You can use the Windows Movie Maker program to capture video and audio clips, which you can then edit and arrange into your very own movies. You can play Windows Movie Maker files on your computer or distribute them to family, friends, and colleagues by e-mail so that they can play them on their computers.
You launch Windows Movie Maker by clicking Start on the taskbar and then pointing to All Programs-->Accessories-->Windows Movie Maker. The Windows Movie Maker program opens the program window full screen, as shown in Figure 1.
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Figure 1: Windows Movie Maker. |
Windows Movie Maker is divided into several different sections:
- A collections area that is subdivided into a clips area showing thumbnails of the various still graphic images, and video and audio clips that you use in your movie and a locations bar (on the left) that shows the relationship of the folders in which these elements are stored.
- A work area that either contains the storyboard view (the default), indicating the progression of the movie video clips, or the timeline view (View-->Timeline), indicating the order and duration of both the video and audio (in separate tracks).
- A preview area that displays whatever video image or clip is selected in the clips area. You can also use this area to preview the movie that you're putting together by clicking the various control buttons (which use the standard VCR-control symbols) or by dragging the slider bar located under the preview window.
Assembling your clips
To create your movie, you can either import graphic images and sound files into the collections area (Ctrl+I) or, if you can attach a movie camera to your computer, you can digitally record the video and audio clips that you need for your movie project from videotape that you've recorded (Ctrl+R).
Editing the elements in your movie
To assemble your audio and video clips, you sequence them in the work area in one of two views:
- Choose the Storyboard view (View-->Storyboard) to add video clips or still graphics to the movie. You can also use this view to check and alter the order and duration of these video elements.
- Choose the Timeline view (View-->Timeline) to add audio clips to the track beneath the video or to create transitions between the various video clips (or both). You can also use this view to change the sequencing of the audio clips in relation to the video elements in the movie.
To preview your edits, choose the Play-->Play/Pause command on the menu bar or click the Play button on the controls under the Preview area (the one with the triangle pointing to the right). To pause the movie, press the spacebar or click the Pause button in the preview controls (the one with the two vertical bars). To save your editing work, choose File-->Save Project (Ctrl+S) and give the project a new filename. Windows Movie Maker automatically appends the filename extension MSWMM (for Microsoft Windows Movie Maker) to whatever filename you give the project.
Creating the final movie
When you finish your edits and are satisfied with the final version, you need to convert your Windows Movie Maker project into a movie that the Windows Media Player can use. To do this, choose File-->Save Movie on the menu bar (Ctrl+M) or click the Save Movie button on the Project toolbar (be sure that you don't use File-->Save Project because that action saves the project file only for playing in Windows Movie Maker).
In the Save Movie dialog box that then opens, choose the playback quality in the Playback Quality Setting drop-down list box (Medium, Low, High, or Custom). When selecting the quality, keep in mind that the higher the playback quality, the larger the movie file size.
Then, enter the movie title (as in Land of Snows) in the Title text box, your name in the Author text box, the movie rating in the Rating text box (you wouldn't be making one of those movies, now would you?), and a description of the action in the Description text box.
After you're done filling in this vital information in the Save Movie dialog box, choose OK to open the Save As dialog box. Here, you select the folder where the movie will be saved and give the movie a filename. Note that Windows Movie Maker appends the filename extension WMV (for Windows Movie) to the filename you enter in the File name text box. Then, choose the Save button to create the movie file.
When Windows Movie Maker finishes making your movie file, an alert dialog box appears indicating that the movie has been saved and asking you if you want to watch the movie now. To see the movie in Windows Media Player, click the Yes button; to close the alert dialog box and return to Windows Movie Maker program, click No.
To play your movie in Windows Media Player after you close the Windows Movie Maker, open the folder where the movie was saved and simply double-click the file icon. Doing this opens the movie file in Windows Media Player.
 | To send the final movie file to a friend or colleague via e-mail, right-click the movie file icon in the My Videos folder (or in whatever folder you store your movies) and then choose Send To-->Mail Recipient in the file shortcut menu. To convert a Windows Movie Maker project into a movie file and send it to a friend or colleague at the same time, choose File-->Send Movie To-->E-mail on the Windows Movie Maker pull-down menus. |
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