Secret Tips For…
Windows Movie Maker
Create a title sequence
Movie Maker is Microsoft’s free video editor and was last released as part of the company’s Windows Essentials 2012 package (which also included Windows Live Mail and Live Writer). Microsoft has announced it will end support for the Essentials programs on 10 January 2017, meaning it won’t receive any new features. But Movie Maker will continue to be safe to use and will remain available via Microsoft’s site. Windows 7, 8 and 10 users should go to www.snipca.com/ 22487 and click ‘Get it now’ to download it.
One of Movie Maker’s most impressive features makes it easy to add a title sequence to the start of your video. Open your video inn Movie Maker, click Home, then Title. Click ‘Edit text’ and enter the text that you want to show at the start of your video. Next, click the down arrow to the right of the title sequence thumbnails (see screenshot above right) to see all options. To see a preview of a particular sequence, move your cursor over it without clicking it.
Add a copyright-free soundtrack
The right music can make all the difference to a home movie. If you don’t feel confident composing your own music, an excellent source of free music is the Free Music Archive ( www.snipca.com/22492). Search for specific songs, albums, artists or genres using the search tools. Click the play button to listen to a track, then the arrow button (see screenshot above right) to download it. Once it’s downloaded, return to Movie Maker and click the ‘Add music’ button, then ‘Add music…’ in the dropdown menu. Navigate to the music file you downloaded to add it to your video. An audio graph of your soundtrack will be added below the video footage.
Extract the audio from a video
As well as adding audio, Movie Maker can also extract music from a video so you can save it as an audio file – ideal if you want to listen to the music from a concert you filmed, for example. Open the video in Movie Maker, then click File, then ‘Save movie’. Scroll to the bottom of the save options and click ‘Audio only’. Choose a save location, name the file and choose MPEG-4 from the ‘Save as type’ dropdown menu, then click Save. You’ll then be able to burn the music to a CD or use an audio editor, such as Audacity (see Issue 484, page 48), to edit the sound file.
Edit the video to centralise the focal point
If the focal point of your video isn’t in the centre of the footage you can use the pan and zoom options to change the focus of the video. Open your video, then click the Animations tab – you’ll see the ‘Pan and zoom’ options on the right. Use the arrows to select the option that best serves your needs. You can preview a zoom effect by hovering your cursor over it. Changing the aspect ratio of a video can also improve its focus. To do this, click the Project tab and choose Widescreen or Standard.