Movie Making - at home for fun (not really for profit)
  by Phil Sorrentino – Sarasota PC Users Group (www.spcug.org)

Movie making has become possible for anyone who has a digital camera, a reasonably capable computer, and lots and lots of time, with an emphasis on the time.  I'm not talking about full feature length movies that could be shown in your local movie theater, but rather movies that document an occasion or activity, using pictures, videos and music.  Just look at Youtube to see how many movies (videos) are available for all sorts of reasons like entertainment, education, and "how to (accomplish something)". Youtube makes finding and watching movies possible.  Movie Maker and your digital camera make creating movies possible.  I am using Movie Maker as an example because everyone who has the Windows Operating System, from XP on to Windows 7, has a version available to them, at no extra cost.  Many other applications can accomplish the same task.  Some have many more features and some are more sophisticated, but usually at a price, starting around $60.  Among these applications are Corel Video Studio Pro, Adobe Presentation Elements, Photodex Proshow Gold, Pinnacle Studio, Sony Vegas Movie Studio, and CyberLink Power Director.  There are even some free applications available for download, like Video Spin, Avid FreeDV, and Wax, none of which I have tried.

Movie Maker and most of the other applications mentioned above provide all the basic tools for assembling and organizing your pictures, videos and music into a movie.  The movie can be composed of pictures only, videos only, pictures and videos, or more typically pictures, videos and music together.  The formats of the pictures, videos and music must be those that Movie Maker accepts.  (There are some small differences between versions for XP, Vista, and Windows 7.)  Pictures must be .jpg, .bmp, or gif.  Videos must be .avi or .wmv (Windows 7 will also accept .mov).  Music must be .mp3, .wav, or .wma.  The pictures and videos are usually put into a time sequence, or timeline, and then the music is added as one or multiple audio tracks. (Movie Maker supports only one audio track, which can be used for music or voice-over.  You may be able to play some tricks to implement two tracks, but if you need more than one audio track you would be better off using one of the other applications that easily support multiple audio tracks.)  The audio track can then be added to the picture and video timeline.  Music or voice-over can be intermixed as components of the total audio track.  Integrating voice-overs and music, while timing the voice-over with the picture sequence can sometimes become a real challenge, but it is usually worth the effort.

Here are some basic steps for producing a movie with Movie Maker.  Gather all the pictures and videos you need for the movie.  Bring along more than you think you might need because it is very easy to eliminate pictures and videos if you have too many for your desired audience.  Actually, it is good to have the desired audience and a target time in mind before you start to create the movie.  Not everyone might want to see 65 minutes of your California Vacation, though some close friends might make an effort to stay awake.  Brevity is sometimes the best policy, but that is up to you, the director.  So, for some movies you might target only 10 or 15 minutes, while some others maybe 30 or 40 minutes, where you know your audience wants to savor every last detail.  Given that you have a target time in mind and you have more than enough pictures and videos to fill that time, (and probably a little more), and some music identified to go along with the pictures, fire up Movie Maker.  Different versions of Music Maker will look different because of the Operating System that it is built for, but all will provide the basic movie making functionality.  All Movie Maker home screens will provide a set of tools or tasks, a collection area where you can add pictures, videos, and music, a preview area, and a timeline.  There are many ways you can approach the general task of making a movie.  You, as director, can certainly approach this in any way that makes the most sense to you.  After creating a few movies, I have settled on the following sequence of events.  The first activity to accomplish is to add all your pictures to the collection area.  It is probably best if you have copied all the pictures, videos, and music into one folder for use with Movie Maker, making things easy to find.  Next is to move the pictures on to the timeline.  If your pictures are in the proper sequence for your movie, you are done with the pictures, but that is not typically the case, so drag-and-drop the pictures around the timeline so that the sequence tells the story that you want told.  Once the pictures are in the proper sequence, go back to your source folder and get the videos.  Place the videos in the sequence of pictures so that they support the story being told by the picture sequence.  I have found that short videos, maybe around 15 seconds have a good impact, but sometimes a very long video is necessary.  Once the videos have been sprinkled around the movie, it is time to see if you are approaching your target time.  I know this is a hard thing to do, but if you are above your time by a lot (maybe 10% or more), it is time to pare back some of the pictures or videos, (or change your target time).  Once you have the sequence of pictures and videos that tell the story, it is time to add effects and transitions.  Effects are animations that can be added to pictures (and videos, although sometimes effects on top of videos are distracting, but that is a judgment call, to be made by you, the director). Effects basically add motion to still pictures, almost like turning a picture into a short video. These effects are sometimes called “Ken Burns Effects”, named after the person who made them popular.  Transitions are the way one picture morphs into the next, maybe a page turn, or a wipe, or a dissolve.  Transitions can be added to both pictures and videos.  Use the fancy transitions sparingly; they can be very distracting if over used.  Every once in a while, preview the movie or at least sections of it to guarantee that the transitions and effects are adding to the story, rather than adding distractions; again, it’s your call.  Now it’s time for the music.  Add the music to the collection and then add it to the timeline to go along with the sequence of pictures and videos.  The music should help tell the story and add to the overall multimedia experience.  Try not to use music that distracts from the story being told by the pictures and videos.  Music should probably go from beginning to end, so you may need a few music selections, depending on the length of the music selections and the length of the movie.  Typically, music selections are about 3 to 4 minutes long, so for a 15 minute movie, you might need from 4 to 6 selections for the complete movie. (Voice-overs can be any length you so desire.)  Now that you see the process and some of the details, if you feel that you don’t have enough control over the process or would like some other features, you might make a note to look into one of the more capable movie creating applications when you get a chance.

The last thing in creating the movie is to add a title, although many directors might do this first, and a credits frame at the end.  The title introduces the movie, and the credits give credit to whomever you feel should be mentioned or thanked, like the cameramen, participants, and a mention of the music if it is copy-righted music.  The really last thing is to Publish your movie.  Publish it to a .wmv file and review it.  If it is not just perfect, make the appropriate changes and re-publish it to a .wmv file.  Once it is just what you want, and you have Vista or Windows 7, publish it to DVD, which will create a DVD that will play on any living room DVD player.  When that is finished, invite the audience, pop the popcorn, distribute the drinks and lean back and enjoy the applause.