Using Windows Live Movie Maker Launch Windows Live Movie Maker. You must have Windows Vista or Windows 7 for this program. If it opens to a previous project, from the File menu, choose New Project. This version will take video directly from the Flip Camera (mp4). Click on Add Video or Images.
You can drag videos onto the storyboard or if you click on the add video and photos button, you can navigate to where the videos are.
s
Using Control or Shift plus clicking on the desired clips highlights them/ When you have the desired clips highlighted, click on Open to add them to your project.
The videos are now in the storyboard. Clicking the Play button will start the video from wherever your cursor is. To edit your video, click on the Edit tab on the Ribbon. You can click anywhere on any of the clips to place your cursor.
You can also step move the slide bar under the video preview to move to a spot in the video. You can also step frame by frame using the buttons on either side of the Play button.
The trim tool can be used to select the part of the video you want to use. Think of it kind of like a crop tool. You must set the start point at the place where you want your video to begin. Do this by placing the cursor on a point on the storyboard, using the slider in the video preview or stepping the video frame by frame. Once you are at the start point (where you want the video to begin), click Set Start Point.
Move the slider or step the frames to the point where you want the video to end and click Set End Point.
This will cut any video outside the two points. When the points are set, click Trim Clip to crop your video. Remember! This works like a crop and will only save the video between the start and end points.
Save Trim to accept your action. Note you can cancel with the button next to Save.
To remove a piece of video use the Split tool. Suppose I wanted to remove the geese from this video. Using the slidebar and the frame by frame step, I first mark the beginning of what I want to remove. Once I am at the beginning of the frames I want to remove, I click the Split button.
Notice that the one clip is now split into two. Halfway there. Now, using the slide bar and the frame by frame step tool, I find the end of the piece I want to eliminate and click the Split button again.
Now I have three clips and the one in the middle is the one I want to eliminate. Click on it to highlight it.
Press the Delete Key on the keyboard and the selected clip is gone. Play from the beginning to ensure the selections were correct.
You can add transitions between scenes by clicking on the Animations tab.
Notice how the Ribbon changes. You see examples of the animations. Rolling your mouse ove one of them and it will preview in the viewer. Notice at the right end of the animation examples is a tiny scroll bar. There are several more rows of animations available. Click the tiny down arrow to see another row. You can pnly place an animation between clips. If you want to place one where there is no space you will need to split the clip. With the cursor where you want the transition, click on the desired animation. Notice to the right of the animations is Duration. You can change the amount of time it takes for the transition to take place by changing this time with the drop-down menu.
You can add visual effects to your video. Click th Visual Effects tab
Again, whatever effect you apply will work for the selected clip. To try an effect, select one of your clips and click on one of the effects. Then play your movie. Note that there is also a tiny arrow to the right of the row of effects, indicating that there are more available.
You can alter the brightness by clicking on the sun icon to the right of the row of effects. Use the slider to alter the brightness.
To remove the effect, click on the segment and click on the blank button on the far left of the ribbon.
To add a title before the selected clip, return to the Home tab and click on the Add Title button.
The last segment is the one selected, so the title will be added before that clip. The viewer changes to black and a text box appears. Click inside the box and type your text.
Notice that the ribbon now shows a Format toolbar. You can alter the font, font style, centering and even the transparency of the text on the left side of the ribbon. Click on Transparency and move the slider to see what it does for your text.
If, after you click outside the text box, you want to edit your text click on the large Edit Text button next to the format selections.
Next to the Edit Text button is Background Color, Start Time and Text Duration. Start time sets the time in the movie when the text should start and duration is how long the text appears. The remainder of the ribbon is dedicated to text effects. Roll your mouse over each one to see what the text does. The first on the left is no action.
Movie titles can be added before the movie or between clips. Play your movie to see if its in the right spot.
Captions run right over the video. Click on Captions from the Home tab to add one.
Your ribbon returns to the same format toolbar as the Add Titles and you have the same kinds of choices. The Titles and captions appear below the video clip. You can drag the captions and titles with your mouse.
In the same way, you add credits. These will appear at the end of the video.
Now its time to add music. Click on the Add Music button.
Navigate to where the sound file is saved.
Choose the file and click on Open. Now the music shows up as a green track above the video clips.
Also note that there is now a tab for Music Tools. At the left of the ribbon is a speaker. Control the volume of the track with the slider. Note the far left has a red slash. This is mute.
You can fade in and out next to the volume button. Note that each has a drop-down menu.
You can control the start time, duration and end time with the section to the right of fade. You can also adjust the size by dragging with your mouse from the beginning or the end.
Once your movie is just the way you want it, you’re ready to publish it! You must do this to play it in Windows Media Player or other video player. Your project is a different file type. If you save your project, you can go back and re-edit and remix it. Once you save as a movie, the movie cannot be changed. You would need to go back to the project. Click File and choose Save Movie.
Standard definition will give the most flexibility. But if you know you’re going to enail it, choosing that option would compress the file and make it smaller – though you would lose some of the quality. Tell it where to save and give it a name. The default file type is wmv which will play in Windows Media Player.
Barb Falkinburg March 2011