - for drawing vector shapes
Audio
- Audacity - for soundtrack editing and sound generation
- Rosegarden - for creating music and sound using MIDI equipment
Video
- Kdenlive - THE video editing tool
- ffmpegtcits.de/typo3/clear.gif - for video batch processing and format conversion