Editing Video Files with Windows Movie Maker

I.   Opening Windows Movie Maker and Importing Video Clips

1.  You can edit video files using Windows Movie Maker.   Windows Movie maker is installed on all PC's that are running Microsoft Windows XP.  To begin editing a file, you will need to log onto a Windows XP PC (any of the lab PC's).

2.  Once you have logged in, you will need to click on the Start Menu ---> All Programs ---> Windows Movie Maker.

3.  Once Windows Movie Maker has opened, you will need to Import the video clip that you would like to edit.  Click on the "File" Menu, and then on "Import into Collections".

4.  You will want to select your X drive (or the location of the video file you want to edit if it is not on your X drive) in the drop down menu at the top, and then select the video file you would like to edit and be sure to uncheck the box that says "Create clips for video files", and click "Open".

5. You will now see the name of the clip you imported in the center part of the screen (in this case, "French_In_Action").  This is the video clip that you imported.

6.  To edit this video clip, we will need to move it to the Storyboard (the bottom section of the screen).  To do this, we just click on the clip we imported, "French_In_Action", and drag it onto the Storyboard.

II.   Trim the Beginning and End of a Video clip

1.  Now that the video clip is on the Storyboard, we are able to edit it.  One of the things that we might want to be able to do is to trim the beginning and or end off of a video clip.  To begin this, we need to make sure that the video clip is selected (by clicking on it to select it), and then click the "Play" button in the monitor section of the screen (the far right section).  You should now see your video clip playing in the monitor section of the program.

2.  If you would like to trim the beginning of the clip, then you will need to click on the Pause button when you reach the part of the clip where you would like your result clip to begin.  With the clip paused, you will then want to click on the "Clip" menu, and click on "Set Start Trim Point", then click on the "Play" button again.  If you do not want to trim the beginning of the clip, then just go on to the next step.

3.  If you would like to trim the end of the video clip, then you will need to click the "Pause" button when you reach the part of the clip where you would like your result clip to end.  Then you will need to click on the "Clip" menu, and "Set End Trim Point".

4.  If you would like to view the resulting clip, click on the "Play" menu and click on "Play Entire Storyboard/Timeline".  Your Video clip will be played in the Monitor section of the screen.

III.   Join multiple video clips into one

1.  You can also use Windows Movie Maker to join two video clips together into one.  To do this, you will first want to import all of the video clips that you want to join (steps 3 - 5 of Part I).  After you have Imported the video clips, you will want to add them to the Storyboard (step 6 of Part I) in the order you would like them to be.

IV.  Set Video Effects and Transitions

1.  Now that you have joined the clips together, you can also set Video Effects for each clip and also set transitions between them.  To set Video Effects, you will need to click on the "Tools" menu and then on "Video Effects".

2.  You will now see the video effects that you can add in the middle of the screen.  To add a video effect to a clip, just click on the effect you would like to add, and drag it onto the clip you would like to add it to.  You can add more than one Video Effect to each video clip

3.  To add a transition between two video clips, you will need to go to the "Tools" menu, and click on "Video Transitions". 

4.  You will now see the Video Transitions that you can use in the center of the screen.  To add a Video Transition between two video clips, just click on that transition and drag it to the smaller box between the two video clips you would like the transition used for.

5.  You can use these methods to add Video Effects to and  set Transitions between all of the video clips.  To see what a Video Effect / Transition does, click on it and then click on play in the monitor section and you will see an example of that effect / transition.  To view the entire video once you have arranged all the video clips as you would like them, Click on the "Play" menu, and click on "Play Entire Storyboard / Timeline" ( Step 4 of Part II)

IV.   Saving Video Clip

1.  When you are finished, you will want to save your finished product as a Video File.  To do this, you will want to click on the "File" menu, and then click on "Save Movie File". 

2.  A dialogue box will pop up asking you where you would like to save the movie file.  You will want to click on "My Computer" and then click on "Next".

3.  The next dialogue box will ask what file name you would like for your movie file and where on your computer you would like to save it.  Type in a file name, click on browse and choose where you would like to save the movie (quite likely your X drive or I drive), and then click on "Next".

4.  The next dialogue box will ask you at what quality you would like to save your video.  For use on the web, you will want to leave it on "Best Quality for Playback On My Computer" and click next.  Windows movie maker will then make the movie file for you, and when it is done, it will give you the option to view it.