This section requires that you have Windows Movie Maker or a comparable program on your computer.
Getting Started! Open Windows Movie Maker on your computer. Click "Tasks" from the top tool bar and you should see "Movie Tasks" displayed in the top left corner of your screen. Next, select "import pictures". Do you remember that folder you created with all of your scanned pictures? Now you can select that folder, open it, and select all of its contents to be imported into Movie Maker at once. You can also add other photographs that you may have stored in other files on your computer, including any you've taken with a digital camera.
Make Your Movie! All of your photos should be displayed in the "Collection" area at the top (you can see this in the picture below). Pick a photo that you would like to begin with,left click on it, and "drag" it down to the horizontal bar labeled "video"--this bar is called the "timeline" (You can see what the timeline looks like with the pictures in it in the image below this paragraph. You can also see what the little video viewing screen looks like--it's the big box on the right of the picture.). Do this until you have all of the photos that you want down on the timeline. Now, put the cursor back on the very first clip--you should again see that image displayed in the movie screen. Click "play" on the movie screen and you can see if the images fit together the way you want.
Import Audio! You can add an audio file so that music plays during your movie the same way that you imported the pictures, except that you will select "import audio or music" and you will drag it from the Collection down to the line below the video timeline, the Audio/Music bar. The music/audio file will have a big note on it, so it's easy to find amongst all of your pictures! See the image below!
Things to Know
- The timeline shows how long the movie and/or audio is. You can drag the audio line to make it shorter so that the music stops when the movie does...just be sure you stop it in a good place!
- Add transitional elements to your movie, either by going through the options in the "Editing" portion of "Movie Tasks", or by right clicking on the image and picking "Video Effects". I like to use "fade in" and "fade out" on everything, and usually alternate between using "ease in" and "ease out". You want to be careful not to use TOO many effects, or your viewers won't be able to get the whole "wow" of the actual image. The image below shows some of the options you can explore from the Movie Task pane.
- You can move the placement of your images by dragging across the timeline. Don't feel like you have to be stuck with the order you originally put them in.
- Add Titles or Credits by going to "Tools" at the top of your screen and then selecting "Titles and Credits". You can alter the background color, text color, and transitional elements from here. Of course, you also get to put in whatever text you want displayed.
Saving Your Movie: There are several options on how to save your movie. First, I like to select "Save Project As" and store what I've been working on--that way, I can always go back later and change it. Then, I select "Save Movie File". For my wiki, I still just saved it for "My Computer" and let the program figure out the best way. It worked when I uploaded it, so that's all that matters! Here's a link to a little Family Video that I made using pictures--the video is embedded in my wiki's home page so that all of my family members can view it!
Go on to Step 7
Uploading your movie to the web!
Or, go back Home for more options!