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With my staff we have to create a video similar to

We have to start from scratch, buying the software and involving some experienced people.

Which kind of software you think would allow us to make a video like the one of CERN's guys?

In particular a feature I think we need is the possibility of having multiple videos on the screen.

Example: a box with someone talking on the uppre left corner, while some images go on in the main screen.

--UPDATE 1 --

The OS I'm using is Mac OS. If needed I can surely switch to linux, and also to windows 7 (but I would avoid this last option).

Our level in video editing is not really high, hovever I'm a so-called ICT person so I don't usually get lost with new software. But of course a software with a steep learning curve do not fit well to our needs, because I would take one month just to learn it.

We were looking at Pinnacle studio or iMovie. Pinnacle has the video-wall feature which is great, iMovide allows for box where people is talking while images go on on the main background screen.

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  • Could you state for which OS you want to buy software? This makes it easier to answer the question.
    – Saaru Lindestøkke
    Dec 11, 2012 at 15:44
  • Sorry if my question sounds rude but... in which grade are you and your staff? Please also provide details on your experience and skills (of everyone) It will be useful in order to suggest you software alternatives (open source and freeware) based on what you can do. Any NLES can do this video and we can say our own opinion based on our experiences but the results will always depend on the skills of the people involved. Thank you.
    – Geppettvs D'Constanzo
    Dec 11, 2012 at 19:37
  • Adobe After Effects is an obvious answer, but Animoto might be a solution. It's a web application that allows you to make video slideshows and could be easier and cheaper. Also, Adobe Creative Cloud is worth a look for monthly access to CS6 tools as an alternative to bigger spending for the standard license.
    – llogan
    Dec 11, 2012 at 19:43
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    In the question the feature of picture-in-picture is mentioned as something the asker wants. I don't think After Effects is necessary. Simpler tools like iMovie, Windows Movie Maker and this rehanfx.org/pip.htm (no affiliation whatsoever) could be enough. Of course more detail is needed in the question to say for sure.
    – Saaru Lindestøkke
    Dec 11, 2012 at 20:49
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    iMovie's built-in themes do this kind of moving overlay. To be sure, you have to pick one of the built-in themes, but iMovie does it well for its limited selection.
    – JoshP
    Dec 12, 2012 at 1:45

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With a 99% chance After Effects was used here. As long as you plan on doing a commercial video I would avoid home video production programs like iMovie at all costs. Specially because iMovie is made for cutting video and not making animations. That's like making a commercial in Windows Movie Maker.

There are many many talented freelancing After Effects animation artists out there who will make you this kind of animation with ease if you don't want to learn the software yourself.

More info on After Effects here on the Adobe website.

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  • where could I found talented freelancing After Effects animation artists? on odesk maybe? can you suggest something?
    – Daniele B
    Dec 13, 2012 at 10:00
  • You could look if you find someone on services.creativecow.net The site is mostly visited by Video and Animation professionals. You could also create a "hiring thread" in the job forum of cgsociety, though they have an focus on 3D rather than 2D but I'm sure you will find talented 2D animations artists there aswell: forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=319
    – timonsku
    Dec 14, 2012 at 18:48
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UPDATE: I may be a bit overboard on the hardware and software targets. Taking a second and third look at your example video tells me that yes there is some animation s/w but the composite level does not appear to be as intense as I first thought. In any event you won't go wrong with the h/w I recommended but if you are on a budget you may be able to scale it back some. Certainly the basic system should be at least a i5 core 64 bit machine with at least 12 GB. Again, asking the folks that are actually going to edit your video should be the most important input on what s/w and h/w will work for them. I am assuming that you are going to have seasoned professional editors to do this work as the work you are targeting is not trivial nor is it something that you can learn fast.

The CERN video has more than one piece of software in it as there is a ton of animation, and a ton of compositing as well as multi synchronized track motion not to mention some very good motion graphic titles.

I would not start with buying software. Instead I would let the expert people you hire to choose the software they know and trust to get the job done.

Likely they will ask for one or more of the following and then some animation tools that will plug into these. You don't mention hardware but to render something like this CERN video you will need at least an Intel third generation i7 Core 64 bit CPU with a great GPU card that has 1 GB or more local memory and 16GB to 24 GB for system memory.

For Windows systems: Avid, Adobe Premier, Vegas Pro, and additionally Adobe After Effects no matter what editor you use.

For MAC systems: Final Cut Pro and Adobe After Effects.

Again, let your experts decide on the tools they need, don't hoist some one else's opinion on them.

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  • I'm not an expert on this, but isn't the hardware requirement a bit too much? Of course the hardware you mention would make it all go much smoother, but it's not a necessity right?
    – Saaru Lindestøkke
    Dec 11, 2012 at 20:41
  • You might get away with less, but I think the key is to make it easy and not spend more time than needed to wait for a render. The most important aspect is to have a 64 bit machine with at least 16 GB, E.G. my 32 bit quad core running Vegas Pro will barf if I put more than 5 video tracks on it for compositing. The CERN video has considerably more tracks, so hence more horsepower is needed.
    – filzilla
    Dec 11, 2012 at 22:46

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