After you’ve created a few video DVDs in Windows DVD Maker,
you may want to do a bit more in terms of production. This is where
Windows Movie Maker comes into the picture. With Windows Movie Maker, you
produce the video every step of the way, from beginning title to end
credits.1. Getting Started with Windows Movie Maker
Windows Movie Maker 6.0 is included with Windows Vista. When
you’ve upgraded to Windows 7 from Windows Vista, you can start and use
Windows Movie Maker in several ways. When you are working with Windows
Live Photo Gallery, you can select the initial pictures and videos you
want to work with, click Make and then click Make a Movie to open
Windows Movie Maker with these items selected. Otherwise, you can start
Windows Movie Maker by clicking Start→All Programs→Windows Movie
Maker.
As Table 1 shows, Windows
Movie Maker works with a wide variety of image, sound, and video
formats. This list is different from the formats supported by Windows
DVD Maker. The key change is that Windows Movie Maker supports AIFF and
AU sound formats, and Windows DVD Maker does not.
Table 1. File formats supported by Windows Movie Maker
| File
format/type | File
extensions |
|---|
| Bitmap
image | .bmp |
| DIB image | .dib |
| GIF image | .gif |
| JPEG image | .jpg, .jpe, .jpeg, .jfif |
| PNG image | .png |
| TIFF image | .tif, .tiff |
| Word Perfect
image | .wdp |
| Windows Meta
File | .wmf, .emf |
| Sound formats | |
| AIFF sound | .aif, .aifc, .aiff |
| AU sound | .au, .snd |
| MP3 audio | .mp3, .m3u |
| WAV audio | .wav |
| Windows Media
Audio | .wma |
| Video formats | |
| AVI video | .avi |
| DVD video | .mpa, .m1v, .m2v, .mp2, .mp2v, .mpv2, .mp2v |
| MPEG 1 and MPEG 2
video | .mpe, .mpeg, .mpg |
| Audio/Video format | |
| Windows Media Audio/Video
Professional | .asf, .wm, .wmv |
| Recorded TV format | |
| Microsoft Digital Video
Recorder | .dvr-ms |
As with Windows DVD Maker, Windows Movie Maker works with files
that are already in the proper formats and doesn’t include features for
converting formats. Unlike Windows DVD Maker, however, Windows Movie
Maker includes features for importing video and audio from digital video
cameras. Windows Movie Maker doesn’t include features for ripping raw CD
audio files from audio discs. However, you can use any existing audio,
video, or pictures on your computer’s disk drive, a data disc you’ve
inserted into your CD/DVD drive, or a device with removable storage
connected to your computer. You can also add narration using a
microphone. The same narration features allow you to record input from
other sources as well.
When you start working with Windows Movie Maker, shown in Figure 1, you’ll see that it
has these key features.
A Tasks pane
Lists the common tasks that you may need to perform when
making a movie.
A Collection pane
Provides options for listing effects and transitions as well
as collection folders for media you’ve imported into Windows Movie
Maker.
A Preview pane
Allows you to preview the video.
A work area
Allows you to manage the media items you’ve added to the
video.
Using the options provided in the main window, you create movies
by following a series of prescribed steps. The basic steps are as
follows:
Add effects and transitions.
Add narration, music, and other audio.
Add titles, credits, and overlays.
Preview and save your video project.
I discuss tasks related to each step in the sections that
follow.
2. Creating Your Storyboard
In Windows Movie Maker, each video you are producing is
created as a video project with a storyboard. The storyboard provides a
representation of each media item you’ve added to the video in the order
the items are played. In this way, the storyboard not only serves as an
outline for the presentation, but it also lets you visualize the project
in a way you otherwise would not be able to. At a glance, you can see
the work from start to finish, and this is extremely important in the
way you conceptualize the project.
As you add media items to your video, you build the storyboard and
set the play order for each item you are including. To your storyboard,
you can add titles, credits, effects, and transitions. Unlike Windows
DVD Maker, Windows Movie Maker doesn’t put pictures into a separate
folder. Instead, all media items are added to the same storyboard, and
that storyboard can have many thousands of media items.
As with Windows DVD Maker, you can select all the pictures and
videos you want to use in Windows Live Photo Gallery first, and then add
the selected items automatically to Windows Movie Maker. After you use
the same tricks discussed previously, click Make and then click Make a
Movie to open Windows Movie Maker with these media items. Windows Movie
Maker will then analyze the media items and create a movie for you
automatically using these media items (see Figure 2). Your AutoMovie will have a title
frame, automatic fade settings for each media item, automatic transition
settings between media items, and an end credits frame. This will save
you considerable time in terms of finalizing your movie.
In Windows Movie Maker, you can select the items to add to your
video by completing the following steps:
On the Task pane, click the appropriate Import option.
As shown in Figure 3,
use the Import Media Items dialog box to browse to a folder
containing pictures or videos you want to add.
Select the items to add using one of the following
techniques:
Select an individual item by clicking it.
Select a series of items by clicking the first item,
pressing and holding the Shift key, clicking the last item, and
then releasing Shift.
Select multiple items individually by clicking the first
item, pressing and holding the Ctrl key, clicking each
additional item in turn, and then releasing Ctrl.
When you click Import, Windows Movie Maker adds the items to a
Collections folder and then displays the items in this folder in the
Collections pane. As shown in Figure 4, any item you
select in the Collections pane is displayed in the Preview
pane.
At this point, the items are not added to the storyboard. You
can add items to the storyboard using these techniques:
To arrange items in a specific order before selecting
them, right-click in the Collections pane, point to Arrange
Icons By, and then select the desired arrangement, such as Date
Taken, File Name, or Name and Date.
To add an item to the storyboard, click it and drag it to
the desired location in the storyboard. When you drag the item
to the storyboard, you’ll see a position pointer that indicates
where the item will be added.
To place an item on a part of the storyboard not
displayed, click and drag the item to the left or right edge of
the storyboard.
To select multiple items, use the previously discussed
Shift and Ctrl techniques and then drag those items to a desired
location in the storyboard.
To select and then add all items to the end of the
storyboard, right-click in the Collections pane and then click
Select All. Right-click again and then select Add to Storyboard.
Alternatively, press Ctrl-A and then press Ctrl-D.
