Windows Vista comes with an accessory called Windows Movie Maker (version 6) that lets you combine video, audio, and image files with special effects to create movies you can show on your computer or CD, e-mail to others, record on a digital camera, or place on a web page.

In Movie Maker, you create a project that contains the arrangement and timing information of audio and video clips, video transitions, video effects, and titles in a storyboard or timeline. You drag video and audio clips from a collection to the storyboard or timeline. After you arrange the video and audio clips in the sequence you want, you can add video transitions, video effects, titles, and credits. After you preview your project using the monitor, you publish it as a movie file to your computer or to a recordable CD, send it as an attachment in an e-mail message, save and send it to the web, or record your movie to a digital video tape. The movie you create can be watched in a media player, such as Microsoft Windows Media Player, or in a web browser. If you would rather create a DVD, Movie Maker connects you with Windows DVD Maker (New!) and automatically imports your movie. In Windows DVD Maker, you can insert additional video, pictures, and audio, add DVD titles and menus, and specify publishing options before you burn the movie to a DVD. Windows DVD Maker is a stand-alone program and can be used separately from Movie Maker.

Before using Movie Maker, you need to connect and install the equipment needed to transfer video content to your computer, such as a digital video or web camera. Movie Maker must detect the video device on your computer, and you must properly connect the device to a USB port, a video capture card, or an IEEE 1394 port. (Check your computer documentation for details.)

Movie Maker lets you combine video, audio, and image files to create movies you can show on your computer, e-mail to others, or place on a web page. You save the movie you create as a file, just as you would save a word processing or spreadsheet file, and you can play and view it at any time. However, movies and their accompanying files are larger than most other documents you create—usually exceeding 5 MB. Before you begin, it’s a good idea to plan your content.

Before you start Movie Maker, use Display Properties in the Control Panel to make sure the screen resolution is set correctly. Movie Maker is a Windows accessory program that you can start from the Start menu. You achieve the best results in Movie Maker when the screen resolution is set to 1024 by 768 or higher. When you start Movie Maker, a new untitled movie project is displayed. You can either create a new movie project or open an existing one.

After you save a project in Movie Maker, you can open it and continue to work on the project. A Movie Maker project file is saved with a .mswmm file name extension, which you can open using the Open Project button on the toolbar. The project file’s extension will change, once the project is finalized.

Open an Existing Project

1. Click the Start button, point to All Programs, and then click Windows Movie Maker.

2. Click the File menu, and then click Open Project.

   

3. Select the drive and folder that contains the project you want to open.

4. Select the project file.

5. Click Open.

Did You Know?

You can automatically open a project. Click the Tools menu, click Options, click the General tab, select the Open Last Project On Startup check box, and then click OK.

You can capture video and audio to your computer from a digital video (DV) or analog camera, web camera, videotape (VCR), or television tuner card directly in Movie Maker. Similarly, you can record audio source material from a microphone, radio, audio or video tape, or a CD. Before you can capture video and audio, a video capture device must be connected properly and detected on your computer by Windows Movie Maker. If you record clips from any commercial source, however, be aware of copyright restrictions that regulate how you may or may not use the content. In the capturing process, Movie Maker converts the material to Windows Media format.

If you want to use existing video and audio clips in your movie instead of recording them yourself, you can obtain them from various companies that specialize in video processing, or you can download them from the Web. Commercial CDs are excellent sources for audio clips. You can import the video and audio clips into Movie Maker from files on your computer, from your CD drive, or from the Web. If you already imported a video clip and need a still picture of a frame from a video, you can take a picture of the video frame and save it as a file, which you can then import back into Movie Maker.

Import Video or Audio

1. Click the Import Media button on the toolbar.

2. Select the folder that contains the video or audio files you want to import.

3. To select a specific media type, click the Files of type list arrow, and then select a file type.

4. Select the files you want to import.

   Timesaver

   To import several files at one time, press and hold down the Ctrl key, and then click each file that you want to import.

5. Click Import.

   Movie Maker creates a new collection for the imported video or audio clips.

Table . Movie Maker Import File Types

File Type	File Extensions
Video	.asf, .avi, .m1v, .mp2, .mp2v, .mpe, .mpeg, .mpg, .mpv2, .wm, and .wmv
Audio	.aif, .aifc, .aiff, .asf, .au, .mp2, .mp3, .mpa, .snd, .wav, and .wma
Pictures	.bmp, .dib, .emf, .gif, .jfif, .jpe, .jpeg, .jpg, .png, .tif, .tiff, and .wmf

Display Clip Properties

1. Right-click the clip you want, and then click Properties.

   

2. Scroll the list of properties.

3. Click OK.

Did You Know?

You can rename a media clip. Click the Collection folder that contains the clip you want to rename, right-click the clip in the Collection area, click Rename, type a name, and then press Enter.

Instead of using video clips, you can create slide shows in Movie Maker with still images that you create using a digital camera, web camera, or scanner. You can import the clips into Movie Maker and create transitions between them, just as you would in a movie. You can change the duration of individual pictures in Timeline view. You can also add sound clips to create a sound track that plays as your pictures appear on the screen. Portrait-oriented pictures in Movie Maker are the same height as landscape-oriented pictures, and Movie Maker inserts a black background on either side of each one.

Set Picture Duration

1. Click the Tools menu, and then click Options.

2. Click the Advanced tab.

3. Specify the picture duration in seconds.

4. Click OK.

Import Pictures

1. Click the Collections button, and then click the collection where you want to place the imported pictures.

2. Click Pictures in the Tasks pane.

3. Select the folder that contains the picture files you want to import.

4. Select the files you want to import.

   Timesaver

   To import several files at one time, press and hold down the Ctrl key, and then click each file that you want to import.

5. Click Import.

   Movie Maker adds the imported pictures into the selected collection.

When you bring video clips, audio clips, or pictures into Movie Maker, the program stores them in a collection folder in the Collections pane. The contents of the selected collection folder appear in the Collections area. As you continue to collect media clips for use in different movie projects, the number of clips in a collection and in Movie Maker can grow rapidly and become hard to manage. You can use the same management techniques you use in Windows Explorer to help you organize and remove clips and collections. Once you have clips in your collections, you can move them around and rename the clips and collections as you would a file or folder and use them to create a movie. When you no longer need individual video and audio clips or entire collections, you can remove them from Movie Maker. When you remove video and sound clips and collections, they are deleted only from Movie Maker; the original video and sound files, which you imported into Movie Maker, are not deleted and remain unchanged on your hard drive.

View and Create a Collection

1. Click the Collections button.

2. Click the Collection folder you want to view.

3. Click the Views button on the toolbar, and then click Thumbnails or Details.

4. Click the Views button on the toolbar, point to Arrange Icons By, and then click an arrangement type.

   

5. To create a new collection, click the File menu, click New Collection Folder, type a name, and then press Enter.

6. To close the Collection pane, click the Collections button.

7. To open the Tasks pane, click the Tasks button.

Move a Clip to a Collection

1. Click the Collections button.

2. Click the Collection folder that contains the clip you want to move.

3. Drag the clip to another Collection folder.

Did You Know?

You can create a collection folder. Click the Collections button on the toolbar, click the folder where you want the new folder, click the New Collection Folder button on the toolbar, type a name, and then press Enter.

After you capture or import a video clip or audio clip, you can preview the individual clips within a collection in the monitor. The monitor works similarly to a VCR/DVD. If you have a long clip that you want to divide into smaller clips, you can split the clip on your own or let Movie Maker try to do it. Movie Maker creates clips automatically based on time stamps insert by the digital video camera or significant frame change in the video.

When you start Movie Maker, a new, untitled project opens. A project contains the arrangement and timing information of audio and video clips, video transitions, video effects, and titles you have added to the storyboard/timeline. You can view a project in one of two views: Storyboard view, which shows the order of your clips, and Timeline view, which shows the duration of each clip and the types of transitions between them, as well as, the sound track. To create a movie, drag video and audio clips from your Collections area to the project file’s storyboard or timeline, and then rearrange the clips in any order you want. After you preview your project using the monitor and you are satisfied with the results, you can save it as a movie file.

Preview a Project

1. Click the Rewind Storyboard button or click Rewind Timeline button.

   The buttons change depending on the view.

2. Click the Play Storyboard button or click the Play Timeline button.

Frequently, the clips you record or import into Movie Maker run longer than you want them to in your final movie. You can easily trim clips in Timeline view by playing the clip and setting the trim beginning point and trim end point. The portion between the trim points remains in your movie. The frames before and after the trim points are deleted from your movie, but the original clip in your collection is not affected and retains its original length. You can trim a clip as it plays, or you can pause and set the trim points. You can use the Trim Beginning and Trim End commands on the Clip menu or drag the timeline trim handles (small triangles at the beginning and end of a selected clip).

Crop a Clip

1. Click the Timeline/Storyboard button, and then click Timeline.

2. Select the clip you want to crop.

3. Drag the Seek bar to the point where you want to start the clip.

4. Click the Clip menu, and then click Trim Beginning.

   Timesaver

   Position the pointer on the left edge or right edge of the clip, and then drag the trim handles to crop the clip.

5. Drag the Seek bar to the point where you want to end the clip.

6. Click the Clip menu, and then click Trim End.

Did You Know?

You can restore a clip to its original length. Click Clip on the menu bar, and then click Clear Trim Points.

A transition is an effect that provides a smoother, more gradual change between clips in a movie. A transition plays before one clip ends while another starts to play. You can add a transition between two video clips, pictures, or titles on the storyboard or timeline. Movie Maker provides a variety of video transitions that you can quickly add to a movie project, such as Bow Tie, Eye, Diamond, Fan Up, and Shatter In.

Movie Maker offers a variety of video effects that you can add to a movie project, such as Ease In, Blur, Film Age Old, Mirror Vertical, Speed Up Double, and Watercolor. A video effect is applied for the entire duration of a clip, picture, or title in a movie project. You can add multiple video effects to the same clip, as well as customize the order. If you no longer want to use a video effect, you can remove it.

Add a Video Effects

1. Click the Locations list arrow, and then click Effects.

2. Click the Timeline/Storyboard button, and then click Timeline or Storyboard.

3. Drag the effect to the video effect cell of the clip in the storyboard or on the clip on the Video track in the timeline.

Change Order or Remove Video Effects

1. Right-click the clip with the effects you want to change, and then click Effects.

2. Click the displayed effect you want to move or remove.

3. To remove the effect, click Remove.

4. To move the effect, click Move Up or Move Down.

5. When you’re done, click OK.

You can add titles and credits to your movies just like the professionals. You can add any text you want, such as the title of your movie, your name, captions, and credits at the end. You can add a title at the beginning of a movie, before or after a clip, or overlapping a clip or credits at the end of a movie. You can also change the appearance of the title or credits, and you can add special animation effects, which play for the time you specify in the Title Overlay track in the timeline.

With Movie Maker, you can play a video clip sound and soundtrack simultaneously and have one play louder than the other. You can put two types of sounds in your movies: sounds that are part of a video clip, and separate sounds, such as music or narration, that appear on the Audio bar of the timeline. You can import and edit sound clips in the soundtrack the same way you edit video clips using the Audio bar. Remember that if you use a clip from a CD or DVD, you must obtain permission from the publisher.

If you have a microphone attached to your computer, you can record a narration to accompany your movie. Your narration is saved as a .wav sound file directly in your Collections area so that you can place it in the Audio/Music bar like any other audio clip.

You can use AutoMovie to help you automatically create a movie based on the selected clips or collection. AutoMovie analyzes the selected video clips, pictures, and music and combines them into a movie based on your AutoMovie editing style. To use AutoMovie, the total length of the clips you use need to last for at least 30 seconds; each picture needs to play at least 6 seconds, and an audio clip needs to play at least 30 seconds.

Use AutoMovie

1. Select the clips, pictures, and audio you want in the Collections area.

2. Click the AutoMovie button on the toolbar.

3. Click an AutoMovie editing style.

4. Click Enter a title for the movie.

5. Type the text you want to appear as the title.

6. Click Select audio or background music.

   

7. To select an audio or music file, click Browse, locate and select the audio or music file you want to use, and then click Open.

8. Drag the slider to adjust the audio balance level.

9. Click Create AutoMovie.

If you’re still working on a project, you can save the project file and open it later to continue working with your movie. A saved project file in Movie Maker has an .mswmm file name extension. Before you save your project, you can include general information about the movie, such as the title, author, copyright, a rating, and a description, that is often displayed during playback by many media players.

Save a Movie Project

1. Click the File menu, and then click Save Project.

2. Select the folder where you want to save the project file.

3. Type a project name.

4. Click Save.

Add Project Properties

1. Click the File menu, and then click Properties.

2. Type the movie title.

3. Type the author name.

4. Type any copyright information.

5. Type a rating for the movie.

6. Type a description.

7. Click OK.

After you preview the final project using the monitor, you can publish the project file as a movie file. Using the Publish Wizard, you can publish the movie file to your computer or a recordable CD, send it as an attachment in an e-mail message, or save and send it to the web. If you have a digital video camera connected to your computer, you can also record your movie to a tape. After you save the movie in the .wmv format, you can play it in a media player, such as Windows Media Player, or in a web browser. If you want to create a DVD, Movie Maker connects you with Windows DVD Maker (New!) and imports your movie where you can customize it, and burn the movie to a DVD.

With Windows DVD Maker (New!), you can insert video, pictures and audio, and combine it with titles and predefined menus to create a DVD video disc that you can play on a TV using a DVD player. To create a DVD, you add and arrange your media, add menu text, select a menu style, choose DVD playback options, and then burn it. If you have still photos, you can also create a slide show set to music.