The neat thing about Corel VideoStudio Pro X4 is the suite of built-in instant project templates. These allow you to use default project preferences and settings so you don't have to twiddle around too much with the options.

The instant project templates in Corel VideoStudio Pro X4
 

Of course, if you want to have your own custom project settings, you can open a project template and then tweak the settings as you wish (e.g. default save folder and the like).

Once you've set up the instant project template for your video, it's time to add your video clip into the application. There are many ways to do this and it's all really easy.

You can capture the video clip from a video source (e.g. your camcorder), or go to Windows Explorer and drag a video clip directly into the timeline. If you have clips in your Media Library on the upper right, you can also add drag clips from there into the timeline. Another method is to go straight to the VideoStudio timeline and right-click to add a video of your choice.

The next thing to do is to preview your added video clips. You simply click on the Play button on the Player Panel and watch your clip.

The little Player Panel for previewing your clips
 

You can also set ranges for previewing, meaning you can choose to watch only part of your entire video clip. Do this by indicating the preview range with the Trim Markers or the Mark In/Out buttons, as shown below.

Set a preview range in Corel VideoStudio with Trim Markers

Wow, it's that simple? Yes - it is. Once you've done the above, you're more or less done with your project. Of course, we have not added the special effects and altered our video too much - that is the topic of a subsequent tutorial. For now, save your project and give it a suitable filename. Corel VideoStudio Pro X4 also comes with a "Smart Package" option that allows you to export your entire video production out into a neat, compact WinZip package.

Alright, then! We've seen how to set up a new movie project in Corel VideoStudio Pro X4. For our next tutorial in this series, we'll take a detailed look at how to capture video into the VideoStudio application.