How To Use Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker is a free program included with Windows XP. It is very user-friendly and allows you to easily edit your home movies. Here are a few of the basics you need to know to properly use Windows Movie Maker.
To open the program, go to the “Start” menu and click run. Type “moviemk” in the text box and hit “OK” There are several options available for adding video in the program, such as capturing from a device or importing video. If you already have the video file on your computer, click “Import Video” and find it. Movie Maker will take a few seconds to read the file.


Your video will most likely be broken into clips. Drag these into the boxes at the bottom of the screen in the order you would like them to play. You can also select all of the clips and drag them down into this area. They will be arranged in the proper order.


Go to the “Tools” menu and select “Titles and Credits” Next, click “Title at the beginning.” Type in the text for your movie’s opening title card. If you want to add a subtitle, add it in the lower text box. You can preview how the text will look on the right side of the screen. Click “Done. Add title to movie” and the text will automatically become part of your project.


Return to the “Titles and Credits” window, and click “Credits at the end.” Here you can type the names of people in the right-hand cells, and their involvement with your film on the left. Again, a preview can be viewed in the box on the right side of the screen.


If you click on the star in the bottom left corner of each clip, you can add effects to your video. Try adding a transition between clips, or experiment with some of the other effects. When you are finished with your project, save it under the “File” menu. You can also click “Save Movie File” in the same menu to create a version of the video that can be shared with others.