Movie Maker

Movie Maker Tips

The most important thing to remember when using Movie Maker is to save constantly! Movie Maker has the tendency to freeze up and delete all your work at the worst possible time.

Save all your images, video, and sound in the same folder, and DO NOT move that folder... ever. If you do, errors will occur in your file

Don't have too much text. Just like a Powerpoint, the text should just be a guide.

Be simple. Movie Maker is a very simple movie editing software. If you want a more "fancy" movie editing tool, try Final Cut or Premiere.

Clicking and dragging will get most of your work done in Movie Maker.

Seriously save it a lot. Just press CTRL+S. You don't even have to go to "file" then "save".

With any video you are making; plan ahead! Have an outline of what you will cover and the order. Don't "wing it"... I know it is easier, but it is also a lot less professional.

Windows Movie Maker Opening Screen

The "collections" area is where you import your media into Movie Maker. The easiest way to do this, is to simply click and drag from the folder your files are located.

Most work you do in Movie Maker will be done in your Timeline. This little button will show your timeline... pretty self explanitory. But what is your timeline?

This is your timeline. It shows all video/pictures, transitions, audio, music, and title overlay. To get your media down here, just drag your media where you want it in the timeline.
At the top of the timeline it shows the time that your media is being played. To make it play longer or shorter, hover at the end of your media. This will make a double red arrow appear. Click and drag.

Back to the main screen. The empty white boxes are where your media will show up after you insert it in the timeline. To get transitions, so that your media will flow smoothly, click "tools" then on "Video Transitions" Then do the good 'ol click and drag to the transition of your choice. (the boxes with the white and gray arrow thing)

Under the "Tools" tab there is also a "Titles and Credits" option. This is where you are able to put text into your movie. Select where you want your text to appear:
*at the beginning
*title before the selected clip
*title on the selected clip
*title after the selected clip
*credits at the end

Have everything where it needs to be and want a movie?

Go to "file"
and click "Save Movie File..."
This will render a .wmv file

Tutorial

Shows everthing I covered in the text above in a 9 minute video.