Creating and Editing Your Live Storyboard
In Windows Live Movie Maker, each video you are producing is created as a video project with a live storyboard. The live storyboard provides a representation of each media item you've added to the video in the order the items are played. In this way, the live storyboard not only serves as an outline for the presentation, but it also lets you visualize the project in a way you otherwise would not be able to. At a glance, you can see the work from start to finish, and this is extremely important in the way you conceptualize the project.
As you add media items to your video, you build the live storyboard and set the play order for each item you are including. To your live storyboard, you can add text, effects, and transitions. Unlike Windows DVD Maker, Windows Live Movie Maker doesn't put pictures into a separate folder. Instead, all media items are added to the same storyboard.
As with Windows DVD Maker, you can select all the pictures and videos you want to use in Windows Live Photo Gallery first, and then add the selected items automatically to Windows Live Movie Maker. After you use the same tricks discussed in "Creating Video DVDs with Windows DVD Maker" on page 380, click Make and then click "Make a Movie" to open Windows Live Movie Maker with these media items.
In Windows Live Movie Maker, you can select the items to add to your video by completing the following steps:
1. Click Home and then click Add Videos and Photos.
2. As shown in Figure 10-48, use the Add Videos and Photos dialog box to browse to a folder containing pictures or videos you want to add.
3. Select the items to add using one of the following techniques: • Select an individual item by clicking it.
- Figure 10-48. Adding videos and pictures
• Select a series of items by clicking the first item, pressing and holding the Shift key, clicking the last item, and then releasing Shift.
• Select multiple items individually by clicking the first item, pressing and holding the Ctrl key, clicking each additional item in turn, and then releasing Ctrl.
4. The items you selected are added to the storyboard. The first item in the first row will be displayed first, the second item in the first row will be displayed second, and so on.
As you add media items to the storyboard, Windows Live Movie Maker lists the runtime of the video as the second time entry in the preview area. This runtime may change if you modify the transitions and effects applied.
After you add items, you can fine-tune the play order. To change the play order of an item or a group of items, select the item or items and then drag left, right, up or down until you reach the desired position. To remove an item, right-click it and then select Remove. Removing an item removes it from the storyboard but does not delete it from your computer.
- Figure 10-49. Using the Preview controls to manage playback
While you are optimizing the play order, you may want to preview the video. As Figure 10-49 shows, the Preview pane provides the following button controls:
Play/Pause
If you click the Play button, the video plays from the current position in the storyboard. Clicking the Play button again pauses playback. Previous Frame
Rewinds to the previous frame of the video.
Next Frame
Advances to the next frame of the video. Timeline
Tracks the video timeline and the current frame position within the video. If you click and drag the Current Frame button on the end of the timeline slider, you can fast-forward or rewind through a video. If you click a specific part of the timeline, you can go to that time in the video.
By default, each picture in the slideshow is displayed for 3 seconds, and transitions last for a portion of the display time. You can change the display time for a selected picture
Figure 10-50. Editing items in your video or pictures by clicking Edit on the toolbar to display the Edit bar and then entering a new display time in the Duration text box (see Figure 10-50).
When deciding the length of time to display pictures, keep in mind the prospective audience and the tempo of your soundtrack. If the music in your soundtrack has a relatively fast beat, you may want to use a shorter display duration. If the music in your soundtrack has a slower beat, you might want to use a longer display duration. In most cases, you'll want pictures to be displayed for between 3 and 10 seconds.
Anytime you are working with a video clip, you have several editing options. To view these options, click Edit on the toolbar to display the Edit bar. On the Video panel of the Edit bar, you have sound and video editing options. To control the sound in the video, you can:
• Click Video Volume and then change the volume or mute the sound of the video.
• Click in the Fade In list to use the Slow, Medium, or Fast fade in options for the sound.
• Click in the Fade Out list to use the Slow, Medium, or Fast fade out options for the sound.
You can click the Split button to split the video into two clips at the current position. You also can click Trim to access the Trim bar, which is shown in Figure 10-51. While working with the Trim bar, you can:
• Trim the beginning of the video clip by clicking and dragging the Trim Beginning slider
• Trim the ending of the video clip by clicking and dragging the Trim Ending slider
• Save the trimmed values and exit the Trim bar by clicking Save Trim
• Exit the trim bar without saving by clicking Cancel
Figure 10-51. Trimming video clips
While you are fixing your storyboard, you can use the Undo button (Ctrl-Z) to undo any changes you don't like, or the Redo button (Ctrl-Y) to redo changes you previously undid.
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