Movie Maker Tutorial created by Cheryl McKnight

Movie Maker Tutorial created by Cheryl McKnight

The Movie Task Pane list the steps necessary in completing an editing project. If the Task Pane is turned off, go to View, and select Task Pane to toggle back on.

Click on Storyboard or Timeline to toggle between the different views in the editing area.

Move your mouse on any blue border within the layout and when the double headed black arrow is displayed, click, hold, and drag to resize any area.

Click the + button next to the video track to expand and show the audio associated with the video.

Under Movie Task 1, click Import video to navigate to a location on your computer where your movie clip is saved.

When you locate the movie clip, before clicking Import, click the box next to Create clips for video files to remove the green check mark. You DO NOT want to break your video file into clips.

An imported media file, whether video, picture, or audio, will appear in the collection window. If a project has more than one piece of video, each will appear in a different collection. You can view and use pieces of media in the collection by clicking the drop down arrow.

Te begin editing your video clip, click, hold, and drag the media to the video track and drop in the top track, between the dotted white lines.

When the video is dropped onto the track, you will see both the video channel and the audio channel. The intensity of volume in a recorded clip is evidenced by the peaks and/or flat lines in the audio track, often provide a point of reference when editing.

One way to edit a clip is called trim. You can trim a clip from either the beginning or the ending of the clip. When you hold your mouse over either position, a double headed red arrow will appear. Click, hold, and drag to trim your clip.

Another way to edit is called split clip. The split clip button is located just below the preview area. Place the blue scrubber bar at the point on your timeline where you want to split the clip and then click the button to break apart the video. Split clip button Blue scrubber bar

If you split your clip into 3 segments, you can delete the middle segment by clicking on it one time to select and then tap the delete key on your keyboard.

You can import other media, such as a picture and/or audio by clicking the appropriate links and navigating to the saved file on your computer. The media will appear in the collection window.

A picture can be added to your project on the video track and music can be added to the audio track. By default an image will display for 5 seconds; however, you can adjust by using the trim clip feature and drag to increase or decrease the time. You can adjust the volume of your audio clip by right clicking on the clip, select volume, and then use the slider to increase or decrease. You can also Fade In or Out any media.

You can add video effects to a movie clip or picture by clicking the appropriate link to reveal the options. Click, hold, drag, and drop the desired effect onto the media in the video timeline.

Transitions can be added between clips by using the same click, hold, drag, and drop method, placing the transition between two pieces of media.

You can add text to your project by clicking make titles or credits under Movie Task 2. Text can appear in your project in a variety of locations as indicated by the descriptions here. By default, a title will always appear at the beginning of the timeline and credits will always appear at the end of the timeline regardless of which piece of media may be selected on the timeline. If you wish to add text on, before, or after a certain piece of media, make sure it is selected before clicking the desired option.

When creating a title, enter your information in the designated area and you will see a preview of how it will appear on the right hand side of the screen. You can edit the font, color, style, and background by clicking the link. After making desired changes click Done.

Font type, style, and position can be edited by clicking the familiar buttons shown. The font color can be adjusted by clicking the A under the word color and the background can be adjusted by clicking the small box under the word color.

To save a project that can be closed and opened again later for further editing, go to File, Save Project As. Navigate to the appropriate file location, name, and save.

To save a completed project as a movie file (.wmv), click Save to My Computer. In the dialogue box that appears, name the movie, click Browse to determine the file location, and then click Next. Other saving options are as described and you can use at your own discretion.

Unless you have a reason to change, always save using the default settings here. If you wish to see more choices, click the appropriate link. Click Next to progress through the saving process.

The final saving process can take a few minutes. Time is dependent upon the overall length of your project.

When the Finish button appears, click to view your completed movie in Media Player. You may be prompted to save your final project one last time.