What is Windows Live Movie Maker?
Windows Live Movie Maker is a great way to create a slideshow using your own
music, photos and videos. I find it is an alternative to using PowerPoint, and I
have used it in several presentations for school and it has been very successful in
the past. There are several features to this app, some which include of visual effects
on your photos/videos, adding text to your images, and creating transitions
(such as; dissolve, fade etc). But that's just the basics, movie maker is much more
advanced, but these are the simple features in which we will be discussing today.
When is the appropriate time to use movie maker?
I have used movie maker for many projects in school such as; for our dance unit my
friend Maddy and I created a film as if we were on the show 'So You Think You Can
Dance". I have also created a video for a social studies on facts about rice and while
the video played in the background I continued to talk over top of it. But not only is
this use for school, it also a phenomenal tool to use outside of school. For example,
for my father's birthday I created a video of all the memories we've had explaining
how many wonderful years it's been spending time with him.
Pros
-Free of charge
-Virus free
-Easy to use
-Rotate photos
-Over 20 different transitions
-Easy to upload to YouTube
-Can join, fade and trim clips (video, audio etc)
-Record videos with webcam
Cons
-Only available for windows (not available for apple products etc) which would
make it hard to use for school
-No voice over available
-Not available on phones
-Not available for Windows RT or Windows RT 8.1
How to use Movie Maker
1. First type in your search engine 'Windows Live Movie Maker', there will many
websites in which you can download this tool, depending on what version is
compatible with your computer should be the one you shall download.
2. After Movie maker has been downloaded, you can start your movie by clicking
on the add videos and photos. Once you have done that, you can click on the
visual effects title and there will be different options on how you can alter your photo.
In addition to this, there is a small icon on the right which is labeled brightness in
which you can adjust the brightness.
3. Next, you can add the music by clicking on the add music (on the right of where
it says add photos and videos) and it gives you two options. The first option is add
music and the second is add music at current point, you can do either or depending
on your choice.
4. Following, you can add a title to your video (you can do this in the beginning if
you'd like instead) by clicking on title, you can drag that slide to the beginning of
the film. You can also change the background of the title by clicking on where it
reads video tools/edit. In this same section you can alter the timing of your video.
5. Lastly to create transitions you need to have more than one image
(video, photo, title). Then move the vertical bar across to the start of the second
slide (anything just not first) and click on animations. Once you have clicked on
animations, there will be a large amount of options for transitions.
Video
Down below is a video in which I have created in grade six for an art project. The
entire project was just used with Movie Maker.
