Digital Film-Making

with

Compiled by:

Stephanie Hopkins, AST in MFLSouthend High School for Girls

Southend-on-Sea, Essex

January 2006Welcome to my foolproof guide to starting out with Windows® Movie Maker. It aims to take you, step-by-step, through the process of capturing and editing your footage, and also adding effects, transitions and music to put the finishing touches to your masterpiece!

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Once you have mastered the basics, more advanced instructions can be found in the “Help” menu.Good luck and HAVE FUN!STEP ONE: FilmingUse a digital video camera to film your footage.

STEP TWO: Connecting to a PC Use a firewire cable to connect your DV camera to the firewire (IEEE 1394)

port on the computer. Open up Windows Movie Maker and begin “capturing” your footage (this

means transferring the data you need from the DV tape to the PC ready to edit).

STEP THREE : Capturing videoWhen capturing video and audio in Windows Movie Maker, the Video Capture Wizard proceeds as follows:

1. Select the capture device. Turn your DV camera or DV VCR on and Movie Maker will detect your camera automatically. You can also control your camera (play, rewind, stop, forward etc.) from the computer.

2. Where to save. Specify where you want your captured audio and video file to be saved.

3. Choose the video setting. This depends on how you plan to show your finished product and how long it is. The simplest option is “Best quality for playback on my computer (recommended)” but the video loses some quality, appearing a little pixelated. However this is suitable for showing direct from your PC, saving onto a CD-R, attaching to an email or to the Web using the Save Movie Wizard. Alternatively you can choose additional settings which are more suitable for saving back to a DV tape or a DVD. Video files saved in this way are very large, as they retain the original quality of the video. Check there is enough space on your hard disk before using this option.

4. Capturing method. You can either capture automatically (all the footage) or manually (play back and capture just the bits you need)

5. Capture the video and audio. Use the video controls and start/stop buttons to capture the footage you need.

6. Click FINISH. Now you are ready for the next exciting stage in the creative process!

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The “Wizard” guides you through the different stages. Select “Capture from video device”.

1 – Use the controls to play back your footage.

2 – These arrows allow you to pinpoint the exact frame you want to capture from. Precise capturing can save fiddly cutting later on. Click PAUSE where you want to start capturing.

3 – Click START and STOP to capture. The footage is automatically bookmarked.

STEP FOUR: Importing the files

When you have clicked “FINISH” you have to wait a little while for Movie Maker to “collect” your footage:

STEP FIVE: Compiling your movie

Movie Maker lays out all your “clips” into the Collection. All you have to do then is to drag and drop them onto the Timeline or Storyboard at the bottom of the screen.

If you need to chop any of your clips up (eg. to edit something out, or to separate two sections), just double-click on the clip and cut it using the splitting tool shown above.

The Windows Movie Maker onscreen Help guide provides the following instructions for editing

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Storyboard layout Timeline layout Splitting tool

clips: Splitting a clip. You can split a video clip into two clips. This is useful if you want to

insert either a picture or a video transition in the middle of a clip. You can split a clip that appears on the storyboard/timeline of a current project, or you can split the clip in the Contents pane.

Combining clips. You can combine two or more contiguous video clips. Contiguous means the clips were captured together so that the end time of one clip is the same as the start time of the next clip. Combining clips is useful if you have several short clips and you want to view them as one clip on the storyboard/timeline. Similar to splitting a clip, you can combine contiguous clips in the Contents pane or on the storyboard/timeline.

Trimming a clip. You can hide parts of a clip you do not want in your project. For example, you can trim the beginning or end of a clip. Trimming does not remove the information from the source material; you can clear the trim points to return the clip to its original length at any time. Clips can only be trimmed after they have been added to the storyboard/timeline. You cannot trim clips in the Contents pane.

Drag the trim handles, which are shown in the following illustration, to trim the unwanted portions of the clip.

Creating clips. You also create clips from video clips after they have been

imported or captured in Windows Movie Maker. This lets you create clips at any time when working in Windows Movie Maker. By separating video clips into smaller clips, you can easily find a particular part of your captured or imported video to use in your movie.

STEP SIX: Special effects - adding some magic!

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Video effects change the appearance of the video itself.In Storyboard mode, drag the effect you want on to the star in the corner of the clip.

STEP SEVEN: Topping and Tailing

To add a professional touch to your movie, select “Make titles and credits” from the Wizard on the left of the screen. Choose the format and font you want the titles to be in. You can type foreign characters by using the Alt codes. A preview is shown on the right of the screen.

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Transitions are used to make smooth or creative transitions from one clip to the next.In Storyboard mode, drag the effect you want on to the arrow between each clip.

STEP EIGHT: Musical Flair

Music can really liven up your movie. You can add music behind the titles or credits. You can also choose a track and edit to the music to make a montage of clips. Begin by burning your music track from CD onto your computer in Media Player, DOUBLE-CLICK on the track then do SAVE AS and save in a designated folder.

In Movie Maker, Select “Import audio or music” and browse for the track. Select it and click “IMPORT”.

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Windows Media Player

In Timeline mode, drag the audio clip into the Audio/Music line.

Trim as appropriate. By right-clicking on the track you can also make the music fade in or out:

STEP NINE: Saving

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Select the appropriate command from the Wizard. Congratulations, you are now a film-maker!

STEP TEN: Film premièreWatch and enjoy with friends, family or your class, serve with popcorn and any brand of tasty cola.

Copyright: Stephanie Hopkins, Southend High School for Girlsstephmhopkins@gmail.com

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