Enrich the Study of the American Revolution with Technology Creating and Recording Narration in Windows MovieMaker iLearn Social Studies Session 4 of 8

Creating and Recording Narration in Windows Movie Maker 7th Grade Social Studies – Session 4 of 8 PC Version

Focusing Questions How do we create and record narration in Windows Movie Maker?

Instruction

Framing Our Work Today we will learn how to use student writing to begin creating a documentary movie as part of a unit of study.

Teaching Your group will use one computer to record each member’s voice as they he/she reads his/her writing. This will become the narrative for your documentary.

Starting Windows Movie Maker Open Windows Movie Maker and select the File menu, then “New Project.” Give the file a name and save it in the “My Videos” folder.

The Windows Movie Maker Interface Monitor Shelf Effects & Sound Palette Timeline - divided into audio and video tracks Playback Controls

Adding Narration Connect the microphone to the appropriate jack on the computer. Click on the Microphone icon above the Timeline. (Note: Audio narration can only be added in Timeline view, not Storyboard view.) Check the input level by speaking into the microphone. Say “Testing , testing 1-2-3,” and see the input level on the screen moving up and down. If there is no movement, check the microphone for a mute or volume switch. Practice reading the lines to make sure you don’t stumble on any words. Then give yourself a countdown (“ ”), click on Start Narration, pause for a second, and read the lines. When finished, pause for a second and click on Stop Narration.

Listening to Your Narration Click on the Play arrow at the bottom of the movie screen to hear your recording.

Guided Practice (10 mins.) Review the narrative you completed in the last session. Make sure each person has a sentence or two that he/she will record in the microphone. Edit the writing if necessary. Put the sentences in an order that sounds right. Practice reading aloud. Select a computer to record. Pause and start speaking again if you make a mistake.

Additional Instruction

Editing Your Narration Double-click on a track to listen to it. Select the “voice track” by clicking on it (that puts a dotted border around it), and this time use the viewing window controls to play it. Click the Play button (or spacebar) to play and pause. Do this as many times as needed to find the parts you want to keep.

Editing Your Narration Find the place where you want to split the clip, and drag the blue arrow on the timeline (called the Playhead) Go to the Clip Menu and click on “Split,” which splits the clip in two. Playhead

Editing Your Narration Delete the part of the clip you don’t want. It’s a good idea to do this so you don’t have a clutter of unwanted files (or sound clips) to sort through as the project grows. Rename the clip to make it familiar (e.g., “JKF”) by double-clicking on the voice track

Guided Practice (10 mins.) Edit the narrations your group recorded. Each person should have an opportunity to edit the clip he/she recorded. If you make a mistake, go to the Edit menu and select “Undo.” Save the recording when the group has finished it.

Work Time

Getting Started You have successfully created the narration for your short documentary. Click on File/Save Project.

Work Time Continue fine-tuning your written narrative, and make additional recordings as necessary.

Share

Let’s share our thoughts on the movie-making process so far. What did you find challenging, what worked well, and what would you do differently? Share

If applicable, use this area to record comments and feedback captured during the share. Feedback

Other links Atomic Learning Movie Maker Tutorial Microsoft Office Tutorial Creating Your First Short Movie O.htm O.htm

Make sure to bring the computer that has your narration. It might be a good idea to have a backup copy of your narration on everyone’s computer in your group. Bring in images that you may want to use in your digital documentary on a CD-ROM or flash drive. Make sure that your images are large (one of the dimensions should be at least 200 pixels). For Next Time

For more information Office of Instructional Technology