What is Windows Movie Maker? That is what I had asked as we are tasked to do with application. And as I try the application, I have thought that its a matter of speed and accuracy to do so.
- What is Windows Movie Maker?
- Layout
o, and a preview screen. When in Storyboard view, the video project appears as a film strip showing each scene in clips. The storyboard/timeline consists of one 'Video' (with accompanying 'Audio' bar), one 'Music/Audio' bar, and one 'Titles/Credits' bar. In each bar, clips can be added for editing (e.g., a .WAV music file will belong on the 'Music/Audio' bar). Still images can also be imported into the timeline and "stretched" to any desired number of frames. The Video and Music/Audio bars can be "cut" to any number of short segments, which will play together seamlessly, but the individual segments are isolated editing-wise, so that for example, the music volume can be lowered for just a few seconds while someone is speaking.Importing footage
When importing footage into the program, a user can either choose to Capture Video (from camera, scanner o
r other device) or Import into Collections to import existing video files into the user's collections. The accepted formats for import are .WMV/.ASF, .MPG (MPEG-1), .AVI (DV-AVI), .WMA, .WAV, and .MP3. Additionally, the Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Movie Maker support importing MPEG-2 Program streams and DVR-MS formats. MP4/3GP, FLV and MOV ,MIDI, AIFF, AAC and SWF is not supported. Importing of other container formats such as
When importing from a DV tape, if the "Make Clips on Completion" option is selected, Windows Movie Maker automatically flags the commencement of each scene, so that the tape appears on the editing screen as a collection of short clips, rather than one long recording. That is, at each point where the "Record" button was pressed, a new "clip" is generated. However, the actual recording on the hard drive is still one continuous file. This feature is also offered after importing files already on the hard drive. In the Windows Vista version, the "Make clips on completion" option has been removed — the clips are now automatically created during the capture process.
The efficiency of the importing and editing process is heavily dependent on the amount of file fragmentation of the hard disk. The most reliable results can be obtained by adding an extra hard disk dedicated for scratch space, and regularly re-formatting/defragmenting it, rather than simply deleting the files at the end of the project. Fragmented AVI files result in jerky playback on the editing screen, and make the final rendering process much longer.
Although it is possible to import digital video from cameras through the USB interface, most older cameras only support USB version 1 and the results tend to be poor — "sub VHS" — quality. Newer cameras using USB 2.0 give much better results. A FireWire interface camera will allow recording and playback of images identical in quality to the original recordings if the video is imported and subsequently saved as DV AVI files, although this consumes disk space at about 1 gigabyte every five minutes (12GB/Hr). Alternatively, most DV cameras allow the final AVI file to be recorded back onto the camera tape for high quality playback. Some standalone DVD recorders will also directly accept DV inputs from video cameras and computers.
Editing and output
After capture, any clip can be dragged and dropped anywhere on the timeline. Once on the timeline, clips can be duplicated or split, and any of the split sections deleted or copied using the standard Windows keyboard shortcuts or clicked and dragged to to another position. Right-clicking any clip brings up the range of editing options. An AutoMovie feature offers predefined editing styles (titles, effects and transitions) for quickly creating movies. Like all non-linear editing systems, the original camera file on the hard drive is not modified in any way; the current project file is really just a list of instructions for re-recording a final output video file from the original file. Thus, several different versions of the same video can be simultaneously made from the original camera footage.
Windows Movie Maker can only export video in Windows Media formats or DV AVI. It includes some predefined profiles, however, users can create custom profiles which utilize newer codecs using Windows Media Profile Editor (part of Windows Media Encoder 9 Series) and copy those profiles to the %ProgramFiles%\Movie Maker\Shared\Profiles folder for them to be used in Windows Movie Maker.
Earlier versions of Windows Movie Maker did not support direct burning of DVDs. The project had to be first saved as an AVI file, and a separate authoring program used to produce and burn the DVD. (Limited but adequate authoring software was often bundled free with DVD drives). The Windows XP Media Center Edition version, bundled the Sonic DVD Burning engine, licensed from Sonic Solutions to author and burn the DVD. The Windows Vista version of Windows Movie Maker passes the video project to Windows DVD Maker to burn DVD-Video discs.
Video can be exported back to the video camera if supported by the camera. Movie Maker also allows users to publish a finished video on video hosting websites.
Effects and transitions
There are over 130 effects, transitions, titles, and credits available. They are applied by using a drag and drop interface from the effects or transitions folders. Titles and credits can be added as stand alone titles or overlaying them on the clip by adding them onto the selected clip. Titles range from static (non-animated) titles to fly in, fading, news banner, or spinning newspaper animations. Due to the flexible interface, programming custom effects and other content is possible for version 2.0 and higher using XML. Microsoft also provides SDK documentation for custom effects and transitions. At the Movie Maker forums, users can get assistance on creating and adding custom effects and transitions.Reception and Criticism
Movie Maker 1.0, introduced with Windows Me, was widely criticised for being "bare bones" and suffering "a woeful lack of features"; and saving movies only in Microsoft's ASF file format. However, critical reception of versions 2.0 and 3.0 has been more positive.Absolutely, these are the things that I have learned as I surpassed the whole week. And it seemed very interactive and fascinating.
