How to use Windows Movie Maker

Using the Tools

The Task Pane 1.Capture video actually allows you to import video, pictures, and audio. Just click and navigate to your file (avi, jpg, gif, mp3, etc…) 2.Edit Movie allows you to add effects and transitions to your videos, pictures, and audio. It also lets you add titles and credits to your movie. 3.Finish Movie turns your project into the movie. You MUST save it to your computer for the final product. Your project is a.mswmm file, but the final project must be.wmv. 4.If you lose the task pane, go to View>Task Pane from the top menu items.

The Collection Field The Collection field is where your picture, audio, and sound files will appear after you import them from Step 1 of the Capture Video option. Above, you see a sample of a sound file, video file, and a picture file.

Your Video The Video gives you the preview of the movie youre making. After placing an object into a timeline or storyboard field, you can run your movie to see how it will look.

The Timeline Tool The timeline allows you to edit sound and pictures together. You can drag video and sound files from the collection field to the Audio track. Its best to use audacity of you want to use multiple sounds. Along the top, you can see the time sequence of the movie. You can use the magnifying glass to zoom in or out on the time. You can shorten a video clip from the end, but you cannot make it longer. You can edit the middle, but its tricky to do.

The Storyboard Tool The storyboard is easier to work in, especially for pictures. From the Collection. Just drag and drop the file into the larger boxes in the order you want them to appear. You can drag and drop pictures and videos, but not sounds files with it automatically switching you back to the Timeline view.

Video Effects You can add effects to your pictures and sounds using Video Effects found in Step 2, Edit Movie found in the Task Pane. When you select this, youll see a small star appear on your storyboard slide. Just click on View Video Effects and drag the desired effect onto the star. You can add two effects to one slide. Video Effects

Transitions The smaller boxes are from transitions you pick from Step 2, Edit Movie. Just click View Video Transitions from the Task Pane and click and drag the desired transition effect. If you want to use the same transition, you can insert the transition into the first small box, click back in the box, copy it, and then paste it into the rest of the small boxes. Sample Transitions

Make Titles or Credits In Step 2, Edit Movie, click on Make Titles or Credits. Youll get this menu in the next window.

Make Titles or Credits Places a title as the first slide. Places text before the chosen slide. Places text on a slide. Places text after the chosen slide. Places a title as the last slide.

Make Titles or Credits Each option allows you to pick an effect, font, color, and font size. You can also pick animation for your text. For each of these, you can see how it will look in the Video field.

Audio/Music Field In your Timeline field, you can add different sounds. However, in Movie Maker, you can only have one sound playing at a time. So, if you want soft sound playing behind your recorded voice, you cannot do that. You should use Audacity to layer sounds, save that as an MP3 file, then import that MP3 into Movie Maker. With other sounds, you can shorten them by moving your mouse to either end of the sound file (where the triangle is in the picture above for example, and once the hand turns into a double red arrow, you can shrink the size of the audio file. You can also shift the sound files in the Timeline view by clicking and dragging the sound field to the left or right.

Converting your project To finish your movie, Got to Step 3, Finish Movie. Choose Save to My Computer. The Save Movie Wizard window will open. Step 1, Name Your Movie Step 2, Save it to your desktop

Converting your project To finish your movie, Got to Step 3, Finish Movie. Choose Save to My Computer. The Save Movie Wizard window will open. To get the best quality: Step 3, Youre best off choosing the bottom button and choosing High Quality Video. This may not always be the best option however. When you click next, the movie will convert. It may take a while depending on the length of your movie.

Reminders While you are working on your project in the.mswmm file, you can edit anything you need to edit. This is not the final copy. Once converted, your movie will be a.wmv file. You cannot edit this anymore. But this is the version you want to give people. So make sure you are 100% satisfied with the.mswmm version before converting to.wmv.

PowerPoint A great trick with Movie Maker is to actually create your project in PowerPoint first, then save your PowerPoint as a.jpg. You can do this by going to File>Save As> and scroll down to.jpg.

PowerPoint The next window asks if you want to save every picture or the current slide. You decide. Either way, it saves the.jpgs into a folder and you can simply insert each PowerPoint slide into Movie Maker. PowerPoint sounds, transitions, and effects do not transfer to Movie Maker, just the slide.

Movie Maker Ideas Student Uses Digital Stories Multimedia Research Project Interviews Digital Poems PowerPoint Reviews Study Guide for iPods Documentaries Teacher Uses Digital Stories PowerPoint Reviews Study Guide for iPods Create your own 5 minute movie Create a movie for classroom rules

Be Careful Adding Music Q: Can I legally use 30 seconds of copyrighted music in my project or presentation? A: You may use 10% of a copyrighted piece of music for face-to-face instruction directly related to your course content. You may not safely use in a video, pod-cast, broadcast, powerpoint or synchronize with any other form of multimedia without written permission from the copyright holder. You also may not post to website or record in any format. The U.S. Copyright Office also states: "The distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines or notes that may be safely taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission."

Be Careful Adding Music Q: I purchased a song legally from i-tunes. Can I not use it in my video at school? A: No. You purchased the song for home and personal use, not for public or educational use. You do not own the rights to the music; the copyright holder(s) own the rights to the material. And, you do not have synchronization rights to mechanically use the music.

Be Careful Adding Music Q: I purchased a song legally from i-tunes. Can I not use it in my video at school? A: No. You purchased the song for home and personal use, not for public or educational use. You do not own the rights to the music; the copyright holder(s) own the rights to the material. And, you do not have synchronization rights to mechanically use the music.

Be Careful Adding Music Q: What about for educational use? A: The Fair Use Guidelines for Education were written in 1997 and have become antiquated by the digital age. Technology is moving too quickly, and the guidelines have not been re-visited in all these years. Besides, these are "guidelines", and the copyright holder(s) control the rights to their music. If they want to press charges because you did not get permission, they can file a lawsuit. It is best that 10% of the material used is for related course content, and conducted face-to-face in a classroom setting. By synchronizing with video, PowerPoint, pod-casting, broadcasting, or putting on a website, you are subjecting yourself to a lawsuit.

Be Careful Adding Music Q: Don't you think this legal aspect is too strict for educators, and that we are not able to take an advantage of our educational rights within the guidelines? A: Better safe than sorry. Technology is moving way too quickly for educators to act safely within the laws. This is the safe approach. Besides, copyright holders, labels, producers, artists and everyone involved in the record industry are hungry regardless of how much money they make. Even though you may not be making a profit, if they think they can get some money out of a school or district, they will certainly try. Source: