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how to make movie in windows for free

Updated on April 30, 2011

Even though most people use different versions of Windows, such as 2000, millennium, XP, Vista, Windows7 but very few know the presence of inbuilt audio/video editor in their systems. This little surprise is called Windows Movie Maker and it is available with all recent Windows except Windows7. Let's discover some of the most beneficial features provided by Windows Movie Maker.

To open Windows Movie Maker click "Start” button. “Start” button can be found on the left side of the screen at the bottom. Now go to “Programs". From there you go to “accessories”. In this section you can find movie maker. This feature is not included in Windows 7. If you are running windows 7 then you do not get disappointed or do not wish to change your operating system as you can avail this software from windows site free of cost known as “Windows Live movie maker”. It has many common features and some advanced also. You can directly upload your created video to you tube, windows site, facebook… etc. It has also an amazing feature that you can save your video in multiple quality i.e. HD, 1020*720 and many more. I have windows 7 in my PC and I have created so many slideshows and HD videos for you tube. You can watch the sample.

Now let’s talk about movie maker of windows operating system other than W7. This software provides support to multiple audio, video and image formats. Here we will create a brief movie using some images as an example.

On launching Windows Movie Maker you will come across the various modules of the player. The bottom portion of the player comprises of the Storyboard grid which will later accommodate your audio, image and video files for editing. The left panel consists of shortcuts to different movie editing effects and tips. Using these shortcuts you can save considerable amount of time. On the left, we have the Preview Player. This player is capable of playing back the clip from the selected point on the Storyboard. In the heart of the Movie Maker window lies the most essential part, called the "Collections" segment. This includes all the media you have available for editing. It serves as a basket that can hold all the media content that you wish to edit or add to your final movie. If by any chance, Windows Media Maker doesn't display these Collections, you can view it by clicking "View | Collections" or click the "Collections" button on the toolbar. Make sure all the media files that you add to the Collections are of a supported format.

Importing Media for editing

To add any media for editing you need to add it to the Collections list. Only the files that are present in the Collections folder can be edited. Click "File | Import into Collections". The files will appear in a tiled format in your Collections list. Clicking on each of the images displays a preview of the same in the preview player on the right. Click and drag each of the images into the Storyboard. The image files will be queued in the Movie maker Storyboard. There are two different viewing modes for editing with Windows Movie Maker namely, Storyboard view and Timeline view. Click "Show Storyboard" to view the Storyboard. (Clicking "Show Timeline" will once again switch the view to the Timeline mode).

Add images to the slideshow ADD TRANSITIONS to your creation :

Once in the Storyboard mode, the images will appear as larger tiles with small rectangular boxes in between them. These boxes accommodate various transition effects between images. Transition effects cause a patterned flow between two image transitions. Rather than just fl ipping over from one image to another, many users prefer a transition effect like Dissolve or Fade Out in which the first image fades into the second. Transitions are frequently used by those who use Microsoft PowerPoint. The transition, in this case, occurs between slides rather than images.

Click "Tools | Video Transitions". The different slide transition effects offered by Windows Movie Maker are displayed in a list. Select individual effects that you would like to add during the transition of images. Selecting the right kind of transition effect is important and subjective, depending upon what message the image is meant to convey. The entire effort put into adding these transitions between images goes in vain if the wrong effect is selected. A preview of the entire clip created so far can be viewed in the previewplayer. Click "Show Timeline" to switch to the Timeline mode. Drag the slider to the start of the fi le on the Timeline scale and click the "Play" button in the preview player.

ADDING VIDEO EFFECTS:

Besides styling up the image transitions in your slideshows Windows Movie Maker adds another interesting feature   that allows you to set the mood for your slideshows with the help of some cool effects. These are primarily video   effects but can be added to images as well. Select an appropriate Video Effect and drag it to the image tiles in the Storyboard. The little blank boxes at the left bottom of the images in the Storyboard will now show a blue star. This indicates that the effect has been applied for that particular image. These effects should be selected based on the theme of the image. For instance: the "Sepia Tone" effect will suit an image that indicates a memory. The "Ease In" effect comes in handy when you want to help the viewer to focus on the central part of the image. This effect gradually zooms into the central portion of the image.

REDUCING INDIVIDUAL IMAGE DISPLAY TIME:

The time-limit of each image appearing in the slideshow may differ from your expectations. Click "Show Timeline". Place your mouse pointer between the image whose display time you wish to reduce and the subsequent image. The pointer will change into a a red, bidirectional arrow. Drag this arrow inward, toward the left of the image whose display time you wish to reduce. This can be done on all images in the Storyboard, including the last one.

Add background audio

The prime objective of creating a slideshow is to breathe life into your static images. Opening them in animage viewer   and pressing the next button to browse through them isn't exactly exciting. Memories are meant to be preserved with a bit more love and care and that's why we turn to solutions like those provided by software like Windows Movie Maker. Now that your images are well formatted in a single video fi le it's time to add audio to the slideshow as background music. For this, you will have to add the appropriate audio fi les into the Collections folder. Click "File Import into Collections" and add the song(s) that you want from the dialog box. The song fi le will be displayed among

other images in the Collection folder. Click "Show Timeline" to switch to the Timeline mode if the Storyboard view

is on. Click the newly added audio track and drag it down to the Timeline. The audio track will be added below the collage of images that form the Timeline.

ADJUSTING AUDIO TRACKS:

The duration of the audio track can be adjusted according to the length of the movie. Simply place your mouse pointer at the far end of the audio file in the Timeline till it appears as a red bidirectional arrow. Click and drag this

arrow inward, till it is parallel with the end of the list of enqueued images. You can add multiple audio tracks to the Timeline which can be adjusted using this technique.

Watch video

Text Credits

It is always a good practice to add some text to a slideshow so that it indicates what the content in the images is all about. Credits can also be used to acknowledge those involved in the making of the video. Windows Movie Maker gives you a choice ofdifferent credit styles, by means of which, you can add more meaning to your slideshows. Click "Tools | Titles and Credits".

Select a point in the video clip where you want the credits to be displayed and fi ll in the grid with the appropriate credits.

NOTE:

The left column in the grid indicates the subtitle, while the right column is for the main credit name. Once you are  done fi lling the credits grid, click "Done, add title to movie". It will be added at the position thatyou had selected for it in the Timeline. i.e. either at the end of the fi le, the beginning or somewhere in between it.


Save your files as a video

The process of saving your fi le as a video isn't as cumbersome as one would expect it to be. In fact it is a straight forward technique. Here we will save the slideshow of images as a WMV fi le so that it can be played on most media players. Click "File | Save Movie File". In the dialog box that opens up click "MyComputer" and then "Next". Enter the

name of the fi le and the location where you want to save it and click "Next". The next dialog box will show you the

estimated size of the created fi le along with other details of it. Click the "Next" button. The conversion process commences. During this process your image fi les and the included audio fi le(s) will combine to form a single

video fi le. This will be in the standard WMV format and can be played by Windows Media Player.

working

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