I am looking for suggestions for an editing program. I want to edit short movies (usually shorter than 10 minutes in length). What is a good "entry level" program to buy that is affordable (maybe in the $100 range)?

Also, do you recommend getting anything extra? Maybe an external harddrive?

VideoStudio 10 is $100. Pretty darn good at that price, and rather easy to use.

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/Home+Video/Studio+Family/

Take a look at Pinnacle Studio. I've used it several times for quick-and-dirty productions and it's done a great job. You get a lot of product for around $80.

and got the free upgrade. I "outgrew" that in about 2 1/2 yrs. For more in-depth reviews, check out the site "epinions.com". There are a few reviews of Studio there that outline others' experience, both good and bad. My advice: make sure your system at least meets "Recommended" requirements.

Am now "moving up" to Adobe Video bundle. Good luck.

Apparently the latest version of Pinnacle is a real stinker that crashes a lot...?
http://www.epinions.com/pr-Pinnacle_Studio_9_210100341_for_PC/display_~reviews - epinions.com reviews

I don't have first-hand experience myself.

2- Personally I like Vegas over Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro and Avid Media Composer (I haven't used Avid much though). The reason I like Vegas is because you can do almost everything in it- audio, color correction, some basic compositing. With Premiere Pro or FCP, their tools are somewhat limited in audio and color correction so you'd have to move to another program for that task (usually those programs are bundled in the Studio packages).

Vegas Movie Studio, Premiere Elements, and Final Cut Express are sort of in the $100 range. They are all budget versions of the full-blown packages.

If you have a Mac, I'd strongly consider iMovie just because it's so easy to use. It gets buggy with large projects though.
Free: Avid Free, Windows Movie Maker. For cuts and dissolves editing, they do exactly the same thing as other programs.

Is this the product I'd want?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AP2X0U/qid=1149476174/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-6149628-9255054?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=229534

Also, I'm not familar with the editing programs at all. What is compositing?

Yup, Sony Vegas Movie Studio is a good, stable, inexpensive editor to get started.

See here for compositing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compositing)

Anyone familiar with PowerDirector?

http://video-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/powerdirector-review.html

Apparently the latest version of Pinnacle is a real stinker that crashes a lot...?
http://www.epinions.com/pr-Pinnacle_Studio_9_210100341_for_PC/display_~reviews - epinions.com reviews

I don't have first-hand experience myself.

2- Personally I like Vegas over Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro and Avid Media Composer (I haven't used Avid much though). The reason I like Vegas is because you can do almost everything in it- audio, color correction, some basic compositing. With Premiere Pro or FCP, their tools are somewhat limited in audio and color correction so you'd have to move to another program for that task (usually those programs are bundled in the Studio packages).

Vegas Movie Studio, Premiere Elements, and Final Cut Express are sort of in the $100 range. They are all budget versions of the full-blown packages.

If you have a Mac, I'd strongly consider iMovie just because it's so easy to use. It gets buggy with large projects though.
Free: Avid Free, Windows Movie Maker. For cuts and dissolves editing, they do exactly the same thing as other programs.
That was a link to the old version. The 10.0 version, out of the box is buggy too. The later 10.5 releases may have corrected most of the flaws.

10.x is a complete rewrite on top of the Avid Liquid 7 engine. Like any NLE, make sure you meet the specs. But, the render engine kicks butt, does it in the background, and was built to handle HD Mpeg natively.

Anyone familiar with PowerDirector?

http://video-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/powerdirector-review.html
Never used it, but if you like what it says, why not try it?

Avid also has Avid Free. Limited on output, but it may suit for a short project.

I put in a vote for Pinnacle Studio. For the price, it has plenty of features for quick and dirty productions, as well as integrated DVD authoring. Pinnacle studio is comparable to premiere elements as well. I've never used Vegas, but it seems to be a step up from studio and premiere elements not only in features, but in price.

Is this the product I'd want?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AP2X0U/qid=1149476174/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-6149628-9255054?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=229534

Also, I'm not familar with the editing programs at all. What is compositing?

Yes, Vegas Movie Studio Platinum + DVD provides sound stripped down versions of Vegas, DVD Architect, and ACID. For basic editing, and assuming you are going that direction in future, its a great way to get you feet wet in the Vegas format.

Pinnacle 10 works great in its recent versions. It provides a simplified approach to editings, has a nice titler (something Vegas doesn't really boast) and has an all-in-one GUI from capture to output to camera or DVD.

Premiere Elements will get you stripped down versions of Premiere and PhotoShop, if I understand it right.

Finally, for no dollars, have you considered the Free Avid product. See

http://www.avid.com/freedv/