Windows Movie Maker
In Windows Movie Maker, you can add video, still images or audio to your project by capturing video (see
above) or by clicking on “File”, “Import into Collections” and then selecting your video file (alternatively
you can click on “Capture Video” and “Import video”, “Import pictures”, or “Import audio or music”). Your
video file should appear in the “Collection” window as a small square with an image from the video and the
name of the video file above the image.
Near the bottom of the screen click on the “Show Timeline” button. Timeline mode is easier to edit video in
than “Storyboard mode” (if the words “Show Storyboard” are toward the bottom of the window, do nothing because
you are already in “Timeline” mode). Near the bottom of the screen you should see the “Timeline”. This
represents your final movie. You will drag and drop all of your video, audio and create all your titles on
this timeline. You will edit all your video, audio and titles on this timeline, and the timeline contains the
final edited video when you are ready to output to disk.
Drag and drop the video to the “Timeline” window to the right of the box labeled “Video” by clicking and
holding the image of the video you want to edit, dragging it down to the “Timeline” window and releasing the
mouse button. Your video is now on the video track. You should see your video file to the right of the Video
box.
To Zoom in and out on timeline
The timeline has a time scale that may show for example 1 minute, 10 minutes, 1 hour… worth of video in the
window. If you have a small video you will only need a small timescale to see the video (for example 1
minute for 1 minute of video). To zoom in on the timeline click on the magnifying glass button with the “+”
in the upper left corner of the “Timeline” window. To zoom the timeline out click on the magnifying glass
with the “-“ symbol.
To move a video/audio file
To move a video or audio file simply click on the center of the file on the track and while still holding down
the button move the video to the desired location. Also you can select a clip by clicking on the file on the
track to select it, and pressing “control-c” to copy, “control-x” to cut, and “control-v” to paste somewhere
else on the track.
To change the size of (trim) a video
Move the mouse icon to the edge of the video on the video track (audio and title tracks work the same way).
You will see the icon change to a double arrow shape. You can now drag and drop the left or right edge to
make the video shorter by pressing down on the left mouse button and moving the right edge to the left, or
left edge to the right and then releasing the left mouse button.
To cut a video, audio, or overlay
Currently there is no way to cut a video (audio, or title overlay) track in Windows Movie Maker, but you can
copy and paste the same video/audio to the track and resize.
To add text to your video
To Add text to your video click on “Tools”, “Titles and Credits”. Select the clip you want to add titles to.
Click on “Add title on the selected clip”. In the top box, type in the text you want to add to the video.
You should see the text updated on the preview screen on the right side of the window. You can click on the
“Change the title animation” and “Change the text font and color” to change the way the text looks and how it
appears on the screen (for example if it fades in, or moves in from a different direction, etc…). Click
“Done, add title to move”. Near the bottom of the screen you will see the words “Title Overlay”. This is the
track where all your titles will appear. Title tracks can be resized like audio and video tracks (although
there is a limit to the style of the title overlay that gives it a finite size, for example, the time needed
to fade in and out).
To Add transitions
Transitions are special effects that are usually used to blend two clips together, or to fade video in from or out to black. On left hand side click to open "Edit Movie". Click "View video transitions". In the center screen you will see a variety of transitions. Drag and drop a transition ("fade" and "dissolve" are very often used) onto the place on the timeline you want the transition to be. You should see the effect in the "Transition" part of the timeline. (If you do not see a timeline on the bottom of the screen, click "Show Timeline".) You may need to click on the magnifying glass with the plus to zoom in to see the transition (transistions are usually only a few seconds long). Once the transition is on the timeline, you can resize the transition to the correct size and position. Drag the timeline cursor (or play in the preview window on the right) to see if the transition is correctly placed.
To Add Audio and Audio Effects
To add an audio file (.wav, .mp3, etc…) is the same as adding video, click “File”, “Import into Collections”,
and select your audio file. Just like with video, you can then drag and drop the audio file, but this time to
the “Audio/Music” track.
Timeline mark in and mark out
There is no marking in or out with Windows Movie Maker. The entire timeline is rendered.
To Preview your movie in the “Monitor” window
On the right is the window to preview your final movie. The controls are similar to most players, the right
arrow is “play”, and the other buttons control “rewind to beginning”, “fast forward”, etc… You can position
the marker on the top of the timeline (the part with the numbers that shows the time of the timeline, for
example 0:00:02.00) to the part of the video you want start previewing, and then click on the play button in
the preview window to see the video from the part you marked. You can also drag the timeline marker forward
and back to preview your finished video by hand.
Sonic MyDVD
On the Desktop, click "DigitalMedia Home".
On the left, Click "Video" and "Create
Project".
In the center window click "DVD".
On the left click "Add
Files". Navigate to where your videos are. If you captured analog video on the Multimedia computer your
captured videos are most likely in the "My Documents", "My Videos" folder. Double click on the video file
you want to add and edit to your project.
Right click on the video that appears in the
center window and left click "Edit Video". This will open the "Edit Movie", alternatively you can left click to
select the video in the center and then left click on "Edit" on the top of the main Sonic MyDVD window.
From this Edit window you can edit the video down by moving the green colored start and end
controls under the video.
You can add other videos by clicking "Add Files" on the left
hand side of the Edit window, and trim the beginnging and
ending of these movie by the same method as above.
Adding Transitions between video
clips:
To add a transition between video clips, select the "Fade Out Then In" tab on the right hand side
of the Edit window. Then drag and drop a transition like "Fade in and out" to the smaller squares that are in
between the video on the bottom timeline. For example, to fade into your movie, drag and drop the "Fade Out Then
In" transition onto the first square on the timeline before the image of the first video you added.
Adding text to your video:
Click on the text tab on the right (the tab labeled
with the "T"). Now select the video you want to add text to. Add the text you want in the window with
the text "Type text here". You can then change the size of the text using the controls above the text
window. You can change the position of the text by moving it
around (dragging and dropping) on the video image.
When you are done editing your
movie click "ok" to close the Edit window.
You can now add chapters, and see your DVD
by clicking the "Play" button. Once your DVD is formatted the way you want you can then click on the "Burn"
button to make the DVD.
Note: For more specific information on any topic, please click on "Help" on the top bar of each program.
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