The task pane is situated on the left side the Movie Maker and contains three main categories.
The Contents pane is found at the center of the window. It will contain any video, audio or image file that you import to your current project. These will be displayed in a thumbnail view.
The big black square on the right side is the Preview window. This window’s goal is self-explanatory. You will be able to play a video or audio clip and choose a certain point to modify your video by scanning it frame by frame.
Importing options
You can import files from the following sources:
- Files located on a local or network drive: select any compatible format and click Import. The items you add with Import Media dialog box are stored in the Imported Items folder.
- Import files from Windows Photo Gallery: if you are using Photo Gallery and have a collection of videos and photos, start Windows Photo Gallery, select your files and click the Make Movie button. This will open up Movie Maker and will import all selected files.
- Importing video from a digital camera: connect your camera to the PC, switch it to Play mode and in the Movie Maker task pane click on From digital video camera.
- Importing live video from a webcam or a camera: connect the webcam or camera to the computer and use Windows Video Import to start recording.
To start creating a movie, simply drag clips to the storyboard. Once on the storyboard, clips can be arranged at your own desire. Also, you can switch to the timeline and modify the clip timings, add or edit audio tracks etc.
Before you start
Switching to the Collection pane will allow you to organize your files. From here you can create, delete or copy folders as you wish.
Movie Maker will, by default, save your collections database and projects every ten minutes. This way, if Movie Maker shuts down unexpectedly, you can resume your work with the help of AutoRecover. You can even set the AutoRecover to save your data more often; just modify the current interval with the one you desire, or turn it off if you choose to.
You should be aware that if you try to import a video or audio file that uses a codec which is unavailable on your computer, Movie Maker will not import that file. So make sure you set Movie Maker to download any codec it needs on its own. To enable this, go to Tools, Option, click on the General tab and select Download codecs automatically.
Note: .dvr-ms has been introduced in the list of Movie Maker’s supported formats, and now you can record TV shows and movies. If you have a recorded show and want to strip commercials off, or make any other adjustments, now you can.
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