Using Windows Movie Maker 2 (Windows XP)
What you will need:
· Windows Computer with Windows XP and Windows Movie Maker Software
· Digital Video (DV) camcorder and a DV tape
· Computer must have a FireWire connection (IEEE 1394 connection)
· Firewire cable
· Creativity
Capturing Video Using Movie Maker
1. Film the video footage you want on a DV camcorder.
2. Leave the DV tape in the camcorder.
3. Connect the Firewire cable from the DV camcorder to the computer.
4. Turn the DV camcorder to VCR (Play) mode.
5. Open Movie Maker (StartàProgramsàAccessoriesàWindows Movie Maker
6. If a previous project appears, you need to open a new project (select New Project from the File menu) Let’s go ahead and save your project. Select Save from the File menu. Give your project a name (but don’t remove the .MSWMM file extension from the name), and save it (into you’re My Videos folder is fine).
7. When you open Movie Maker, in the upper left of the window you will see the Movie Tasks pane. This is where you can find shortcuts to a number of different functions in Movie Maker, such as Capture Video, Edit Movie, etc.
You can click on these arrows to expand each area to get links to these functions.
8. Make sure the camera is connected and on.
9. Click on Capture from video device.
10. If everything is connected correctly, you should see this window open:
Type a name for your
Video, and then select
the folder in which
you want to save it. Click Next.
11. In the next window, select Digital device format
(unless you are creating this video specifically to
play on CD’s or on the Web, in which the first
choice would be best). Click Next.
12. In the next window, select
Capture parts of the tape
manually.
Also, be sure to select Show preview
during capture
13. Click Next
14. This will open the Video Capture Wizard Window.
Click Start Capture when you are ready to start capturing a clip of video onto the hard drive.
Click Stop Capture when the clip that you need is finished.
You can control the camera (to get it cued up for your clips) by using these controls.
Flick the Finish button when you are finished capturing clips from the camera.
15. After they have been imported, you will see
you clips show up like this in Movie Maker.
Working with Projects
You work on your project by adding content to the timeline at the bottom of the Movie Maker screen. This time line can be viewed and used in two ways:
1.
Video clips and transitions can be added to your project in the Storyboard view or the Timeline view. But these two views give you a different perspective of the project (as well as different controls).
Working in Storyboard View
Move clips onto your timeline by dragging them
from above and dropping them there. If you drop
it after the last clip on the line, then it will always fill
in the last clip space. But you can also drop a clip
between two pre-existing clips to insert it there.
You can also re-sequence the clips that are on the
Timeline by dragging them back and forth.
You can also copy and paste the clips on the
timeline, to duplicate them.
You can preview your clips by clicking on a clip on the
timeline, and then clicking the Play button
(there is also a Play button at the bottom of the
preview window and there is one just above the timeline).
Working in Timeline View
The Timeline view allows you to work on
Different aspects of your video, such as
Audio tracks, titles, etc.
If you do not see the audio track of your
video, click on the “plus” symbol next
to Video.
This view has an extra audio track for
adding sound effects and background music.
Applying Video Effects
Movie Maker comes with 28 different video effects that you can apply to your clips. To preview the available effects, click on View Video Effects in the Movie Tasks pane (or click on Video Effects in the Collections pane).
The available effects will show up in the area to the right.
Click on each effect to see a preview of what that effect does in the Preview screen (to preview some of the effects you will need to click the play button under the Preview screen).
To apply an effect to one of your clips, simply drag it down from above and drop it on top of the clip on the timeline.
A star will show up on the clip when an effect has
been applied.
You can apply up to 6 effects to each clip if you want!
Applying Transitions
A transition is what takes place between video clips as your movie plays. Movie Maker comes with 60 different transitions that you can put between your clips. . To preview the available transitions, click on View Video Transitions in the Movie Tasks pane (or click on Video Transitions in the Collections pane).
Click on each transition to see a preview of what that effect does in the Preview screen (to preview the transitions, you will need to click the play button under the Preview screen).
You can only have one transition between clips. If you want to replace one transition with another, simply drag the new transition down on top of the old one and it will replace it. To remove a transition, click on it to select it, and then press the Delete key on your keyboard (when you are in Timeline view, you must select the transition in the transition track below the video track, and then press Delete).
Adding Titles and Credits
You can create titles that are over a colored background, or you can place
your titles over the video in a clip. To create titles, click on Make titles or credits
in the Movie Tasks pane.
Then you will see these choices:
A title at the beginning, end, before, or
after a clip will create one that is over
a color background
A title that is on the selected clip will
superimpose the text on top of the clip
that is currently selected.
Then you type your text here.
A Preview will show up here.
When finished, click here.
To change the animation, font or color.
Working with Audio
You can add music and sound effects to your movie by clicking
on the Import audio or video link in the Movie Tasks pane.
This will open a window in which you can navigate to the place on your hard drive where you have saved sound effects or music files. For example, these could be MP3 music files that you have ripped from an audio CD, or they could be sound effects (WAV files) that you have downloaded from a web site such as Soundamerica.com (http://www.soundamerica.com).
After clicking Import audio or video, navigate to
a folder where you have saved such files.
After you select one of the audio files and click Import,
The audio file will appear in the
Collections area of the Movie Maker
screen.
Then you can drag the audio clip
down from the Collections area onto
the Audio/Music track of the
timeline, in the exact position at
which you want it to start playing.
After you have placed it there, you
can move it to a different place, and
you can copy and paste it onto other
areas of the timeline to have it play
more than once.
If you have added music or sound effects to your movie, you will then have two audio tracks, the audio portion of the video track and also the Audio/Music track. In Movie Maker, it is easy to tweak the balance between these two tracks, so that your music is not too loud to hear the voices, for example. To tweak this balance between the audio portion of the video track and the Audio/Music track, first click the Set Audio Levels button above the timeline.
This will open the small Audio Levels window,
In which you can drag the controller left to
Increase the Audio from video (decreasing the
Audio/Music track) or vice versa.
It would be best to make this adjustment last, after you have completed all other aspects of your project.
You can also make adjustments to the individual audio clips (both on the Audio/Music track and on the Audio track for your video). To do this, place your cursor arrow on one of the audio clips and click the right mouse button.
A pop-up menu will appear.
You can choose one of the following:
Mute – to silence this audio clip.
Fade In or Fade Out – to make the beginning
or the end gradually fade in or out.
Volume – if you select this, the small
Audio Clip Volume
window will open,
where you can adjust
the volume for this
clip.
Recording Narration
Within Movie Maker, you can record narration that runs during your entire project, or just for individual portions of it. To do this, click the Narrate Timeline button above the timeline.
This will open the Narrate Timeline area:
(Note: you need to have an external microphone
connected to your computer to record narration)
To start recording narration, click this button.
Click this one to stop recording.
You can adjust the microphone level here.
This tells you how long your recording is.
This tells you how long you have left until you
reach another audio clip that is already on your
timeline (you cannot overlap audio clips. If you keep
recording, you will push the pre-existing clip to the right)
(To avoid this you could select this choice)
(Note: the narration will begin at the point where you have the play head)
After you click the Stop Narration button, a dialog box will open, asking you to name your audio file and to designate where you want to save it. Once you have named and saved your clip, it will show up on the Audio/Music track on your timeline and you can manipulate it like any other audio clip.
Saving your Movie to your Hard Drive or Burning to CD
If your computer has a CD burner you can save your movie directly
To a blank CD by clicking here.
But you can also save your movie to your hard drive, for playing back
on your computer, or burning to CD later.
After you click Save to my Computer, a dialog box
will open, asking you to give your movie a name
and designate a location to save it.
Type a name and select My Videos as the location.
Click the Next botton.
At first, you will only have one choice
(this will generally create a movie that is
approximately 640 x 480 pixels in size)
However, if you click here
You will have additional choices.
If you choose this,
You can designate the maximum file size
that you would like for your movie to be
and Movie Maker will choose the right type of compression to create a file of that size.
And if you choose this,
Then you can choose from a variety
Of different compressions and file types.
After you have made your selections, click the Next button and Movie Maker will save your movie to the designated location.
Unless you designate otherwise, Movie Maker will save your movie as a Windows Media file. This can be played back on any computer that has the free Windows Media Player installed. It does NOT allow you to save your movie as a QuickTime file.
Saving your Movie to DV tape, for viewing or copying to VHS
You can distribute a movie on VHS tape. The best way to do this is to send the movie to a tape on your DV camcorder, and then you can view it on a television or you can copy it to VHS tape using the
video out cables that came with the DV camera.
To do this, connect your DV Camera to your computer (using the Firewire cable),
and turned onto VRC mode (you must have DV tape in the camera, set to the right
place to record. Then and the click this selection in the Movie Tasks pane.
Follow the onscreen instructions to complete this process, then you can connect
your DV camera to a VCR and record onto VHS tape, or you can connect to a TV for viewing.