Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Windows® XP Media Center®

Using Windows Movie Maker

Although more expensive and full-featured video editing products are available,

your Media Center PC includes a very capable program that covers all the basics,

and quite a bit more. Windows Movie Maker is designed to let you edit and share

your home movies—all on your desktop with drag-and-drop ease. You can also add

various transitions, special effects, music, and even narration. Finally, your Media

Center PC allows you to display your finished masterpiece to friends and family

right in your entertainment center, or use the communications features of Movie

Maker to distribute your movie via the Web, email, or removable media. (You can

also create DVDs from your movie, which we’ll discuss in greater detail in Chapter

12, “Creating DVDs on an XP Media Center.”)

Creating Your Video

The basic idea of editing video involves deciding which stuff to take out, and which to

leave in, and then putting it all together in just the right order. At the professional level,

it is an art form that can take a lifetime to perfect, and the top craftsperson in the field is

honored each year with an Academy Award. Well, everyone has to start somewhere, and

dragging and dropping together a montage of family scenes is as good a way as any.

Editing Your Clips

Movie Maker has already separated your video into clips, or scenes, based on

changes in the video itself. You’ll find that the clips are usually of various lengths,

and seem to start and end in ways that correspond to events that occur in the video,

such as switching from one location to the next.

You can preview individual clips by selecting them with your mouse or remote con-

trol. With the mouse, play the clip by clicking on the Play arrow in the transport

controls provided at the bottom of the preview window (see the close-up in Figure

10.7). With the remote, you can highlight the clip and press OK to play it.

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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO WINDOWS XP MEDIA CENTER

FIGURE 10.7

In addition to

the Play button,

the transport

control bar in

Movie Maker

has buttons for

Stop, Back,

Previous Frame,

Next Frame,

Forward, Split

and Still Picture.

If you want to use the clip as-is, just drag it to

one of the empty Storyboard squares at the bot-

tom of the screen to place it in your movie. If you

want to modify the clip, here are some options:

■ Combine clips—To turn two or more

contiguous clips back into one longer

clip, hold down the Ctrl key and select the

clips you want to combine, and then

open the Clip menu and click on

Combine.

■ Split clips—To separate a single clip into

two discrete clips, preview the clip and

pause it at the point where you want to split

it. Then click on the Split button in the transport controls (see Figure 10.7).

■ Trim clips—This procedure is done from within the Timeline view. Drag a

clip into the Storyboard, and then click on Show Timeline. Then, by dragging

the Trim Handles (see the illustration in Figure 10.8) at the beginning and

end of each clip, you can include or exclude portions of the video.

CHAPTER 10 CAPTURING AND CREATING VIDEOS WITH MEDIA CENTER

143

tip

A shortcut for selecting

multiple contiguous clips is to

click on the first clip, then

hold down the Shift key while

you click the last clip in the

series. To select one clip at a

time, hold down the Ctrl

key while you click on each clip.

FIGURE 10.8

This close-up of

the Timeline

view shows

where the Start

and End Trim

Handles are

located. Just

click and drag

them to

lengthen or

shorten your

clip.

Adding Transitions

Video transitions knit your clips together, and can make the difference between a

series of disjointed clips strung together and a cohesive cinematic experience. Best

of all, they make it very easy to dress up your home movies and give them a

professional flair.

You can place transitions in your movie project

in various ways. Here’s one of the simplest, which

you can perform while in the Storyboard view:

1. Select Tools.

2. Select Video Transitions. Movie Maker will

replace your palette of clips with a screen-

ful of transition choices (see Figure 10.9).

3. Click on the transition you want, and

drag it to the transition cell, which is a

small box that separates any two clips on

the Storyboard.

4. Click on Play in the preview window to see

how your transition looks.

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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO WINDOWS XP MEDIA CENTER

tip

You can try out as many

transitions as you want. Just

keep dragging and dropping

them on the transition cell

until you find a keeper.

FIGURE 10.9

Windows Movie

Maker offers you

60 transitions,

from Bar to Zig

Zag.

Adding Titles

Titles are another way to give your homemade video a professional touch. Here’s

how to use them:

1. Select Tools.

2. Select Titles and Credits.