Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story
I added the new method to the Importing Source Files > Video > Recorded TV page of the site. So it has gone from having one method to three in a week. The DVR 2 WMV utility is the first and easiest... even if a bit buggy...
The Usual View...
When I first captured my camcorder footage of an air show in Chicago, I did a lot of work using Movie Maker as a file utility, splitting the footage into the more interesting clips, and rendering individual DV-AVI files... using MM1 to make type II clips universally accepted by other editing apps and utilities. I put the pack of long-term keeper clips on a set of data CDs and cataloged them. You can fit a 3+ minute DV-AVI clip on a CD.
To prepare for this newsletter, I cleaned out my collections, copied one of the source files from the CD to my laptop's library, and imported it. The only thing in the collections at the right is that clip, a 31 second one.
I then moved the clip to the timeline, split it in two, and added a transition...
The picture at the right is our traditional user-oriented view of the collections and the project timeline. Let's look inside the collection database and the project file to see what source file info is stored there.
The collection database and project files are encrypted, not easy to understand... but let's take a peek anyway.
Inside the Collection Database
(MEDIATAB1.DAT)...
Here's the section of the collection database, a MEDIATAB1.DAT file, that has the info we're interested in... you don't have to be a programmer to understand some of the underlined items to see what info relates to the source file.
There are no pointers in the collection database to the project file. The might not be a project that uses the clip.
It's a one way process. The source file info goes into the collection database, and then clip info from the collection cascades into the project file when the clip is copied to it... it never flows back from the project to the collection. Projects are complete in themselves, not needing the collection database... but still needing the source file.
Inside the Project File
(MSWMM)... The project file looks similar... computer encryption code,
some programming info, and enough words to understand which source file is
being used. Splitting the clip and adding
a transition makes the info in the project file a bit more
complex. Don't dwell on the details... the important thing is that the
project file contains all the info about the clips for the project,
including thumbnail images, but it doesn't contain copies of the source files
themselves. It has some into about the source file.. most of the info just
before the upper red line: - File size - 113,864 bytes - File type - Video Clip - Duration - 30.597+ seconds - DV = "yes"... typically a 0 means no and a 1
yes. - Frame rate - 29.97+ - Height - 480 pixels - Width - 720 pixels - Path - c:\Library\Video\Source Files\Chicago
Airshow\Helicopter-11.AVI The sequence the source file info appears is the same in
both the collection database and the project file. When you drag a clip from a
collection into a project, it's quicker and easier to just copy the info
about it from the collection database than it is to re-open the source
file and collect the same data. All the added info between the red lines is due to splitting the
clip and adding a transition... and any added trim points, fades, and
other things you do to clips on the timeline. Photo Story handles project files very differently. It
copies the entire set of source files into the project file... a Photo
Story project files grows large while a Movie Maker project
file stays relatively small. You wouldn't want a one hour DV-AVI file
of 13 GB to be copied into each project file that used a segment of
it. Just as a collection database doesn't have any pointers to project
files, the project file doesn't have any pointers to a collection database.
Take a project file and its source files to another computer and you
can do your next editing session there.
Source File Portability...
At this point I wanted to check the info in the project file
when I moved it and its source files to a thumb drive... the
project will be ultra-portable for editing sessions on any computer
running XP and your version of Movie Maker. Be careful not to step up to a
higher version or the project file won't open again when brought back to the
lower version. if you're using MM2.0, don't go to your friend's computer
running MM2.1 and expect to take the project back home.
I used a MuVo portable music player that also works as
a thumb drive, one with 128 MB of flash memory. After moving the
files, I used MM2 to re-establish the link to resolve the big red
Xs in both the collection and the project. But I was pressing the limits of the space on the thumb drive, so
right after the move, I swapped the helicopter clip out with a smaller airplane
clip. I had deleted the original helicopter clip from the project and
the collection... when I looked inside the revised collection database, the
original helicopter clip was no longer referenced... but when I checked the
revised project file, both the original and the new source files were
referenced... for some reason the original pointer wasn't deleted. Other
than taking up a little extra space in the file, I didn't run into any issues
when I previewed and rendered the movie.
... it left me wondering, so I've submitted the item to Microsoft
for comment. And I tried it again, replacing the second clip used with
a third one. The project file is acting like a log, now with 3 source
files referenced when the first two are no longer being used.
The residual pointers in the project file can
never help, but might bite you someday... I don't know when
or how. If you're just doodling a bit at the beginning of a new
project, testing different clips for the opener, I recommend starting
over with a new project file when you're ready to expand the project.
Source File Changes...
Once a DV-AVI source file is in a project and the key
data neatly stored, Movie Maker only checks that the file is still in
place. It doesn't check any deeper than that, so it's very tolerant of
changes to the source file... so tolerant that you can replace
them with slightly or totally different DV-AVI files, or even a
WMV file. Why would you ever want to do that? I can think of many reasons.
Look at the amazing possibilities this feature supports... say
you've put hundreds of hours into making your project perfect in every
way... but then you notice things you can't easily change in Movie Maker:
Backing Up and Archiving
Digital camcorder tape storage is easy and
economical... my per tape cost at Sam's Club is now $2-1/2 for an hour
of DV-AVI files... and the price keeps creeping down.
... you can recapture it from the tape when you
need it.
One key to doing this is to have good records...
so you know where the source file starts on the tape... the project file itself
tells you the original source file name and folder location.... right click
on the clip (even if it has a big red X) and check its properties. The
other key is trying it to gain confidence that it'll work when you need
it.
If you're careful to note the
starting point of a DV-AVI source file... the exact
frame that marks the T=0 point... perhaps take a snapshot of the wave patterns
of the audio track to serve as a fingerprint, or save a 5 second
starting snippet for later reference...
That resulted in an oddity that I don't understand. The
first clip was 'Helicopter-11.AVI' deep in a sub-folder in my library on
the c drive. The clip I replaced it with was '6 planes-3.AVI' in
the folder on the thumb drive.
A scene is overly dark and the brightness effect of Movie
Maker isn't sufficient to enhance it. >>> Open the clip
in VirtualDub, use the levels adjustment and resave the clip in the same
place with the same name. Movie Maker will continue to use the clip with
the new enhancement.
You wish you had added your logo to part of the movie.
>>> Do it to the source file(s)... over on the side with Movie
Maker, VirtualDub, or another utility.
You have a 13.679 second clip in the middle of your
project and it's packed with effects, transitions, titling and other
things around it... you have a 35 second clip that you would like to use
instead, but just for the first 13.679 seconds of it. But you're afraid
to touch the project now. >>> Put the new clip in there in
place of the original and it'll be done automatically... it's always a good
idea to make a backup of the original one... do it easily by leaving the
videofile.avi file in place, changing it's name to videofile.old and slipping
in the new 35 second clip as videofile.avi. The project is already set to use
just the first 13.679 seconds of the source file, and will automatically
stop after that duration.
The new source file can be any length, regardless of the
duration of the first one. If the new duration is longer, the project will
clip the info from it. If the new duration is shorter, it'll show blackness
from the end of the new clip until the project duration is
reached.
You have a 5 minute DV-AVI clip but you find that the audio
has glitches that you hadn't noticed before... you also have a high
quality WMV version of the same file and the audio is fine. >>> Slip
the WMV file in there and it'll act fine as the replacement... be sure
the name and extension fully aligns with the source file being
replaced.
The project consists of hundreds of subclips from some
DV-AVI source files, and the rendering to a DV-AVI file results in lots
of audio glitches. >>>> Swap the DV-AVI source files out with
high quality WMV files and try again.
You have a great Photo Story 3 story that you would
rather use in the spot that one of the DV-AVI clips is, and the transitions
and effects already in the project will fit in nicely. >>> a PS3
story will work as a substitute for the DV-AVI clip. No need to touch the
project editing. When you look at the timeline, you'll see the original clip
thumbnail in the collection and on the timeline, but the previewing and
rendering will use the frames from the story instead. These are a few things I can think of, all good reasons to
swap a DV-AVI source file out with either another DV-AVI clip or a WMV.