Question 1: Which is the second largest search engine? Question 2: Which is the largest online platform for learning? You got it right both times: YouTube.

Today, more than ever before, video has become the de facto medium of sharing information, tutorials, education, “how-tos”, news, and opinion. If “a picture is worth a thousand words”, a video is worth a million words. More and more people are going online to consume information in video format. The reasons are obvious: video combines action, audio, emotions and it gives a feeling of “being there”.

To create compelling short videos, like a landing page, an intro or an outro, I needed a tool that is (1) easy to use (does not have a steep learning curve), (2) powerful, (3) provides samples on which I can base my videos, (4) provides templates that can be modified to suit my needs and, (5) provides these templates for a wide domain, from business, social media, lifestyle videos based on themes of travel, birthday, wedding, music, etc, educational, tutorial, and explainer videos, and most important, (6) does not cost me a bomb. My search for an appropriate tool that satisfies all these conditions brought me to FlexClip.

The first thing you notice when you visit FlexClip.com site is that it is extremely neat, well laid out and everything is so easy to locate. Let the simplicity of the site not fool us because as we shall see, the tools here are very sophisticated (but not difficult to use). FlexClip is an online video editor.

FlexClip is a product of PearlMountain Limited, a company that has been in the R&D of graphics and multimedia since 2006. FlexClip is an easy-to-use video maker that helps businesses and individuals create professional marketing videos as well as family stories with ease.

Features

What features does FlexClip have? All the features that people in a hurry who want a high quality video done quickly will need. That includes:

1. Video Trimmer – Completely Free. Drop your videos in common formats like MOV, MP4, MV4, AVI, FLV and MKV. Cut/trim videos to the perfect length. Download the trimmed video.
2. Video Converter – Completely Free. Just drop your video in MOV, M4V, MP4, AVI, FLV, MKV, and more popular video formats and quickly convert your video files to MP4 or WEBM. Conversion is a 3 step process – (1) select video from your computer, (2) set the specs, (3) download the converted video. All this without any loss of quality.
3. Video Metadata – Metadata is data about data. So video metadata is data about the video. Understanding video metadata is the key to getting traction with organic traffic. On YouTube where my video competes with tens of millions of other similar videos, I must have tools that help viewers to search for and discover my videos. Video title, video description, video tags, all these and more are essential parts of YouTube SEO and FlexClip comes in handy here too. On running this tool on one of my videos, FlexClip gave rich metadata which I have reproduced below this article for one of my videos.
4. Video Compressor – Another free tool. Just drag and drop the video file from your computer, select your specs, and  FlexClip’s fast video compressor will reduce video file size online for free. No software to install! The only limitation is that the video to be compressed should be under 10 minutes. This is one of the minor irritants I found here, because a video that is just over 10 minutes long will be rejected. So yes, FlexClip is for making short videos like into or outro videos or landing page video. The compressor will not cut my video, just reduce the file size and make it easier for uploading videos on YouTube, Vimeo, and also on Udemy and other educational sites. I know that many videos are on an average about 15-20 and the over the last few years it has become a trend to make longer YouTube videos. So maybe FlexClip can work on this.
5. FlexClip Text Editor – FlexClip allows you to add text to your video. Oftentimes, I need to add text to explain a process with animation, or point attention to a part of the diagram in a video. FlexClip has the ability to give simple yet special text animations. You can add your personal information like your channel name, organization name, etc to the video and make the text unique and impressive.
6. Add Music to Videos – What is a good video without good background music? I could add background music of different formats to my videos. Audio formats supported currently are AAC, FLAC, M4A, MP3, OGG, and WAV – practically all the commonly used formats. Just like the video trimmer, there’s also an audio cutter – simply drag and move the slider to set the beginning and end time of music. Preview the video with edited audio and finalize it when satisfied.
7. Record Voiceover to video – With FlexClip I can record my voice to the video. Through the narration, I can explain the video at my own pace. This is so useful, especially when PowerPoint slideshow is converted into a video.
8. Merge Videos – Another very useful feature when we make educational, training or explainer videos. Multiple clips and photos can be combined into a single video in few minutes.
9. Split Videos – If I have ended up with a large video – too bulky to upload or too long to hold learner’s attention, I can split it up into smaller videos.
10. Video Watermark – Protecting my videos is essential for me and I would hate it if my hard work is copied by someone else. Putting a watermark with my name or my channel’s name ensures that there is some degree of protection from copyright violation.
11. Photo to Video – At times I must convert my handwritten notes, passages from textbook to a video format. This very useful feature is available.
12. Resolution – As the world moves to 4K resolution, there are still devices and locations where a lower resolution is advised due to storage and bandwidth limitations. FlexClip allows me to select the resolution that is optimum for my platform.
13. Aspect ratio – A very commonly overlooked feature of videos is the aspect ratio. 16:9 is the standard aspect ratio for YouTube videos. This setting can also be controlled from FlexClip.
14. Zoom Video – On my hunt for a video editing tool, one of my must have features was the ability to zoom into a part of the video. FlexClip does that well.
15. Rotate Video – Rotate videos clockwise / anticlockwise by 90 degrees. Frankly, I donot know where I can use this feature unless I have taken a video from a different angle, in that case this could come in handy. That happens so often when filming on a mobile. But for my educational videos its probably not a feature I need badly.
16. Media Library – My arsenal of video creating, editing, tools will be incomplete without a media library – stock photos, video and audio to use in videos – all this can be done from here.

If all those features were not impressive enough, FlexClip also provides “FlexClip Learning Centre” – step-by-step video tutorials on how to make these videos. Hidden in the “Others” tab, I found some interesting tutorials on “How to Make A Great Video Resume That Will Bag The Job in 2020”, “How You Can Help Fight Coronavirus”, and a very intriguing one, “Top List of Marriage Proposal Ideas for 2020 – Romantic Ways to Propose”, etc. As far as the last one is concerned, it may be better not to spend too much time on drafting your marriage proposal and/or creating a video, but just get going, unless one is forced to maintain social distancing for long period.

FlexClip takes care of its users by providing tips and tutorials, FAQs and also seeks suggestion and feedback from its users to improve the product.

Pricing

There are 3 plans – Free plan where the maximum video length is 1 minute (which is actually good for landing pages for most education / training purpose). The Basic plan at $4.99 / month (or $59.88 if billed annually) is a good choice if you want to test the waters first. If you are into long term relationship with YouTube and other types of videos than the Plus plan at $7.99/mo is a good choice (and billed at $95.88 annually). The Plus plan gives 1080p Full HD videos, video length upto 5 minutes, custom watermark, and unlimited stock videos.

If your needs are modest and you want to create short videos like say, explainer videos under 5 minutes, this could be a good choice. Since the Free plan allows upto 1 minute of videos, you can try this plan before taking a decision on the other plans.

On the whole, I feel that this is a good intro level product for users who are new to video editing technology and are creating educational videos or recreational videos. Head over to flexclip.com and create an account and explore the world of video making and video editing.

Happy editing and learning and here’s a clip I made in under 3 minutes.

Categories: Blog, Technology News

Tags: flexclip, intro video, landing page video, outro video, short video, video compressor, video converter, video editor, video metadata viewer, video trimmer, video watermark