Windows MovieMaker2 How-To Guide

by Wesley Fryer | Last Updated Monday, April 11, 2005

Outline

  1. Introduction
  2. Obtain & Configure Required Hardware / Software
  3. Import Video
  4. Edit Video
  5. Export / Share Your Video

 

1. Introduction

This how-to guide focuses on editing digital video shot with a digital camcorder or imported as digital video using an analog to digital capture device. Information presented here does not include tips on planning your video, shooting your video, lighting and audio considerations, etc.

Windows MovieMaker2 software is Microsoft's equivalent of iMovie software for Apple Computers. It is free, is relatively plug-and-play, and is designed for consumers rather than professionals. For this reason, it can work well for educational use by students and teachers.

 

2. Obtain & Configure Required Hardware / Software

There are three basic things you need to obtain and configure before you are ready for the steps described in this how-to guide.

A. Digital Camcorder and Blank Tape Media

Camcorders come in two basic varieties:

  1. Analog (non-digital camcorders): These include older VHS camcorders, VHS-C camcorders, and Video8 Camcorders.
  2. Digital: These include Digital8, MiniDV, Record-to-DVD, and Record-to-MiniDVD camcorders

Some digital cameras include a "record digital movie" feature, but these movies are actually low-resolution video clips rather than full quality DV or digital video. These digital cameras are NOT suitable for editing full-quality video as described in this how-to guide.

B. Firewire (IEE 1394) Capture Card and DV cable

A firewire card is generally not included as a standard option on most Windows computers in early 2005. They are relatively inexpensive. Firewire cards generally plug in to an empty PCI slot on a desktop computer. WindowsXP should automatically recognize and configure the card after it is plugged in and the computer is started up. (A sample PCI firewire card is shown on the right.)
A DV or firewire cable for video import will have two differently sized ends on it. The larger end will plug into your computer's firewire capture card. The smaller end will plug into your camera's DV port. (An example is shown on the left.)

C. MovieMaker2 Software

This software is free from Microsoft, more information and download instructions are available. System requirements (including WindowsXP, older Windows operating systems will not run MovieMaker2) are also listed on the above link.

Use the instructions on the link above to download and install MovieMaker2 software on your computer. Make sure your computer meets the basic requirements (it is actually best if your computer exceeds the minimums, especially with RAM memory). Also make sure you have external speakers connected to your computer and they are working properly, so you can hear the audio track of the video you import and playback on your computer.

 

3. Import Video

To import video, first do the following:

  1. Plug your DV camcorder into your computer using the DV/firewire cable
  2. Turn your DV camcorder on to the VCR mode (not the "camera mode" used for shooting video)
  3. Launch / Start the MovieMaker2 software program

A wizard menu should come up asking you questions about the video you want to import. If you do not see this menu, click the link under 1. Capture Video that says "CAPTURE FROM VIDEO DEVICE."

If you already have video clips imported on your computer that you want to use in your project, instead click on IMPORT VIDEO.

Pictures can be imported to use in your project as well. To do this, click on IMPORT PICTURES and locate the folder/directory on your hard drive containing the pictures you want to use.

When your camcorder is attached to your computer or you click CAPTURE FROM VIDEO DEVICE, you will be prompted with the following menu:

Give the video sequence you are about to capture a sensible name. It is fine to save in the default location (MY VIDEOS), which is a folder/directory located within MY DOCUMENTS of your WindowsXP user folder.

You will next be prompted to select the quality of the captured video:

Generally if your computer has sufficient hard drive space, it is best to select the second option (DIGITAL DEVICE FORMAT: DV-AVI) because this is the highest quality video format. If you want to export your edited video back to the tape or eventually make a full-quality DVD, you will want to use this format selection.

Beware that DV format takes up a LOT of hard drive space! For a sample project, I imported 3 minutes and 14 seconds of video. This took up 663.78 MB of hard drive space, which is over half a gigabyte and almost fills a complete CD-R disc!

Your exported video file can be compressed to take up less disk space, but "raw" DV footage requires a lot of disk space.

In the next menu, you will likely want to select CAPTURE PARTS OF THE TAPE MANUALLY:

This will enable you to select just the segments you want to import and avoid taking up extra hard drive space with video segments that are not needed / wanted.

Finally, on the capture screen you can use the play and pause buttons (on the right side) to advance your film to the desired location. Click START CAPTURE to begin capturing video footage and recording it to your hard drive:

Click STOP CAPTURE to stop the process. When done, click FINISH.

After your video is captured or imported, MovieMaker2 should automatically segment the video into different CLIPS as shown below:

Capture and/or import all the video sequences and pictures you want to use in your project.

4. Edit Video

The MovieMaker2 screen is divided into three different parts as shown below:

  1. Clip Collection: All your imported clips are saved here. You can preview them or drag them down to the storyboard to use them.
  2. Preview Window: This is where you can view your video, either by clicking on it in the clip collection or on the storyboard.
  3. Storyboard: This is where you build your video sequence, using clips from the clip collection as well as other effects like transitions.

To preview an individual clip, click once on the clip and then click the play button in the preview window on the right side of the screen:

To delete a clip that is not wanted, right click it and choose delete.

To use a clip in your edited movie, drag it from the clip collection down into your storyboard / timeline:

The Storyboard view TOGGLES back and forth with a TIMELINE view. Use the storyboard view for basic clip sequencing. Use the timeline view for clip editing:

EDIT A CLIP

To delete video away from the front or end of an existing clip, you can SPLIT THE CLIP and then delete the part you do not want.

  1. First, click on the clip in the TIMELINE view that you want to edit.
  2. Second, press the spacebar to play the clip to the point where you want to split it. (Press SPACE BAR to start playback and pause playback.)
  3. Third, from the CLIP menu at the top of the screen, choose the SPLIT command (or use the keyboard shortcut: Control-L):
  4. Fourth, click on the ZOOM IN button (magnifying glass +) to enlarge the clip view:
  5. Fifth, right click on the clip segment you want to delete, and choose DELETE.

ADD A TITLE

To add a title, under MOVIE TASKS on the left side of the screen, click on MAKE TITLES OR CREDITS:

When prompted, choose where you want to add the title:

Click MORE OPTIONS after typing the title text to change the animation effect, color, etc.

When finished selecting options, click DONE ADD TO MOVIE.

ADD A TRANSITION

To add a transition, right click on the CLIP you want to add the transition to and choose VIDEO EFFECTS:

If you just want to make the clip FADE IN or FADE OUT, you can add that transition from the previous menu without going to VIDEO EFFECTS.

5. Export / Share Your Video

When you are finished editing your movie and ready to share it, from the FILE menu choose SAVE MOVIE FILE:

Choose the format you want to save in:

  1. For the best quality, choose DV CAMERA and record the edited movie back to a blank tape. To play it back, you will have to use the camcorder and connect it to the TV or projector as well as speakers.
  2. To compress the video and either play it back on your computer, or save the file to another location (a CD, thumbdrive, Internet website, etc) choose MY COMPUTER.

Select the desired format for saving the exported / compressed video. If you are going to put it on a website, choose VIDEO FOR BROADBAND:

Note the estimated file size of the finished movie will be listed in the lower right corner of the window:

If you want to burn the CD to show others on your computer or burn to a CD, you can choose VIDEO FOR LOCAL PLAYBACK:

When you click NEXT, your computer will compress and export the movie file according to the settings you selected. The time required to compress and export your movie will vary depending on the settings you chose, the speed of your computer's processor, and how much RAM memory is installed and available on your computer.

After the file has finished exporting, QUIT MovieMaker2. You are finished editing!

Share the file with others by copying it to a CD, posting it to a website, copying it to a USB thumbdrive / keydrive, etc. Generally movie files are pretty large, so it is NOT a good idea to email them as attachments to your friends!

Our sample video is available (3.2 MB, exported as Video for Broadband - 150 Kbps)

Download the latest version of Windows Media Player (free) if you need it.

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