Microsoft MovieMaker is a great tool to help turn your still photos into multimedia productions that

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1 Creating Slide Shows in MovieMaker 2 Microsoft MovieMaker is a great tool to help turn your still photos into multimedia productions that can be shared with others. MovieMaker is located on computers running Windows XP and comes free with the operating system. Hint: If you can t find the program, look in the Accessories folder. Once you are familiar with the creation process, you can create slide shows using other programs, including Ulead Movie Studio, or imovie (Macintosh). You can find a series of free video tutorials at: atomiclearning.com/moviemaker2 Preparing your photos Transfer your photos to your computer. Place them in a separate folder within My Photos. If you have a lot of pictures or images that look similar, renaming them will speed up the identification process. Do these steps now - you must not move or rename photos once they are imported into MovieMaker! MovieMaker Layout Tasks Collections Monitor Storyboard/Timeline A. Movie Tasks: Shortcut to common tasks such as importing pictures and adding transitions B: Collections: Displays all media (video, photo, or audio) you have imported. C. Monitor: Lets you preview your movie, particular clip, transition, or sound. D. Storyboard/Timeline View: Where you assemble your movie. Click to switch between storyboard and timeline view

2 Importing Photos into MovieMaker Under Movie Tasks, click on Import Pictures (section 1 - Capture Video). Navigate to the folder where your photos are stored. Select the desired photos. To select several in a row, click on the first one, hold down the shift key, and then click on the last image. To select images not next to each other, hold down the CTRL key as you click on the desired images. Assembling your Slide Show Note: See image on right for changing the default picture duration Under the Tools Menu > Options, you can change the default length for pictures to be displayed in your slide show. Adding Photos Switch to the Storyboard (A) view. Drag the photo you want to be at the beginning to the first spot in the storyboard, then the second, etc. To change the order of your pictures, drag the photo to the desired location (before or after an existing image). A blue line will indicate the new location. Release mouse. Adding Your Movie Title Under #2 of the Movie Tasks pane, select Make titles or credits A. Drag and drop to insert photos into your slide show 4. Select desired option, such as making a title at the beginning of the movie. Type in your title. Note that you have two sections (e.g. put your name, date, or subtitle below) Click on Change the text font and color link if desired.

3 5. If you want to add a little pizazz to your title, click on Change the title animation. Look at the Monitor pane for a preview of the animation. When satisfied, click Done, add title to movie. Adding Titles within Your Movie MovieMaker allows you to add titles right on an image, or unto a blank screen. 4. Select Make titles and credits from the Movie tasks pane. Click on the desired effect. If you plan on adding the title on an image, be sure to also select the clip in your storyboard. For extra contrast, interest, and readability, you may want to change the font, size or color. This may be especially important when adding a title on top of an image. Add a title animation, if desired. I have found that the News Banner effect works well in providing the contrast needed to see text in a very busy photo. You can change the color of the banner or background by clicking on the colored square in the Change font and color link. 5. Upon clicking Done, your movie will be switched to the Timeline view. This more detailed view allows you to see precisely where the title (or audio) effect is and Click on the magnifiers to zoom in adjust them as needed. Select your clip and click the Play button to see the applied title and effects. Double-click on the title (timeline) to edit. You can drag the title to another location. To delete title, select it and hit the delete key on your keyboard.

4 Adding Video Transitions Video transitions help indicate the flow between clips (or photos). Dissolve is a great all-around transition, especially between similar images. Consider using a different transition at the end of a theme. If you want the length of your default transitions to be longer than 25 seconds, go to Tools (menu) > Options > Advanced tab, and enter the new duration. Select View video transitions from the Movie Tasks pane. Click on a transition and preview the effect. Drag the desired effect on top of the image in the timeline/storyboard. Adding Visual (Video) Effects The Video Effects section enables you to change the look of a clip. You can do things such as: Making an image brighter Fade in (or out) from black - a good way to show a change of scene or time Making the image look old (such as when indicating change in time period) Select View video effects from the Movie Tasks pane. Click on an effect and then hit the play button to preview the effect. When you find the desired effect, drag it on top of the image in the timeline/storyboard. 4. Preview the applied effect. (Edit menu > undo to remove last step) You can add or remove effects by right-clicking on a clip and choosing Video Effects. This image has a video effect (indicated by the star) applied to it and the Bow Tie transition at the end Adding Audio/Music Music or narration can really enhance a slide show, creating a certain mood. This should be one of the last things you do on your slide show. The length and placement will then be appropriate. Although MovieMaker can import many different formats of audio (e.g. MP3), the file must be saved on your computer. Use itunes or Windows Media Player to import music from a CD. Select Import audio or music from the Movie Tasks pane. Navigate to your music folder and select the music clip. It now will show up in your Collections pane. Drag the music into your slide show. Tip: If you want the music to start at a particular spot within an image, drag the playhead to the exact spot prior to dragging the music clip. (See illustration)

5 4. 5. You can drag and move the music clip to another location. Likewise, you can shorten the music length by dragging on an end (you will see a double red arrow). For music with abrupt endings or beginnings, you can choose Fade in or Fade out by selecting the music clip and right clicking it. Using sections of music At times you may want to only use certain portions of a music clip, such as when a piece is too long or a section does not match your slideshow theme. Pause the music where you want the split to happen. In the Clip menu, select Split. You will now see the music clip split at that point in the timeline. Music split into two sections at the playhead You can split music as many times as you wish. After adding a second split for example, you can then select the undesired section and delete it, removing that part of the music. For fine-tuning the exact location of a split, go to Clip menu > nudge left (or right). Adding Narration Whether using your own voice or the sound of your students, adding narration creates a personal touch. Unfortunately, MovieMaker is limited to only one audio music track, so you cannot have music and narration playing at the same time. Plug in your microphone. Move your playhead to the place you want the narration to start. Click on the microphone icon in the timeline/storyboard section. 4. Observe the input level. If you don t see the level changing, ensure that your microphone is plugged in and selected (a) If you want the narration to stop when it runs into other audio, check this box (b). Click Start narration and begin. Note the time under Narration captured. Click Stop narration and Done. Name and save the file. b. a.

6 Saving and Sharing Your Slide Show MovieMaker allows you to save your slide show movie in many different formats. Saving to a CD, your computer, and for ing are three of these possibilities. You will find these under the Movie Tasks pane, Step Saving to your Computer If your intended purpose is to play your slide show on your computer, Select Save to my computer. Name your slide show and determine where you want to save it. Click Next. 4. Typically, you can keep the default setting, Best Quality for playback on my computer. 5. Note the movie file size section at the bottom of the window. Ensure you have plenty of space available on your computer. 7. Click Next. Once rendering is complete, your file may now be played using Windows Media Player. For even higher quality, select DV-AVI (click Show more choices) under Other settings. Note: The file size will be considerably larger. Saving to a CD Place a blank CD in your drive. Select Save to CD from the Movie Tasks menu. Name the project and follow the instructions. Your slide show can be played by computers using Windows Media Player. Saving to Note that the default size for an movie is 1 MB. If your recipient s service allows a higher amount, you can change this under Tools menu >Options> (advanced tab). Select Send to from the Movie Tasks menu. After your movie is compressed and saved, you can either choose to see the movie (check quality), save a copy (so you can send it later), or click Next. Your default program will be opened.