EDIT202 – Digital Media Lab Assignment Guidelines

1. Create a new folder on your desktop labeled “LABSEC-CCID-Media”.

2. Using the AltaVista search engine, locate and download two sample clips in either “.mpg” or “.avi” format. Download and save these clips inside your “LABSEC-CCID-Media” folder.

• To start locating video clips for use in your movie, go to the following web address:

http://www.altavista.com

• Once you have successfully connected to the AltaVista website you will see

the following search page:

• It is important to note that this image may not be exactly as you see it when viewing it on the web. However, unless the AltaVista website is down you will see a search engine of some form.

• If you are unable to connect to the AltaVista website contact your lab instructor for an alternative method of downloading your video clips.

• Click on the “Video” link to narrow the web search to just video files.

• After you have clicked on the Video link select the following video search options to help narrow the search.

• Make sure that All Durations from the Duration: drop down menu is selected. To ensure results with acceptable content make sure that the Family Filter is set to on.

• Once you have entered in your search term (type in a broad general term for your search in order to get a variety of results e.g. “birds” or “spiders”) click on Find.

• AltaVista will now search for clips relating to your search term(s) and display the results below the search engine. Notice that in the search results you are given the file type, duration and the dimensions of the clip (i.e. height and width).

• Your video clips that will play in Windows Movie Maker should be close to

320 by 240, that is 320 pixels wide and 240 pixels high. The average size of a movie created using Windows Movie is 320 by 240.

• To download these clips to your computer, right-click on the frame for your chosen clip and select Save Target As… from the resulting context menu.

• Save your clips into your newly created “LABSEC-CCID-Media” folder.

• When downloading your clips ensure that you make note of the website

address of the site you are downloading them from by clicking on the “More Info” link just below your clip.

3. Using Windows Media Player, convert a track from an audio CD into a file in “.wma” format. Once converted place this file inside your “LABSEC-CCID-Media” folder.

• Insert your CD. The following window prompting you to take action will appear. Note: depending on the type of CD and computer you are working on, the options in this window may appear different than the ones shown below.

• Single click to select the “Play Audio CD” option then click on OK. A random song off of your CD will begin playing in Windows Media Player.

In order to continue onto the next step in this tutorial you will have to click on the stop button to stop playing your track.

Stop Button

• To export a track off your CD and convert it to “.wma” format, single click to select Rip located on the top of your Windows Media Player Interface.

• After you click on Rip you should see a listing of the Tracks on your CD.

• Before the track is ripped you will have to a specify the location to where the track will be exported (saved) to your computer. To do this right-click on

the Rip tab and then select More Options... from the appearing context menu.

• Click on the Rip Music tab when the Options window appears.

• Specify the location where you want to save your resulting file by clicking

on the Change… button under the “Rip music to this location” section of the window.

• Once you click on change, specify where your file will be saved in the Browse For Folder window.

• Single-click to select your Desktop as the location (if there are two Desktop options available pick the one at the very top of the listing), then click on OK to get back to the Options window.

• The last thing you have to do before you are ready to export your file, is choose a file format. Under the “Rip settings” section of the Options window choose Windows Media Audio from the Format: drop down menu and click on OK.

• For this example we are not going to adjust the Audio quality: settings shown in the above window. If desired, you can experiment with this feature at a later time.

• You will also want to make sure that the copy protection has been disabled for this particular track. If you do not disable this copy protection, you will

not be able to import your file in Movie Maker. Click to uncheck the copy protection checkbox.

• Once you click on OK in the Options window you should be back in the following track listing view.

• Select a single-track off your CD to convert it into a file in “.wma” format.

It is important that you remove the check marks from any CD tracks that you don't want to copy or else you may inadvertently convert all of the tracks off the CD, and while that is not such a bad thing, the process will take longer if left unchecked.

• Once you have selected the track or tracks that you wish to copy, click on the Start Rip button just below the tracks listing.

• Once Windows Media Player has finished copying your audio track, a folder will appear on your desktop. Windows Media Player will organize your music files according to artist, album, and song as shown below.

• In order to access your music file, you will have to double-click to open the artist folder (Enigma) and then double-click to open the album folder (The Cross of Changes) to get to your newly created “.wma” file (05 Silent Warrior). It is this single track that you want to rename “LABSEC-CCID-Audio.wma” not any of the folders.

4a. Using Windows Movie Maker, create a movie file that is 29 - 33 seconds in length according to the following guidelines.

• To launch the program, locate the Windows Movie Maker icon, and double click:

• To launch the program from the Start menu in the ED South 155 lab you can select Start > Programs > Accessories > Entertainment>Windows Movie Maker.

• Once you have launched Movie Maker, you will see the program interface

with a blank project screen labeled Untitled.

• Please note that in the above image you do not see the Timeline that is typically seen within the Windows Movie Maker program interface. The timeline is where you will be creating and organizing the clips for your movie.

• To create your movie you will be completing the steps included in the Tasks

Menu. To add the Tasks Menu to your view click on the Tasks button from within the new project toolbar.

• After clicking on the Tasks button you should see the following Movie Tasks menu on the left hand side of the program interface.

• Note: the above screenshot does not include the complete Movie Tasks menu; however it does include all of the steps that will be needed to complete this tutorial.

During the creation of your movie it is highly recommended that you periodically save your work in progress by saving your project.

4b. Remember to periodically save your Project file with the filename “LABSEC-CCID-Project”.

• To save your Project select Save Project from the File menu. Locate and

open your media folder, type in the filename for your project and click on Save.

4c. Change your settings to Timeline view and zoom in on your timeline until you are at 5 sec intervals.

• To alter your view to Timeline view click on the Show Timeline button

located near the bottom of the Windows Movie Maker interface.

• To zoom in on your timeline so that your timeline is at 5 sec intervals click

on the Zoom timeline in button. This gives you a close up view of your timeline to make editing easier. Conversely to make the intervals longer you would click on the Zoom timeline out button.

Title Clip

5a. At the beginning of your movie add a title clip that plays for 5 seconds.

• With the Movie Tasks window open click on the “Make titles or credits”

link under the Edit Movie section of the window.

• Click on the Add “title at the beginning link”.

• The following “Enter Text for Title” window should appear. To add text to your title clips simply type into the text-entry areas available below.

• Please note that if your window does not look like the example shown below

(for example, it has 2 text entry areas) this may be because of the selected style of animation is set for two lines of text. Your choice of animation therefore determines how many text-entry areas you are given. To change your style of animation, please read further on in this section of the tutorial.

5b. Include an appropriate title for your movie, choosing your own font style/color, background color, and style of title animation. Be sure to name yourself as director and to include your CCID and lab section e.g. “H01-slscott”.

• To “Change the title animation” or “Change the text font and color” single-click to choose one of the available selections under the More options: menu.

• In the following “Title Animation” window, you can choose any style of

animation by single-clicking on your selection.

• In the following “Select Title Font and Color” window, you can alter your text font, style and transparency.

• To change the text color for your title clip, click on the letter “A” from the “Color:” section of the window. To change the background color of your clip click on the solid color square in the same section.

• Once you are happy with the appearance of your title clip, click on the,

“Done, add title to movie link” to add it to the beginning of the video track in your timeline.

5c. Add your choice of built-in video effects to your title clip.

• To add a video effect to any clip on the timeline (this includes titles and credits) right-click on that clip in the timeline. Then from the following clip context menu select Video Effects.

• After you select Video Effect the following “Add or Remove Video Effects” window should appear:

• Choose an effect from the “Available effects:” drop-down menu, and click the Add>> button and click the OK button to add your chosen effect.

• A little blue star will be added to your clip when your effect has been

successfully added.

Body Clip

6a. After the 5 second title clip, add the two or more clips you have saved into your media folder to the Timeline.

• To import a video file into Windows Movie Maker, click on the Import video link under the Capture Video section of the tasks menu and the Import File window will appear.

• Your next step is to locate your media folder, single-click to select the file

you wish to import into your project and click on the Import button. Before clicking on the Import button it is recommended that you uncheck the Create clips for video files button. By doing this you ensure that your single clip does not get segmented into several different clips.

• You should now see the following Import progress window. Depending on the size of your clip, this process will take a few seconds to no more than a minute. You do have the option to cancel the import process by clicking on the Cancel button.

• You will now see a new collection created for the video you have just imported. Notice here that the Collections window button has been selected to display the Collections listing. To get back to the Movie Tasks menu, click on the Tasks window button

• Note: Every time you import a video file you will start a separate collection. The reason for this is that Movie Maker will attempt to segment every video you import into its component clips i.e. the clips that were used to create the video you are importing. The collection will be named based on the filename of the clip you are importing.

• Movie Maker will also segment your imported video clip depending on whether or not it detects a “scene change”. A scene change is the point at which one clip ends and another one begins.

• To delete, copy, rename, or add new collections simply right-click on the existing collection and choose one of the following options from the available context menu.

• Note: When you first launch Movie Maker there may be some existing collections that you can delete by right-clicking on the name of the collection and selecting Delete from the available context menu.

• To import audio and pictures into your collections you can follow the same

steps as shown above. Instead of selecting Import video from the Capture Video menu, you would select Import picture or Import audio or music.

• To add a clip to the timeline, click and drag a clip from your collections

window to the Video track of the Timeline. For an audio clip, drag the clip to the Audio/Music track.

• To move a clip along the timeline, click in the first frame and drag it to the point along the timeline where you want it to play.

6b. Check to see if the video clip you are inserting has an existing audio track.

This is done to ensure that the only sound you hear while playing your movie is from the audio clip that was exported off the CD.

• To determine whether or not your video has an existing audio track expand the Video track by clicking on the blue plus sign button to the right of Video.

• In the example shown below, clip 2 does have an existing audio track. As indicated by the variable levels of audio we can see in the audio track of clip 2.

• If we were to play this video, we would hear the sound in the Audio/Music track and the existing sound in the clip 2 movie at the same time. Usually, you do not want more than one audio source playing at a given time.

• To delete the existing sound track in a video clip, right-click on the existing

sound track for your movie and select Mute from the available context menu.

• After you have muted the track from your imported video clip you should now see a flat line instead of the audio levels, this indicates that the audio for this clip has been muted. It has not been deleted, however to once again play the audio for this clip, you can right-click and uncheck the Mute option.

6c. Trim the two video clips that have been added to the Timeline so that they

add up to 20 seconds of imported video side where the clip ends.

• To trim clips, single-click on the clip in the timeline. As shown below, two

triangles will appear; one on the left hand side where the clip starts, and one on the right-hand side where the clip ends.

• To adjust the length of the clip, click and drag on either of these triangles to set a new start point or end point.

• It is important to note here that you can only shorten a clip, not lengthen it,

so if a clip is 10 seconds in length you cannot increase it to play for 12 seconds but you can shorten it to play for only 8 seconds.

• If you add a single picture file you can stretch out the length of the clip

along the timeline to play as long as you want.

• Each clip does not have to be exactly 10 seconds in length; we simply want

20 seconds of movie combined from those 2 separate video clips.

6d. Add a visible transition that will be noticeable to the marker that appears as your first clip ends and your second clip begins.

• To create a transition on the timeline, first click on the “View video transitions” link located on the Tasks menu. The following window should appear in the collections area.

• To preview a transition, double click on the selected transition to see the effect in the preview window located on the right-hand side of the Movie Maker program interface.

• The next step is to click and drag the chosen transition (Spin in this

example) and drop it between the clips on the timeline where you want to see the transition.

• To increase the duration of your transition, click and drag on the second clip and drag it to the right so that it further overlaps the first clip.

• It is important to note that the duration of the transition cannot exceed the

length of the first clip. Also, if you have an audio track, remember to adjust the length of the audio track so that it stops playing at the end of the second clip if necessary.

• Due to the fact that the transition will need to make the two clips overlap

(for example if the transition you have picked is 2 seconds in length then for a duration of 2 seconds on the timeline the clips will overlap) you will have to extend the end of your movie by 2 seconds to make up for the time used by the transition.

Credits Clip

7a. At the end of the 20 seconds of imported clip add a credits clip that plays for 5 seconds. In this credits clip type in the web addresses to the sites where your clips were located.

To add an “end credits” clip, choose the Add “credits at the end” of the movie link when you are asked “Where do you want to add a title?” from the menu shown below (Hint: you will have to go back and choose “Make title or credits” from the Tasks menu).

• Shown below is a sample end credits clips:

• Your credits clip should include the website addresses for the two clips you

have included in your movie and include “The End” at the top of the frame.

7b. Customize your end credits clips by choosing your own font style/color, background color, and style of title animation. Add your choice of built-in video effects to your title clip.

7c. Add your choice of built-in video effects to your end credits clip.

Audio Track

8a. In the Audio/Music track of your movie insert the “LABSEC-CCID-audio.wma” file that was exported from an audio CD.

8b. Edit the audio clip that was inserted into the Audio/Music track so that it

only plays during the 2 body clips i.e. when the marker is viewing your movie, he/she should not hear any sound playing during the first 5 seconds when the title clip is playing when the last 5 seconds of credits clip is playing.

9. Preview your movie to ensure everything is working properly.

• To preview your movie at any time during the creation of your movie, you can use the “Preview Monitor” located on the right-hand side of your program interface.

• Click on the play button in the preview monitor. You will notice that when you hit play, your timeline will start moving and a “slider” will appear. To preview your clip at a certain spot, move the slider along the timeline.

10. Compress your final movie file with the file name “LABSEC-CCID-Video.wmv” making sure that it is no larger than 3 MB in file size and save it inside your LABSEC-CCID-Media folder.

• To save your finished product click on the “Save to my computer link from the Tasks menu under the “Finish Movie” sub menu. The following Save Movie Wizard window will appear:

• You will now have to type in a file name for your new movie and click on the Browse button to choose a location to save your finished movie. It is highly recommended that you save it to your “Digital Media” folder on your Desktop.

• After you have typed in a file name and have chosen a location to save you

finished movie to, click on the Next> button to move to the next step of the Save Movie Wizard.

• In the second step of the Saving Movie Wizard you can adjust the quality setting for your movie. To conform your movie to a specific file size and quality, single click on the Best fit to file size: radio button and using the up and down arrow keys, select a file size in MB.

• The file size that you enter will be the maximum file size for your movie

once it has been saved to your computer. In the example below, the file size has been entered in as 3MB.

• To save your movie as a file to your computer, click on the Next> button

located in the bottom right-hand corner of the Save Movie Wizard window. The following “Save Progress” window should now appear :

• Once your video is finished saving you will be on the last step of the Saving Movie Wizard and you will have to click on the Finish button.

11. Backup your folder to your GPU space.

12. Create a compressed archive for assignment submission.

Before you compress your folder for submission, make sure that only the following files are inside your LABSEC-CCID-Media” folder.

LABSEC-CCID-Video.wmv LABSEC-CCID-Audio.wma

We don’t want you to submit every file you used to help complete your lab. This would greatly add to the overall file size of your submission.

13. Upload your compressed file named “LABSEC-CCID-Media.zip” using WebCT before the end of your designated lab period.

Steven Scott & The EDIT 202 Development Team University of Alberta