Creating a Movie in Window Movie Maker

Creating a Movie | How to Download Sound Files from a CD to your Computer

Three Basic Steps:

Step 1

Import existing digital media files

1. On the File menu, click Import into Collections.

–or-

Do one of the following, depending on what type of digital media file you want to import:

• In the Movie Tasks pane, under Capture Video, click Import video.
• In the Movie Tasks pane, under Capture Video, click Import pictures.
• In the Movie Tasks pane, under Capture Video, click Import audio or music.
1. In File name, enter the path and file name of the file you want to import, and then click Import.
2. If you want selected video files to be separated into smaller clips, select the Create clips for video files check box.

Note

• You can import several files at one time. For consecutive files, click the first file in the list, press and hold down the SHIFT key, and then click the last file in the list. For files that are not consecutive, press and hold down the CTRL key, and then click each file that you want to import.

Step 2

Drag/Copy Imported Media into the timeline

You can copy and move files and clips in the storyboard/timeline to other parts of the storyboard/timeline. By moving a clip, you can change its position on the storyboard/timeline without having to delete it, and then add it to the storyboard/timeline again. You can include the same content multiple times in your project by copying a clip. For example, you might have a short video clip at the beginning of your project that you want to repeat two times before playing the main content in your project.

When you copy or move a video clip or picture on the storyboard/timeline, any added video effect is also copied, and it will appear in the new location.

About the timeline

You can use the timeline to review or modify the timing of clips in your project. Use the timeline buttons to perform tasks such as changing the view of your project, zooming in or out on details of your project, recording narration, or adjusting the audio levels. The time is displayed as hours:minutes:seconds.hundreths of a second (h:mm:ss.hs). To trim unwanted portions of your clip, use the trim handles, which appear when you select a clip. You can also preview all of the clips in your current project which are displayed on the timeline.

The following illustration shows the timeline. All the clips in the timeline define your project.

The timeline displays the following tracks to indicate what types of files you have added to your current project.

Video

The Video track lets you see what video clips, pictures, or titles you have added to the project. You can expand the Video track to show the corresponding audio accompanying the video, as well as any video transitions you have added. After a clip is added to the timeline, the name of the source file appears on that clip. If you add any video effects to the picture, video, or title, a small icon appears on the clips to indicate that a video effect has been added to that clip.

Transition

The Transition track lets you see any video transitions you have added to the timeline. This track only appears if you have expanded the Video track. Any video transitions you add from the Video Transitions folder appear on this track. When a transition is added to the timeline, the name of the transition is shown in the timeline. You can drag the start trim handle that appears when the transition is selected to increase or decrease its duration.

Audio

The Audio track lets you see the audio that is included in any video clips you have added to the project. Like the Transition track, you can only see the Audio track if you have expanded the Video track. If you select the audio clip on this track and delete it, the video portion is also removed from the Video track.

Audio/Music

The Audio/Music track lets you see any audio clips that you have added to the project. The name of the audio clip appears on the clip.

You can also add video clips to this track if you want the audio, but not the video, to play in your project and final movie.

Title Overlay

The Title Overlay track lets you see any titles or credits that you have added to the timeline. You can add multiple titles to this track at different points in your movie. The titles overlay the video that is displayed. You can drag the start or end trim handle that appears when the title is selected to increase or decrease its duration.

About the storyboard

The storyboard is the default view in Windows Movie Maker. You can use the storyboard to look at the sequence or ordering of the clips in your project and easily rearrange them, if necessary. This view also lets you see any video effects or video transitions that have been added. You can also preview all of the clips in your current project. Audio clips that you have added to a project are not displayed on the storyboard; however, they are displayed in the timeline.

The following illustration shows the storyboard. All the clips in the storyboard define your project.

Step 3

Editing Audio

You have several options for editing 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.

Working with audio

Windows Movie Maker lets you work with audio in a variety of ways. Some of the different audio -related tasks you can perform in Windows Movie Maker include the following.

• Narrate the timeline. Add an audio narration to narrate the video clips or pictures that appear on the Video track of the timeline. Your audio narration is automatically synchronized with the video, so the narration describes the action or event in your movie as it plays back.
• Adjust audio levels. Adjust the audio levels so you can determine the audio balance and playback when you have audio that appears on the Audio and Audio/Music tracks on the timeline.
• Add audio effects. Add different audio effect such as a fade in, fade out, or mute.
• Adjust the volume of audio clips. Adjust the volume of audio for audio -only clips or the audio portion of a video clip. This lets you adjust the volume of the audio for clips so that it can be clearly heard or not heard, depending the volume level you specify for the audio clip.

Adding audio effects

Windows Movie Maker lets you add basic audio effects to your project. The basic audio effects include:

• Mute. The audio is not played and cannot be heard during playback.
• 05Fade In. The audio gradually increases until it reaches the final playback level.
• Fade Out. The audio gradually decreases until it can no longer be heard.

The transition time for these audio effects is roughly two-thirds of a second.

You may have audio that you do not want to play at all. For example, you may have a video file that contains audio you do not want to be heard in your project. You can mute the audio on the Audio track or the Audio /Music track, so it is not heard in your project. You can also mute audio for single audio files.

Similar to video effects, audio effects are maintained when you split, cut, copy, or move a piece of audio or music. For example, if you add the Fade In audio effect, and then split the clip, the Fade In audio effect is applied to both clips. However, if you combine two audio clips, the audio effects that were associated with the first clip are applied to the new combined clip, and the audio effects for the second clip are removed.

Information based on Window Movie Maker Help

When you’re done click play

How to download sound files from Cd’s to the computer

If you want to import music into window movie maker from a CD for editing, it is very import you save the music from the CD to Windows Media.

Saving music to Windows Media

Copying music from CDs

Copying (ripping) tracks from CDs to Media Library is easy, and you can even listen to your CD while you are copying it. If the Copy protect music check box is selected when you copy the tracks, the tracks that you copy from a CD are protected files. Licenses are required to play these tracks. The license allows you to play back copied tracks on the computer, copy tracks to a non-SDMI-compliant portable device, and copy tracks to a CD.

To copy tracks from an audio CD

1. Insert your CD into the CD-ROM drive.
2. Click Copy from CD.

All tracks are selected to be copied if you have not previously copied them from the CD.

3. If there are any tracks that you do not want to copy (rip), clear the check box next to them.

You can select the check box at the top of the list to clear or select the check boxes next to all tracks.

4. Click Copy.
5. The first time you click Copy, a message appears asking if you want to copy protect your music. Click one of the following options:
• Copy protect your music
• Do not copy protect your music
6. Read the copyright acknowledgement.
7. Select the copyright acknowledgement check box, and then click Next.
8. Click one of the following options, and then click Finish:
• To select a different format and audio quality, click Change my current format settings.
• To copy tracks using the current format and audio quality, click Keep my current format settings.
9. If you clicked the Change my current format settings option in the previous step, the Copy Music tab is displayed. Select a different format and specify an audio quality using the slider, and then click OK.
10. Optionally, you can select the Eject CD when copying is completed check box to stop playback and eject the CD when copying is completed.

Notes

• The selected tracks are copied to your My Music folder by default and are listed in Media Library. The My Music folder contains subfolders, labeled with the name of the artist or group, or labeled Various Artists, if more than one artist is on the album. You can change the folder where your music files are stored.
• The Player adds volume leveling values to tracks when you copy them.
• You can also copy (rip) tracks from a CD by pointing to Copy on the File menu, pointing to Copy from Audio CD, and then clicking the CD-ROM drive if you have more than one attached to your computer. Select the tracks that you want to copy, and then click Copy.

Information based on Windows Media Help