The one truism that viewers of home movies can agree to:  They are almost always excruciatingly long, and over-detailed.  Yet, a viewer of the home movie of a friend or family member will almost always forget that feeling when turned into a home movie maker and will inevitably make the same (lack of) editing mistake.

There is a simple way of thinking about making a home movie, whether it's about your family vacation, a child's athletic event, or a family gathering.  Think of it as telling a story.  That is, if you were going to describe the occasion to a friend, how would you sequence the story?  What is the first thing you would talk about, and the last?

Of course, when you're shooting the movie, you need to think of the story then, as well.  At a child's game, show quick shots of your team taking the field, periodic stills of the scoreboard, and moments of tension when the game is on the line.  At a family gathering, show some guests arriving, and some departing.  Show the spread on the table before everyone sits down to eat.  Get Uncle George to tell his favorite story about how his great Uncle Bill was driving his new bride down a dirt road, and a jealous lover jumped out from a cornfield and threw a rock at them.

When you follow this line of thinking, you realize that you might not sequence everything chronologically.  You might start with a quick description of the most memorable moment, leaving out a little detail so as to get your listener to pay attention to the longer story.

Similarly, when you have your movie clips sequenced properly, how long would you spend talking about a particular clip?  After all, this is what you're going to do, right?  You are going to sit someone down in front of your movie and talk about it. Occasionally, you will let a piece of material speak for itself. e.g., when someone is talking in your video, but there is still almost always an explicit or implicit narrative.  As soon as a piece of narrative is understood and appreciated, move on.

Whether you're using FlipShare, Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, or another editor, you in fact have an opportunity to add a narrative audio track to your movie.  If you can afford the time to do that, it's often a great thing to do.  Adding the narrative will likely cause you to re-sequence clips.  When you find yourself hemming and hawing, you know it's probably a good place to trim the video.