Pretty Video Effects

[Yarram]

We've been given an assignment in which we need to create a video. Pretty much, we gotta interview someone, record it, create a pretty video, and a presentation, and then present both during Lab.
What I'm looking for is information on making video's pretty- Like shiny reflective text that throws a realistic shadow kind of pretty. Real professional quality hopefully.
Does anyone know where I should start?
Adobe software seems like the way to go, but I'd really need tutorials that go with it.

[Whoracle]

Try LiVES (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiVES), Ingex (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingex) or Cinelarra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinelerra). All three are available for Linux and seem pretty straightforward to me. Granted, I have a little experience with video editing, but not that much, so you should get those programs pretty soon.

[endoperez]

It's not the effects. Don't go overboard with those. Just because you can add a lense flare doesn't mean you should - it will not add value, it will not make the speaker more interesting, and you have to make it good enough to get it past both a casual viewer and a teacher looking for mistakes.

Do you have to specifically create a video with pretty special effects, or a good-looking interview? I doubt professionals working on interview make pretty effects. They make a pretty video. The effects are in there to make the footage look better, not the other way round.

Check out old and recent weather forecasts and news reports. The older ones will mostly be quite clumsy and outdated, and the difference should help you see what the current effects are used for.

Also, here's a really cool clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHun58mz3vI
If someone has done a similar clip about interviews, it'd be exactly what you need.

[Yarram]

It's not the effects.

Yeah, I know what I'm doing. I just don't know how to do it.
Effects aren't the key, but they're the bit that I don't know how to do, so they're my focus atm.

EDIT: That video is awesome.