How to download/install Windows Live Movie Maker 2011

Transcription

1 How to download/install Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 Out summer Tech Camp is coming up August 1-4. Enrollments are still available (send to but that isn t the subject of this post. One of the activities we will be engaging in will be making a movie with a handheld, personal video camera (we will have the Flip video camera and the Kodak Zi8 available to all attendees and in fact will be giving away some of the Kodak cameras). Once you have taken video a brief hi-how-are-ya, a tour of the course text book, this is the species I want you to find whatever you will need to edit the video (trim, cut, splice, add still photos, add captions, whatever). We will be doing this in camp with Windows Live Movie Maker and/or Camtasia. Since Windows Live Movie Maker is the free alternative, and since I know for a fact that there is a great deal of interest in how to use the program, I am going to start a series of posts here, published intermittently, describing how to use it. Today s topic: where to get it and how to install. (Mac users be patient, we will get to that too. Mac users tend to know about imovie, however, where Windows users tend not to know about Movie Maker. Why? I think a big part of the reason is that Microsoft takes an all products are equal approach to their products and marketing, but not so Apple. Apple concentrates on the end user experience and hides the gruesome technical details that Microsoft happily offers for download and describes in bewildering detail. It s PC/Mac thing, as usual.) At any rate, here is the procedure. Go to and if you don t already have an account make one and login. It s free and extremely helpful. After you are in, hover over the Windows Live menu choice and choose Downloads. You will be taken to a Windows Live Essentials screen with a prominent Download now button and what at first you might assume are links to individual program download areas. They are not. They are links to pages that describe the various programs in more detail, provide access to brief instructional videos, and have their own Download now links which are the same as the Download now link on the opening page. There are no individual program download links, you have to begin by acting as if you want to download all the Microsoft Essentials programs, but will later be given an opportunity to select only certain programs. By taking this approach I suppose Microsoft marketers are assuming that you will be more likely to install the entire suite, and they are probably right, but you don t need to. Therefore, regardless of your entry point, you must click the Download now button. Palomar College Academic Technology (760) ext

2 Before you do, however, here are the computer requirements: Operating system: 32- or 64-bit version of Windows 7, or Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 and the Platform Update for Windows Vista, or Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2008 with Service Pack 2 and the Platform Update for Windows Server Processor: 1.6 GHz or higher Memory: 1 GB of RAM or higher Resolution: minimum Internet connection: Online services require dial-up or high-speed Internet access (provided separately local or long-distance charges may apply). High-speed Internet access is recommended for some features. Palomar College Academic Technology (760) ext

3 Graphics card: Windows Live Movie Maker requires a graphics card that supports DirectX 9 or higher and Shader Model 2 or higher. Note that this version is NOT for Windows XP users, and is a great motivator to upgrade, as if you needed yet another. If you are stuck with XP, or just plain don t want to upgrade, you can still get the old version (ver. 2) of Windows Movie Maker for Windows XP, but it is very different than the one I am going to describe. The download.com link is here. It is difficult to find on the MS web site and, in all likelihood, you really don t want to find it. Read the download.com editors review. He/she will try to talk you out of it, and you should probably listen. Thinking back to those days, I have to admit that the old version was not easy to use or rather, it was pretty easy to use, but didn t work very well. OK, so that s the bad news. If you have a modern OS (win 7) then you will not have a problem. Go ahead and click the Download now button. Choose Save File, and then launch it. In a moment you will be given the following choice: By all means, choose the selective install option unless you are a die hard MS fanboy or want to go through and uninstall lots of stuff later. Deselect the programs you do not want (i.e., click the checkbox to clear it) and leave a check in the box next to Photo Gallery and Movie Maker. Palomar College Academic Technology (760) ext

4 Note that there is no separating the two. It s both together or nothing, but this isn t a bad thing. I use both programs regularly. Now click Install. Palomar College Academic Technology (760) ext

5 Wait for it wait for it OK. Now you have it and are ready to go. In the next installment we will go through a typical import video/produce it workflow, just to get an overview. Then we will begin to break down components of the workflow and add some tricks and how-tos that I hope will be of interest. Palomar College Academic Technology (760) ext