Windows Live Movie Maker is a small but powerful movie editing application from Microsoft. It is a complete rewrite of the old Movie Maker software with a new audience in mind. The focus of this new edition is on giving you the power to quickly create movies and slideshows to share with your friends and family. The movies can be a combination of your favorite pictures and home movies set to your own soundtrack. You can add cool effects to transition between scenes, and captions to add a narrative to your movie. With Movie Maker, users can:

• Edit digital video and photos, including adding music and narration
• Apply animation effects to videos and photos
• Create DVDs for personal use, including menu systems for navigation

What you’ll learn

• Learn what’s new and different with the Live version of Movie Maker; find out where to download it and view an installation walkthrough.
• Discover the basics of importing pictures and video, how to use AutoMovie and perform some easy tweaks on it, and how to save projects.
• Experiment with trimming, splitting, and rotating video, fading-in/out, using the View menu to zoom in/out and switch between aspect ratios, arranging storyboard items, and previewing movies.
• Learn how to import, trim, and fade music in/out; use start/end points; control volume; and edit audio in a movie clip.
• Use formatting, color, size, transparency, and start/end times to add text animation, titles, captions, and credits to your movies.
• Learn about DVD formats, creating menu systems, HD (720 and 1080) vs. standard formats, portable devices, e-mail attachments, and IM formats.
• Learn tips for enhancing movie and sound quality, file management, menu organization, and creating interesting DVD movies to share.

Who this book is for

Most digital video editing applications have a steep learning curve and a thick manual. Windows Live Movie Maker is not difficult to learn, but it does not come with a manual. This book is for readers who want to quickly and easily edit their digital movies and create DVDs for viewing, but don t want to sift through a lot of technical mumbo jumbo.

Table of Contents

1. Windows Live Movie Maker
2. Getting Started with AutoMovie
3. Working with Video
4. Working with Audio
5. Working with Animations
6. Playing with Visual Effects
7. Working with Text
8. Saving a Movie
9. Publishing a Movie
10. Creating a DVD
11. Tips & Advice