Digital Video Creation

Using Movie Maker

Movie Maker allows you to import video from DV video cameras, movie clips found online that are copyright free, or still digital images, like your photos.  You can combine these with music, edit and rearrange clips to create a movie of your own.

Movie Maker is a free download from Microsoft. 

To capture the video, open MovieMaker.  Capture it to the thaw space or D drive or desktop.  (***Because of our network setup, you have to work off of the same computer each day if the editing takes more than one day.)

Examples of what you can do with Movie Maker:

Texas History Videos 

Espanol class video 

You can upload your completed video to YouTube, or if you want to limit it to more educational sites, to TEACHER Tube, which is similar to YouTube, but for educators.   Or you can upload it to a site like Classroom20.ning.com, a social networking site for educators.

An excellent tutorial can be found on Microsoft's site:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/getstarted/default.mspx

Other video tools you may need:

Rad Video tools allows you to convert one video "file type" to another.  If you are trying to import a video, and Movie Maker doesn't recognize the file type, this tool may help you convert it.

Audacity software or a Digital Recorder can be used to record a separate sound track.

Sources for audio:

Free music for videos

Copyright free music for videos

Altavista.com mp3 search

Inserting music from a cd:

You can also use the windows wizard to pull a file from a music cd.  When you insert the cd, select the command that says "rip" song from cd.  Place a check by the song you want to use, and uncheck the others if they are checked.  It will place the ripped song in the "library" which is on the left tool bar.   Click on the library to see your list of music, and when you find the one you want, right click on it to download it to your computer.   Then you can import it from there into movie maker.   Be aware of fair use and copyright law.

You can also record an audio track on Audacity or on a digital recorder, like an Olympus WS-100.

Sources for images and clips:

Database sites like Nettrekker, Britannica and United StreamingPhoto sites like Flickr (Select photos with Creative Commons licenses) or Google Images

Museum and Government sites like Nasa, American Memory Photo Collection, National Zoo, etc.