M101:Technology/Microsoft Movie Maker

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Windows Movie Maker

Microsoft Movie Maker was released in the year 2000 as part of the Window's Millennium Edition operating system. Nine years later, Microsoft made the controversial move of creating a new video editing software called Windows Live Movie Maker, available for free download but not bundled with any operating system. Users expressed dismay over the new software's lack of features, many of which had been previously available in the 2000 version. They suddenly found themselves unable to correct the blurriness of images from shakily-held cameras, unable to superimpose a new background image on their subject, and unable to add a voiceover to their movies. Users were also inconvenienced because the new software did not accept files of the 2000 edition, meaning they could not edit older work on the new software. Microsoft addressed some of these concerns by releasing a feature-heavy version of Windows Live Movie Maker in 2011, which gave users the ability to create videos with their web cam, upload directly to Facebook and OneDrive, and add media files to projects. [1]

It was only in 2012 that voiceover and the blurry-image correction was restored to Movie Maker. Microsoft additionally enabled direct upload to the Vimeo video-sharing platform. In general, Movie Maker 2012 has been reviewed positively for its intuitive interface, which presents the video as a series of images which can be individually selected for editing. Movie Maker has more features than other free video editing software, such as those offered by YouTube and Google. [2]


Advantages

  • Uploading is made easy with an easy-to-find upload button, and an intuitive series of steps for selecting a file.
  • You will be able to rotate videos that have been shot sideways. The rotate buttons are featured prominently under the "edit" tab.
  • When you show one image on the video after another image, you can apply a variety of effects to make this transition more interesting. Movie Maker includes effects such as fades, sweeps, shatters, curls and more.
  • If you were shaking when you held your video camera, the resulting shakiness of your image can be distracting for the viewer. Movie Maker has a feature to correct this.
  • To record your voiceover, click the "narration" button and begin speaking - the program will automatically link to the microphone in your computer. Later, you can move your voiceover to different parts of the movie.
  • If you've uploaded background music, you can edit it to determine when it starts and stops, and how loud it is.
  • There are many options to customize the title page, including a large variety of fonts and colours. You can also animate the movement of the words (ie. have them fly into the screen from any position on the web).
  • There are a many artistic effects that can be applied to give your images a different look. Some can blur your image, intensify the colours, or emphasize the outlines.

Disadvantages

  • While you are working on Movie Maker, the program may crash or freeze. It is for this reason that Joe Lambert prefers to use commercial products when leading his Digital Storytelling workshops. [3]
  • iMovie is a video editing software that is bundled with the Mac Operating System, so it is essentially free for people who own Mac computers. iMovie offers more options to alter the visual effect of your images.
  • While Movie Maker offers many transition and visual effects, commercial products have a larger set of options.
  • If there is unwanted background noise in your video, you can remove it with some programs, but not with Movie Maker.
  • The visual effects are not adjustable. For example, if you like the visual effect Threshold but wish for an additional blue tint, you will not be able to add this.
  • Movie Maker does not allow you to superimpose a background image of your subject.

Tutorials

References

  1. ↑ Wikipedia, s.v. “Windows Movie Maker,” last modified July 10, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Movie_Maker#cite_note-pcmag-mm2011-9.
  2. ↑ Muchmore, Michael. "Windows Movie Maker." Accessed July 17, 2014. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2426904,00.asp
  3. ↑ Lambert, Joe. Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community. New York: Routledge, 2013: 80
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