Free Alternative to Premiere Pro?

Oblivion2500

I have a project that I just completed in Unreal Engine 4 that I want to create a showcase video to post on YouTube and my portfolio (currently seeking a job). I don't have an Adobe Full CC subscription. Just the photography plan (Photoshop/Lightroom). 

What alternative free video editor can I use that is on par with Premiere Pro? I know Blender 2.9 has some video editing stuff and there will be a big update for it later this year. What about DaVinci Resolve? I have tried that in the past and found it very confusing to use. What about UE4 itself for making videos using Sequencer? 

Eric Chadwick

You really don't need nor want fancy crossfades or animated splash logos or anything other than a straight fly through of your work. Employers just want you to get straight to the art, please make it as frictionless as possible to see your art, don't try to dress it up with video editing. The art speaks for itself, and speaks best when it's unfettered.

Eric Chadwick

Also you should know that videos are often skipped, in favor of still shots. Hiring managers are jaded, we are constantly faced with needing to cut through the fluff, to get to the meat. Videos have a sordid history of being dressed up in fluff, timewasting logo screens, fade-ins, etc.

See Your Portfolio Repels Jobs by Jon Jones.

Imagine that your target visitor is a tired, indifferent hiring manager whose only desire is to find the shortest path possible to looking at your art. Nothing else matters. So design your website for him. Give him what he wants. Remove what he doesn't care about. The clearer your message, the better.

poopipe

Eric's very valid comments aside (and really, do listen to Eric on this) 

I like davinci resolve . It's free, fast and has excellent color grading 

thomasp

Resolve would have also been my recommendation. I very much enjoy the editing functionality in there - very similar to what I remember from Premiere - but found it quite easy to run into the limits of the free version. Video resolution for one but also applying fairly basic effects triggers the nag screen for me.

Turns out it's not quite that free after all.

Perhaps Hitfilm is worth looking into? They offer a free version last I checked. Never tried it myself though.

Oblivion2500

Eric Chadwick said:

You really don't need nor want fancy crossfades or animated splash logos or anything other than a straight fly through of your work. Employers just want you to get straight to the art, please make it as frictionless as possible to see your art, don't try to dress it up with video editing. The art speaks for itself, and speaks best when it's unfettered.

Yes, I would not use any text, fades, or any color grading or enhancements on the video. I would just do a 10-second maximum video just to bring it to life. Have it auto-play on social media or portfolio site and loop as well so the employer doesn't even have to click on anything to watch and can just scroll away when done watching it to see screenshots. Similar to Quixel's way of showing videos that are very short but bring the project to life with animations, lighting, and movement. Simple and straight to the point.

See these videos as an example (each one starts at a specific time to show an example of what I would do):
https://youtu.be/8Vb-vby9IxQ?t=420

https://youtu.be/bL-StDlpIIM?t=3

https://youtu.be/xuu0tfLl94Q?t=701

Eric Chadwick said:

Also you should know that videos are often skipped, in favor of still shots. Hiring managers are jaded, we are constantly faced with needing to cut through the fluff, to get to the meat. Videos have a sordid history of being dressed up in fluff, timewasting logo screens, fade-ins, etc.

See Your Portfolio Repels Jobs by Jon Jones.

Imagine that your target visitor is a tired, indifferent hiring manager whose only desire is to find the shortest path possible to looking at your art. Nothing else matters. So design your website for him. Give him what he wants. Remove what he doesn't care about. The clearer your message, the better.

Understood. This is great info btw!!! Thank you for helping me with all this so far!

I will make damn sure that my social media, portfolio site, and artstation is very simple and straight to the point. Having the portfolio site being the most important which I will also link on my social page and artstation as well. 

Oblivion2500

thomasp said:

Resolve would have also been my recommendation. I very much enjoy the editing functionality in there - very similar to what I remember from Premiere - but found it quite easy to run into the limits of the free version. Video resolution for one but also applying fairly basic effects triggers the nag screen for me.

Turns out it's not quite that free after all.

Perhaps Hitfilm is worth looking into? They offer a free version last I checked. Never tried it myself though.

That's disappointing. I remember how DaVinci's resolve was pretty annoying with it be "FREE". I will probably end up getting an adobe cc full subscription once I have money and a job since I love premiere and some other adobe apps. I will also keep my eye out for Blender 3.0 coming out this year which will have full-fledged video editing and compositing which could be a great alternative to Premiere Pro and After Effects but 100% FREE.