Getting Started With Windows Movie Maker

Until the introduction of Window Movie Maker, editing digital video was a task only Macs to easily perform. So, when Microsoft shipped Windows XP with its integrated digital photo technology it was far superior to Apple's lame Image Capture.

User Interface

The Windows Movie Maker interface is shown below.

This attractive interface is broken up into several major areas such as

The Movie Tasks pane shows links to common tasks you may want to perform suc as capturing video, editing video, and finishing (sharing) your video. This task-oriented approach makes the interface more intuitive for the user and therefore easier to learn.

Collection view shows you what clips are included in the collection and allows adding and deleting clips.

The Video preview window is resizable and provides visual feedback so you can watch your clips and adjust the resolution if desired.

Storyboard/Timeline view can also be resized to make work with clips, transitions, and effects easier. You can also add discrete videos, transitions, audio, music, and title overlay tracks in Timeline view. .

Individual Movie Components

Source Files

Source files come in many different formats and new codecs (the software that displays the data) are being created constantly. There is everything from the low quality codecs used on cell phones to the high quality codecs used on professional camcorders. The important thing is to know whether the codec will work with Movie Maker 2 or if the movie will have to be converted before using.

The biggest problem is that an AVI file may have been encoded with any one of dozens of codecs, which you may or may not have installed on your computer. Not to mention knowing which one you should use with which file.

There is a free tool called Sherlock-Codec Checker that can tell you which codecs are installed on your system that you can download at http://www.updatexp.com/sherlock-codec-detective.html

Source files either work or don’t work in Movie Make. MPEG-2 and DivX encoded AVI files appear to work but you will eventually run into problems while editing them and have to start your project over. It’s better to convert them before importing them for editing.

After you have converted and prepared your source files, you will need to organize them. The best method seems to be to create a folder specifically for all of your movies, then create a folder for each individual movie to store all of its associated files.

Collections

The Collections is database used to store related files. It is a good idea to treat this database as an important file even though it is really just a processing area that can be cleaned up after the project is finished. Think of the collection database as a place to keep items you might want to reuse later so you probably want to back it up after each project is completed

Clips

Movie clips can act one way in a collection and another way in a project. They are both linked to the same source files, however Movie Maker 2 uses different filters and codecs to play them in the collection then when the same clip is on a timeline.

Basically a time line is merging different clips into a single movie. That means there can be different frame rates and codecs for each clip being used causing compatibility issues that result in different behavior when the clip is played.

Projects

A project file is not a saved movie. It is a compilation of everything needed to create the finished movie stored in a modular format to make editing easier. In other words a project file is not a saved movie and cannot be imported in DVD burning software because it is composed of several clips and timelines.

You can save a final movie clip that combines everything, but it is still not a saved movie. It’s just a way for you to view your work. When you are satisfied with your movie, you will need to save it as a movie.

Saved Movies

Your project must be saved a movie before you can distribute ir to others or burn it to a DVD.

Conclusion

Microsoft has proven again that it can provide some of the easiest to use software available. All in all, Windows Movie Maker is designed for the average user and puts the ability to create movies into almost everyone’s hands. As always Microsoft offers extensive support options if you ever need to fix movie maker.