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Windows Movie Maker

Version 6.0 (Vista) or Version 2.1( XP sp 2)

Windows Movie Maker enables you to create home movies and slide shows on your computer, complete with titles, transitions, effects and music.

Audacity

Version 1.2.6 - Open Source (If you need to download this programme, click on the logo to go to the Audacity home page)

Audacity is an audio editor and recorder. Amongst other things it allows you to record live audio, edit sound files, cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together and change the speed or pitch of a recording.

IrfanView

Version 4.1 - Freeware (If you need to download this programme, click on the logo to go to the IrfanView home page)

IrfanView is a graphic viewer for Windows. IrfanView features include batch conversion (with image processing), cut, crop, lossless JPG rotation and and much much more.

DVD Flick

Version 1.3.0.0 - Open Source (If you need to download this programme, click on the logo to go to the DVD Flick home page)

DVD Flick can take a number of video files stored on your computer and turn them into a DVD that will play back on your DVD player. You can add additional custom audio tracks as well as a menu for your disc.

Creating copies of the photographs you would like to use

Create a folder, called slideshow where you can copy the photographs you would like to use. You are going to alter these photographs so it is best if you make copies.

There are lots of different ways to do this depending on your operating system and software. I use the following method which works well for both XP and Vista users.

Open the folder where the original photographs are stored. Select all the photographs by pressing [ctrl] [a]. then press [ctrl] [c] to copy the photographs.

Now open the slideshow folder you created for the copies. Press [ctrl] [v] to paste the copies into this folder.

Once all the photographs have been copied into the new folder, go through them and delete any photographs you do not want included in the slideshow. Set the view in windows explorer to show "thumbnails". Vista users have an advantage here as they can easily increase the size of the thumbnail by holding down [ctrl] and moving the scroll wheel on their mouse.

Tips for selecting photographs to be used in a slideshow

It is best to use either portrait photographs or landscape photographs, i.e. not to have a mixture of the two orientations. The reason is that certain transition effects look less effective when both orientations are used in the same slideshow.

Resizing Photographs

Once you have finished selecting which photographs you want to use you can resize the photographs. It is a good idea to do this as digital cameras are capable of taking very big photographs. My camera's default picture size is 2218 x 1712, a size at which no regular TV or computer monitor is capable of showing. Reducing the photographs physical size will also reduce the size of each file, which will ultimately result in a smaller video file.

Open IrfanView and press [B] to open the Batch Conversion window.

On the top right hand side of the window you will see a windows explorer type menu bar where you can select the folder containing your slideshow photographs. Then click on [Add all] so that all your slideshow photographs can be processed.

On the left hand side of the batch conversion window you can define what changes need to be made.

Work as:

Batch conversion.

Batch conversion setting:

Output format: JPG - JPG/JPEG Format

Options (I use the following settings in this window)

Advanced (In this window you will set the resizing options)

Select Width: 800

Preserve aspect ratio

Use Resample Function

Leave all the other settings blank. Select Okay to return to the Batch Conversion window.

Output directory for result files:

Click on [Use current ('look in') directory then add resize to the end of the folder directory as shown below:

Start Batch

When you are done click on [Start Batch]

If all goes well you should get a dialogue box which looks something like this:

Click [Exit] to close.

Rotating portrait photographs

Portrait photographs often need to be rotated.

Open IrfanView

Return to the resize folder and select the photograph that you need to rotate. Click on this photo and while holding the mouse button in, drag the photo into IrfanView. Release the mouse button when you can see the mouse pointer in the IrfanView window. On release the photograph should appear in the IrfanView window.

Depending on which direction you need to rotate the picture press [L] to rotate towards the left or [R] to rotate towards the right.

Once the photograph is the right way up press [ctrl] [s] to save the photograph. As you are working with copies it is fine to simply save over the file.

Options

Before you can start adding your photos you need set the options for your slideshow. It is better to do this now as it will save a lot of time later.

Project Properties

Click [File], [Project Properties] to open the Project Properties window.

Fill in any information you wish to include and then click [OK].

Advanced Options

Click [Tools], [Options], [Advanced]

By default the picture duration is set to 5 seconds and transition duration 1.75 seconds.

Video properties are region dependent. In South Africa we use PAL.

Aspect ratio determines the ratio between height and width of your video. 4:3 corresponds to a standard TV screen, while 16:9 is more commonly known as widescreen.

Click [OK] when you are done.

Tasks Pane

To make things easier, ensure that the tasks pane is visible on the left hand side of the Windows Movie Maker Window as shown below.

To show the tasks pane click [view] [tasks].

Importing photographs

Click on Import Pictures. Select your resize folder. If you followed earlier instructions, this will be a subfolder of the slideshow folder. Select all the photographs by clicking on the first file and then pressing [ctrl] [a]. Then click on [Import].

If all has gone well, you will see thumbnails of all your photographs in the Windows Movie Maker window.

Using the Storyboard

At the bottom of the Windows Movie Maker window you will find the Storyboard.

Click on the thumbnail of the photograph which you would like to appear first. Hold down you mouse button and drag the picture down onto the storyboard. Release the mouse button when the + sign appears below the thumbnail. Repeat this process for all your photographs.

If you want to add all your photographs in one step click on the first thumbnail and then press [ctrl] [a], to select all the photographs. Then click on the first thumbnail and while holding the mouse button down drag the thumbnails onto the storyboard. Release the mouse button when you see the + sign.

Once your photographs are on the storyboard, it is possible to change the order they appear by selecting the photograph you want to move and dragging it to its new position.

Adding Effects

Windows Movie Maker offers a range of effects which you can add to your photographs. Click on Edit Effects to open the effects window.

To add an effect, simply click on the desired effect and drag it onto the thumbnail of the photograph you wish to add the effect too.

You can remove an effect by right clicking on the little star found on the thumbnail of the desired photograph and selecting Remove Effects.

It is possible to add more than one effect to a photograph. For instance you could have a photograph fade in from back and then fade out to black again.

Depending on the effect, you may want to increase the time the photograph is viewed for. This will be discussed further on.

Adding Transitions

Click on Edit Transitions to open the transition window.

As with effects, to add a transition, click on the desired transition and drag it into the area between the thumbnails of the photographs.

To remove a transition, on the storyboard, right click on the transition you wish to remove and select delete.

Adding Titles and Credits

Click on Edit Titles and credits. Sometimes it takes a while for this window to open so be patient.

You can add a title at the begging, before a selected photograph, overlay on a selected photograph or add credits at the end.

The procedure is more or less the same for all options. Click on the required option. Fill in the information you wish to appear. To change the text font and colour or animation, simply click on the required option and make the changes.

When you are done, click on [Add ...]

You may want to add a transition between your title and photograph. Follow the instructions on adding transitions.

At this point it would be a good idea to save your project by pressing [Ctrl] [S]

Editing music with Audacity

Open Audacity

Press [Ctrl] [O] to import an MP3. Select the desired song and click [OK].

There is a lot you can do with audacity. As this page is about creating slideshows, I am not going give details of editing music clips. Audacity is easy to use so just play around until you get the hang of things. If you need a little additional help read this article on editing audio using audacity.

There are a few things one must note.

Audacity can not import or export .wma files. If the file you want to use is a windows media audio file, you can use Free MP3 WMA converter to convert the file to a MP3.

To export your edited music clip as an MP3, you will need to install the LAME codec.

Using the Timeline

Click on the down arrow next to Storyboard (bottom left of windows movie maker window) and select Timeline.

Inserting Audio

Now click on Import Audio and Music. Select the music file you wish to use for the your slideshow's background music.

A thumbnail of your music file should appear. Click on the music file and drag it onto the timeline. You will note a blue slider which appear on the timeline and by moving your mouse to the left or the right you can specify where the music clip will start.

Changing the display time of photographs

You can change the display time of photographs by clicking on the desired photo. A double sided red arrow will appear. Hold down your mouse button and drag to the left to decrease time and right to increase time.

Previewing slideshows

It is possible to preview your slideshow at anytime during the creation process. On the right hand side of the screen you will find the preview pane. Click on the play button to see your slideshow.

Fill in the filename and select a folder where you want your video clip to be saved. Click [next].

I always select the Best quality for playback on my computer as compression results in poor quality movie clips. Click [Publish]

Depending on your computer and the number of photographs and music files you have used, publishing can take anything from a few seconds to a very long time.

Click [finish] to view your final product.

These wmv files can be played using Windows Media Player. If you would like to convert them into files which can be played on cellular phones and what ever else, you can use Free Video Converter, a small application which supports a fair number of video formats.

Windows Movie Maker creates big files. Rather than compressing the file during the publishing phase (resulting in poor quality) use smaller photographs.

Transitions and effects increase the size of the .wmv so if you are pressed for space, cut down on the fancy stuff.

Adding video clips

To add your slideshows click on add title, navigate to the folder where the files are saved and select the required file. You can add more than one file. Change the order the clips appear by clicking on [Move Up] and [Move Down].

If you would like to change the heading of a video clip, double click on the applicable clip, and change the name of the title. Click [Accept] when you are done.

Project Settings

Click on [Project Settings] to alter settings.

Project Title

Set the Project Title.

Burning Options

Click on [Burn] to specify if you want to burn the project directly to a DVD or to create an ISO which you can burn later using your regular DVD burning software. The ISO option is a good idea if you plan on burning multiple copies of the same DVD.

Other Options

You can tinker with the other settings but if you are new to DVD Flick, it is best to leave them alone.

DVD Navigation Menu

If you would like to add a navigational menu to your DVD, click on [Menu Settings]. There are four templates to choose from. Select the template you like, tick [Enable Menu] and then click [accept].

Create DVD

Click on [Create DVD] to publish the DVD. If you are creating an ISO, you will need to set the project destination folder before you can Create DVD. Look at the bottom of the DVD Flick window. Click on [Browse...] to select the folder where you want the ISO saved.