Forgive me if I use the wrong terminology here but I am new to the video/editing world.

Here is my problem:

I need a totally automated video editing solution. Basically a script executed editor that can cut a short clip out of multiple avi video sources.

Because everthing needs to be automated, I want to feed the editor a text file with the time slices and the video sources to use, as well as the output file.

So I have done some research and it sounds like ffmpeg would be a good place to start. Does anyone have any experience with doing this sort of thing to get me started?

Thanks in advance...
S