Today I was told that I will be involved in a technology camp for teen-agers. Our session will be on Video, Audio, and Podcasting. In about 6 hours spread over three days, I want the campers to write, shoot, edit, and encode a short video (one minute or less).

I work entirely on the Mac, and we may decide to go with iMovie, iDVD, and iSquint for all of our software. But we are leaning toward a PC because back at home, most of these kids will be more likely to get their hands on a PC instead of a Mac.

Does anyone care to recommend any editing software? It needs to be cheap (below $50), or even better, FREE. We can get access to some consumer DV cameras, so the software needs to be DV friendly. Most probably are.

In looking around on the web, Pinnacle Studio looks promising. Any other suggestions?

I'd recommend Vegas Movie Studio over anything from Pinnacle. A little pricier, maybe, but if you hunt around, you should be able to get a bargain. There may also be academic pricing for which you may qualify.

Otherwise, if you really want to go cheap, you could go with a Linux setup and go with an open-source solution like Kino. Nothing fancy, but it's free and fine for cuts editing.

Windows Movie Maker comes free with XP and Vista, and it has pretty much everything you need in terms of basic editing: capture or import of video, pictures, audio, you can do basic effects, transitions, titles/credits, then export either as AVI or encode to Windows Media.

If you can afford $50, I would suggest Adobe Premiere Elements, a scaled-down version of a professional video editor, that would let you teach them multitrack editing, keyframes, green/blue screen techniques, basic audio mixing, and DVD authoring, etc.

Perhaps Avid Free DV? Though it may be a little tougher to pick up than Windows Movie Maker or iMovie.

Re: Pinnacle. I have always loved the simplicity of this editor, and the all inclusive package, from capture to DVD in one Interface. I ve used 7 through 10. I still use it for simpler projects. The titler is also great. I've never had the problems that some have complained of, but then I am pretty handy in the tech end, though not a guru by any mean. I attribute complaints to less that tech minded users who don't understand some of the processes involved, and are looking for instantaneous response to any editing command. Utlimately, if you want to do a lot of color correction, or compositing, you will need to go elsewhere, but I wouldn't dismiss this out of hand.