Use video editing software to mix reality and imagination in amazing ways. Your interests, passions and motivation are the keys, followed by hardware, software, and the skills to use them. It's never too early or late to begin... jump in!!
Movie Maker is a very basic movie editing app... use it to learn the basics and make small projects. While you learn, use other software for more advanced features... and move on to pro-sumer software when you're ready.
Microsoft Forums provide support from Microsoft personnel and Movie Maker users
Check Microsoft Answers for XP, Vista and Windows 7 items... all versions of Movie Maker except the new Windows Live Movie Maker.
In addition to reading articles at Bright Hub, you can post comments or questions. I get auto generated emails and will respond... unless you're ranting or raving.
Aug 19, 2010 - If you live in a country that uses PAL video, not NTSC.... and noticed the built in WLMM settings for saving movies are NTSC-based, you can easily create your own custom settings/profiles. WLMM is the first version of Movie Maker to include a built-in feature for doing it.
I added a section about the subject to the Windows Live > Movie Maker > Publish and Save Movies page.
Aug 17, 2010 - Microsoft released the next publicly available beta version of the Windows Live Essentials Suite, which includes Windows Live Movie Maker version 2011 (Build 15.4.3002.0810). Get it from Windows Live Essentials beta.
The first distinguishing feature is a new 'Snapshot' icon on the menu of the Home tab. It saves a still picture from the frame you're currently at.
July 27, 2010 - To followup the recent article about working with audio in WLMM I started one about text. Here's a little video trailer for the demo to illustrate it...
There's much to like about the text features of WLMM.
July 14, 2010 - The tutorial I referred to on July 8th ended up being an article about Working with Audio in WLMM
July 8, 2010 - I'm learning more about WLMM and how best to use it. Today I started a tutorial about making a project starting with audio/music...
You need to have at least one picture or video clip in the project before you can add audio, so I started with a single still picture with a 5 second default duration.
I was surprised to find I could then add a full album of MP3 files to the project... 17 tunes with an overall playing time of over an hour. Although the project was packed with music, I could only see and hear the first 5 seconds of the first tune. My learning experience started there, how to best edit the music in a project that I couldn't see or hear.
That's the kind of experiential learning I enjoy. I'll publish the tutorial in a few days.
July 1, 2010 - This is my first video made fully with Windows Live apps... from capture thru publishing
June 15, 2010 - after my first week using dueling laptops, one older low end Toshiba Satellite with 32-bit Windows 7 Ultimate (upgraded from Vista) and the other a new HP 64-bit laptop with Windows 7 Home Premium.... here's what I see.....
they both work great overall.... I'm using 5 versions of Movie Maker on both.... the WLMM version being the latest beta
I've not had to use 'compatibility mode' for any of the Movie Maker versions... my batch files to register and unregister Movie Maker DLLs work on either system
at home they connect wirelessly to each other through my home network
at our nightly Barnes & Noble sessions I alternate using the two... when I have the Toshiba I sit next to an electrical outlet.... the new HP frees me up to move around as it lasts the session without recharging.
I'm using MM1 on the 64 bit system as my audio 'jukebox'... to listen to my library of tunes as I work. That leaves WMP and other players open for other things.
from a video perspective the new laptop introduced me to this situation... on the 64-bit system IE8 is 64-bit and can't use the Adobe Flash Player which is 32-bit.... I can go to vimeo, YouTube and facebook but not see or play any of the flash files. For that, I installed Google's Chrome browser which only comes in the 32-bit flavor. My default browser on the 64-bit system is IE but if I want to see a video I need to use Chrome.... on the 32-bit laptop I don't need to think about it.
I haven't developed the Windows 7 section of the website much.... I've now explored it enough to work on it. Lots of things work on it and some don't. WLMM is developing further but anyone beyond a starter user will want to use other video editing apps. And doing video work still requires walking through codec hell.
June 9, 2010
I received my Father's Day gift yesterday... a new 64 bit HP Pavilion dv6-2150us running Windows 7 Home Premium. It came preloaded with the Windows Live suite but notably without Windows Live Movie Maker.
June 5, 2010
Windows Live Movie Maker (WLMM) doesn't have as many features as MM2.1 in XP or MM6 in Vista, but what it has under the hood is starting to shine. It's like the 'little engine that could'.
Then I used it to convert a couple MPEG2 files of 1 and 2 hours in duration... odd ball sized files that most of my players had difficulty viewing properly. WLMM imported and previewed them fine, and saved to high quality wmv files in half the time it took for my all purpose Xilisoft converter, and the output file looked better.
It can handle more source file types and publish more complex projects than classic versions of Movie Maker.... yes, the editing features included are not yet on a par with other versions, but they might get there in future revisions. Don't sell it short.
June 2, 2010
The next version of Windows Live Movie Maker was announced.... features include
capturing from a webcam and selected audio input device (like a microphone or the stereo mix option of some sound cards)
previewing a project in full screen (from which the Print-Screen key gets you a high quality frame grab)
speeding up or slowing down a video clip
creating your own custom profiles
Click this pointer for a rolling 12 months of new items...
My computers are PCs, not Apples...
I use dozens of video editing apps and utilities. This website is about many of them, focusing on Microsoft's Windows Movie Maker and Photo Story 3 (PS3).
The classic versions of Movie Maker ended with Vista. Windows 7 is a new beginning for movie editing with tools from Microsoft.
My two books about Movie Maker... 'Zero to Hero' and 'Do Amazing Things' cover the basics of the classic versions and the info isn't repeated here. The site is about more advanced subjects, along with help resolving problems. For online help getting started with Movie Maker, use links on the
Tutorials and References page.
As there are no books about Photo Story 3, everything from basic to advanced material is included... but not much for problem-solving.
Many of the website pages are busy with content. And the hundreds of newsletters and Bright Hub articles I've written over the past 5 years provide even more depth. They are all online with links sprinkled around the site.
Click this image or the link under it for a full table of contents to them.
In addition to those articles, I started PapaJohn's Hubfolio at BrightHub to provide additional articles and blog entries about making movies and slideshows in Windows 7.
this site focuses on 3 Microsoft products
Movie Maker is a wonderful easy-to-use entry-level video editing app included in all versions of Windows XP and Vista. Most people don't know they already have it. You can be up and running in a couple hours, mixing still pictures, video clips, music and audio into amazing home movies, and topping them off with a wide assortment of titles, text overlays, and credits.
Your movie projects can go wherever your creativity and imagination take them. Additionally, in the Home Premium and Ultimate versions of Vista and Windows 7, DVD Maker can take your saved movies and burn them on a DVD.
The latest version of Movie Maker is Windows Live Movie Maker, an optional download for Vista and Windows 7 users. See the Setup Movie Maker > Windows Live Movie Maker branch of the menu.
Photo Story 3 complements Movie Maker by letting you pan and zoom using all the pixels in your high resolution still pictures... it doesn't come with Windows but it's a free download from Microsoft.
The Photo Story Magic group is a virtual Photo Story 3 university, where PS3 buffs showcase their work and provide info about how they do it. Join in... click this widget to browse and view the stories... or the name vimeo in the lower right corner to go to the online service.
If you're not ready to jump into making advanced stories, my website has a full tutorial in the Photo Story 3 branch of the menu at the left.
With Microsoft® Expression® Media you can produce online video and Silverlight packages for the best and newest in website video distribution.
Use the software apps individually or together, along with other software tools in your editing toolbox.
Many of my online personal videos are short examples of amazing things you can do. Links to them are throughout the website.
Use the menu tree at the left to navigate the site. There are hundreds of pages loaded with information, samples and downloads. My goals are to...
Help you do amazing things with Movie Maker, Photo Story, DVD Maker and Expression by sharing my personal experience.
Provide an Online Companion to my book Movie Maker 2 - Do Amazing Things!, published by Microsoft Press on 12/10/03. The companion makes clarifying notes, provides source files, shows samples, and takes you deeper into selected topics... things often done with included CDs or DVDs. Being online, I can easily update it to stay current.
When you're ready to exhibit your work online, you'll need a web host. You usually have some space provided by your Internet Service Provider. There are hundreds of free service providers such as YouTube, vimeo, and FaceBook... and there are fee-based online hosts such as neptune and mydeo. This picture is a link to my online videos at neptune.
Provide a full tutorial about Photo Story 3, to get the most of using it by itself or hand-in-hand with Movie Maker.
Help you resolve problems with Movie Maker by providing insights into how it works and issues you might run into, and what you can do to resolve or work around them.
I don't have access to the source code, so I rely heavily on the collective experience of Movie Maker users and available information from Microsoft.
Like most sites today, there's a sprinking of commercial ads... appropriate and without pop-ups. When you're shopping online, please use these links... any proceeds I get from clicks or purchases helps keep the site running.
I don't cover the basics of shooting great video with a camcorder or editing with Movie Maker. The info about making amazing movies is more about editing techniques than storyboarding. Bring your own ideas and inspiration, and the site will help you implement them using Movie Maker and Photo Story 3.
For topics not covered, use the built-in Movie Maker help file, online tutorials, books, training sessions, my Training and Support Services page, and other resources.
The 'Setup Movie Maker', 'Online', and 'Offline' branches of the menu tree have many other links to available resources.
Thumbnails and Comments
The website has grown considerably and continues to expand. Look for boxes like this on many pages. I use them to...
• Summarize a page that is too big for an easy read. Scan the thumbnail and move on unless you really want to dig into the page's content.
• Provide personal comments about the topic.
The link above-right to my name... PapaJohn... is to a 33 second intro story made with Photo Story 3 for the 2005 Microsoft MVP Summit. The narrator is Brian at theDVShow.
By design, Movie Maker is an easy to use, yet extremely powerful, digital video editing program, with real time previewing. It's free to all users of Microsoft Windows XP® and Vista, and its comfortable user interface helps you focus your creative energies on your movies rather than the software.
There are many things involved in making a movie: obtaining graphics, video, sound,
music, text and narration... moving them into your computer... editing a project...
and then saving and distributing the finished movie.
Your learning curve may be
easy or steep, and there may be issues to resolve. But the rewards are great, and many people are willing to assist as you go. It's never too early or late to get started.
A utility that lets you create your personal sets of special transitions.
Use the above link or click on the TM2 icon to go directly to the download site for a free trial version...
...and information about what it is, including a full online tutorial... the main site menu at the left includes a branch about TM2 in the Edit Movies section.
Much of the information on this website comes from postings on these newsgroups:
... the broad-based places for peer support. Thanks to Microsoft for
providing the newsgroups, and mostly to all who ask questions and share their
experience and comments.
Included links are to websites, forums, software downloads, books, activities, events, and training... anything of direct interest to users of Movie Maker and Photo Story 3. The information may be summarized or commented on here, but it is not duplicated. Suggestions for additional links or references are always welcomed.
This website is, and will remain, tightly focused on you, the users of Movie Maker and Photo Story 3. It covers all software features, and related topics from camcorders to burning DVDs and uploading videos to website hosts.
I use newsgroup posts and your personal emails for guidance about what to include in the website.
The information on each page usually flows from general to specific, with many pages drilling down to individual posts. When they go down that far, the date of the post is shown, but not usually the name of the person who posted it. The word 'Microsoft' means it was made by someone working for Microsoft. In most such cases, Microsoft employees are responding to posts on their own time, participating in peer support activities.
Zero to Hero was published in early 2003, and Do Amazing Things on December 10, 2003. Use the links on the right to order them from Amazon U.S. Zero to Hero is also available in Polish 'od zera do bohatera'.
There are other book-related links on the Offline... Books and Training page.
One of the branches of the menu is your entry to the online companion for the Do Amazing Things book. It's open to all.
The Zero to Hero book is supported by an online forum hosted by APress/Friends of ED.
When your favorite editing software doesn't have enough features, use those in other apps such as VirtualDub, an open source utility used by millions.
I was more than pleased to write the introductory chapter for the first book about Learning VirtualDub, released by Packt Publishing in May 2005.
I'm not a Microsoft employee, but received 8 annual Most Valuable Professional (MVP) awards (2002-2009) for working with the community of Movie Maker users.
'Papa' is what my grandchildren call me, 'John' is my real name, and PapaJohn is my online handle.
This website started March 8, 2003 as a better way to share my personal notes about Movie Maker. It has helped many and I hope it helps you. I roll up information from newsgroup and forum postings, add what I learn from Microsoft, and annotate it with my personal experiences. It is constantly evolving, driven by our collective needs.
A set of HowTo's is the latest website feature... short video tutorials made possible by great screen capture tools such as Camtasia, and better internet capabilities. Linger over a How To button and the tool tip will tell you the topic. Click it and you'll see a short video about the item.
Here's a How To about setting a How To Background Stage. Look for 'How To' logos throughout the site.
Some people wonder if I respond to emails. Yes, but my typical day gives first priority to newsgroup posts, second to forum posts, then to my personal activities, and finally to emails. Emails may get you personal help but not help others. I prefer letting all see the correspondence... and others often respond sooner than I do, with better answers. Having said that, feel free to email me at:
PapaJohn@CharterMi.net
Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
HighMAT and the HighMAT logo are either trademarks or registered trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
. Look for 'How To' logos throughout the site.
