The Windows Movie Maker Tutorial

Contents: (Click to go to the page)

What is Movie Maker? ..................................................................................... 1

How to save your Movie Maker project ..................................................... 2

How to open your saved Movie Maker project ........................................ 3

How to import videos into Movie Maker project ..................................... 4

How to import pictures into Movie Maker project ................................. 5

How to import audio into Movie Maker project ...................................... 6

How to add videos and pictures onto the storyboard ........................... 7

How to add audio into your movie ................................................................ 8

How to add tranistions to your movie ......................................................... 9

How to add video effects to your movie ................................................. 10

How to add a Title to your Movie ............................................................... 11

How to change the length of your clips ................................................... 13

What is Movie Maker? o Windows Movie Maker is a program which lets you create your own movies using

photos and videos that you collect.

o Using this program you can easily create very nice movies with lots of fancy

effects.

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Toolbar

Storyboard

Editing

Options

The Movie

Imported

Videos

How to save your Movie Maker project o There is a correct way to save your Movie Maker project and it is very important

that you know how to do this before you start creating anything. If you do not save

your work properly then you may lose it.

o The following pictures show you how to save your project as a Windows Movie

Maker File (MSWMM).

Click File Save Project As

In the box that pops up make sure you save your movie in the “Movies Folder” and

that you give your project a sensible name (Mine is about animals so I have named it

“My Animal Movie”)

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Saving in the

“My Movie”

folder

MSWMM

file type

Sensible

name

How to open your saved Movie Maker project o Opening a saved Movie Maker project is very easy to do as you can see in the

following pictures:

Open your “My Movie” folder

Find the Movie Maker project you want to open

Right click the file then select “Open”

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How to import videos into Movie Maker project o Once you have created and saved your videos onto the computer you can import

them into Movie Maker ready to make your movie:

In Movie Maker click File Import into Collections

Find the video that you want to import. Select it then click “Import”. You will

then see a box which means that your video is loading into Movie Maker.

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Select video then

click Import

How to import pictures into Movie Maker project o Once you have saved your pictures onto the computer you can import them into

Movie Maker to use in your movie:

In Movie Maker click File Import into Collections

Find the picture that you want to import. Select it then click “Import”.

You will then see that your picture has been loaded into Movie Maker.

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Select picture then

click Import

Picture has been

Imported

How to import audio into Movie Maker project o Once you have saved your audio clips onto the computer you can import them into

Movie Maker to use in your movie:

In Movie Maker click File Import into Collections

Find the audio that you want to import. Select it then click “Import”.

You will then see that your picture has been loaded into Movie Maker.

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Select audio then

click Import

Audio has been

Imported

How to add videos and pictures onto the storyboard o The storyboard is used to plan the sequence of your movie.

o It allows you to decide the order in which videos, pictures and titles etc appear on

your movie.

Left click the video/picture.

Keeping left click pressed, drag the video/picture onto the storyboard into a

blank box:

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Clicking and Dragging

the video onto the

storyboard

The video is now

safely on the

storyboard

How to add audio into your movie o Audio can be used to make your movie more exciting.

To insert audio you must make sure that you are in “Timeline” view. To do this

click “Show Timeline”:

Timeline view allows you to breakdown your movie into seconds:

o To add audio:

Click and drag your audio clip onto the timeline in the “Audio/Music” section.

Where you drop the audio on the timeline will depend when you want the

audio clip to start playing:

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Show Timeline

Length of each

storyboard screen

I have dropped my audio into the

“Audio/Music” section to start 10

seconds into the movie

How to add tranistions to your movie o There are lots of options which you can choose from that allow you to alter how one

screen on your storyboard changes to the next one.

In the Edit Movie section click “View video transitions”.

This gives you a variety of transitions which you can add to your video:

You just click the transition you want and drag it into the small square in-

between the storyboard slides.

The transition you selected will appear in the square:

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Click “View video

transitions”

The range of effects

options can be seen

here

Attached transition

Preview your transition

here

How to add video effects to your movie o You can change how each screen of your movie looks. These are called video effects

and you can use them to make your work look really professional.

In the Edit Movie section click “View video effects”.

This gives you a range of different effects which you can add to your video:

You just click the effect you want and drag it into the small star shape on the

corner of the video.

The star should turn blue to tell you that the effect is attached:

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Click “View video

effects”

The range of effects

options can be seen

here

Video with effect

attached

How to add a Title to your Movie o The title screen is used to introduce your movie to the audience. In particular, it is

useful to display the title of your movie.

o It is important that you insert the title screen at the beginning of the movie.

On the Edit Movie section click Make titles or credits.

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Make titles or

credits

On the next screen you are presented with a number of options.

Because this title needs to go at the start of the movie you need to select

“Title at the beginning”.

Title at the

beginning

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In the next section you get to insert your text onto the title screen.

This text can be edited by changing the title animation and the text font

and colour.

You can preview what the title will look like in the window to the left.

When everything looks okay, press “Done, add title to movie”.

Change animation +

Change font

Add text to the

title screen

Preview window

When you click “Done, add title to movie”, your title screen will appear at

the start of the movie.

How to change the length of your clips o You can use movie maker to change the length of the clips used in your movie. This

is known as “trimming”.

To trim a clip you must make sure that you are in “Timeline” view. To do this

click “Show Timeline”:

Timeline view allows you to breakdown your movie into seconds.

It includes tools which allow you zoom in and out. This helps you to be more

accurate when you are trimming clips:

Zoom In:

Zoom Out:

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Show Timeline

Length of each

storyboard screen

Zoom tools

o To trim your clips:

Select the clip that you want to trim.

Use the black handles to make your clip longer or shorter:

The title screen lasts for 10 seconds at the moment.

I want it to last for 15 seconds.

I have clicked and dragged the clip using the black handles until the title screen lasts

for 15 seconds:

The title screen now lasts for 15 seconds instead of 10:

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Title screen – 10 seconds

Clicked and dragged title

screen to 15 seconds

You can trim any clip on your movie including pictures and videos.

You can also make clips shorter as well as longer.