Mozilla Offers New Online Video Editing Tool

Mozilla Offers New Online Video Editing Tool The whole technology industry is still trying to strike gold with the ultimate online editing platform and now Mozilla, the makers of the infamous web browser, Firefox, is giving it a shot, too. Popcorn Maker 1.0 is designed to allow users to create customizable online viewing experiences using its collaborative platform and user friendly interface. We've played around with the site a bit and wanted to share the good and the not so good of this new online tool.

Popcorn Maker 1.0: The Good We're part of a generation that is head over heals in love with the Internet and it's social characteristics, so it really is a wonder that there hasn't been an online video editing program to really take off yet. When YouTube rolled out its update with video editing capabilities, it became clear that we were headed in the right direction, but that small aspect of an ever expansive web domain leaves a lot to be desired.

Popcorn Maker 1.0 fills some of those desires with some very sensible (and some quite nonsensical) features. First and foremost, we love that you can start a video project just by entering a YouTube, Vimeo or SoundCloud URL. This makes it so easy to edit videos that you may have recorded on a mobile device and uploaded straight to the Internet, or go back and update an old video that you may have uploaded to YouTube years ago.

Another feature we love in Popcorn is the simple Pop Up tool. It allows you to turn any YouTube clip into an instant VH1 style Pop Up Video. It's not the most professional text too, but it is certainly affective and fun. You can also integrate Twitter and Google Maps, which can definitely have its uses, too.

The general timeline format is easy to use and very intuitive if you've ever used a video editing program in the past. The platform has a clean layout, which is nice, too. Overall you can tell a good amount of thought went into the overall design of the site, which sadly is a new revelation compared to other archaic online editors.

Popcorn Maker 1.0: The Not-So-Good While there's nothing inherently terrible about this program, there are definitely some aspects that will make you go, hmmm . Specifically we're talking about some of the add in features that just seem silly attempts at web integration. The real head scratcher is the Wikipedia button. It's hard to think of a situation where it is a positive to have a large text box filled with multiple lines of small font in a video. Typically that type of thing is a cardinal sin in the video editing world. Sure, the justification that this is a web video and therefore the audience can stop, read and scroll through the text is there, but at some point this just minimizes the effectiveness and art of video.

Also, many of the projects that have come out of this program just wreak of immaturity. The crude, first generation text graphics and over simplified timeline make it hard to compile a project that could feasibly be used in a professional environment.

Overall, it seems like this online video editor has some potential, but there is still a lot of work to be done both on Mozilla s end, and our end as editors and consumers of online media, before this could really become a colossal success.

Do you do a lot of video editing online? Do you think this type of tool could be useful? Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or head over to the Video Blocks Facebook page (or the Video Blocks Twitter account!) and share your thoughts!

And to help keep the creative juices flowing, here's a free production music track from the Video Blocks blog! Just click the button below to download your free stock music track.

LINK:	http://content.videoblocks.com/2012/11/mozilla-offers-new-online-video...
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