Integrating Technology in the Foreign Language Classroom

  
Jean LeLoup & Bob Ponterio 
SUNY Cortland 
© 2012
Editing video with Windows Live Movie Maker

Windows Live Movie Maker is a free program that is part of Windows Live Essentials.
http://windows.microsoft.com/is-IS/windows-live/movie-maker-get-started

There are several Windows Live programs, but you can install only Windows Live Movie Maker if you wish. It is less powerful than many other programs for digital video editing, but it can handle the basics and it is easy to use

There are also many other free or low cost simple video editors that are good enough for most school projects. AVS4you is an example:
http://windows.microsoft.com/is-IS/windows-live/movie-maker-get-started

You can use Windows Live Movie Maker to edit videos that you have captured with another device, and you can capture analog and digital video with Movie Maker as well. Let's walk through the process of creating a video with Movie Maker and a webcam.

Always begin by saving your project with a meaningful name so you can find it later. Save your project from time to time, in case of crashes. Movie Maker projects have the extension wlmp.Remember that the project is not the same as the final video file.

When your webcam is plugged in, Movie Maker can use it to get video & audio (or you could use a separate microphone for audio)

The example below shows the presence of a Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 webcam.

 

wlmm

Capturing the video is as easy as hitting the red Record button. After the video has been captured, you will save it to your computer. Keep track of where you put the video file. It is a good idea to put all files for a project in the same location.

You can add additional videos, photos, or audio files to your project using the Add videos and photos or the Add music buttons in Movie Maker.

You can edit the video project by trimming or splitting individual clips and placing clips one after another. Clips may be easily moved around as well.

wlmm

Animations allow transitions between clips. Fade in and fade out video or audio, etc.

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wlmm You can add cations or title and closing credits as well.

 

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If you wish to experiment with editing a short video file, here is a video, and audio that you can download.

 

Once you have finished editing, you can save the movie. It is best to use the same video settings from start to stop of the project. However, you can also mix settings and save your final video in a different setting if you have reasons for doing so. For example, you might export a video in a smaller size with more compression for placement on the web. You could even save multiple copies in different sizes, one for the web, one for showing from your computer in class, and one for long-term storage on a DVD.

As always, there is no one right setting for your final video. Try out various settings to see which best suits your current project. You can also modify the video size and format later using other software. More on that later.

For more information:


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