Working with your video clips in Windows Movie Maker 2

Published: April 26, 2005

The elements of Windows Movie Maker: Collections, clips, projects, and movies

Understanding collections and clips

Collections are libraries that contain the different video, audio, and pictures that you've imported into or captured in Windows Movie Maker 2. You can use and reuse items from the collections for the movies you create. When you import the digital media files into Windows Movie Maker, the different video, audio, and pictures appear as clips within one or more collection folders in Windows Movie Maker.

To import existing digital media files

On the File menu, click Import into Collections.

In File name, enter the path and name of the file you want to import, and then click Import.

(Optional) If you want the video files to be separated into smaller clips, select the Create clips for video files check box.

A new collection folder is created for each video file you import into Windows Movie Maker. Any audio clips or still images appear in the original collection that was selected when you imported the audio and still images.

Note: You can import several files at once. For consecutive files, click the first file in the list, press and hold down the SHIFT key, and then click the last file in the list. For files that are not consecutive, press and hold down the CTRL key, and then click each file that you want to import.

The following figures show how source video files, audio files, and photos appear in Windows Explorer and how they appear as clips in different collection folders after the individual files are imported in Windows Movie Maker.

Figure showing video files in Windows Explorer compared to how they appear in Windows Movie Maker.

Video files in Windows Explorer and Windows Movie Maker.

Figure showing audio files in Windows Explorer compared to how they appear in Windows Movie Maker.

Audio files in Windows Explorer and Windows Movie Maker.

Figure showing photos in Windows Explorer compared to how they appear in Windows Movie Maker.

Photos in Windows Explorer and Windows Movie Maker.

Understanding projects and source files

After you import audio, video, or pictures into Windows Movie Maker, you can add the individual clips in the different collection folders to the storyboard/timeline. The following figures show clips as they appear in the storyboard and timeline views respectively for the same project.

Figure showing clips added to the storyboard.

Video clips in storyboard view.

Video and audio clips in storyboard view.

Figure showing clips added to the timeline.

Video and audio clips in timeline view.

The video, audio, and image clips in Windows Movie Maker projects are only references to the files that you've captured or imported into Windows Movie Maker. When you edit video or audio in a collection or on the storyboard/timeline in Windows Movie Maker, you do not change the original source video or audio file. Editing the clips on the storyboard/timeline or in a collection only determines how and when the audio, video, and still images (as well as any titles, video transitions, or video effects) are displayed in that particular project.

All content on the storyboard/timeline — including audio, video, still images, and video transitions, video effects, or titles — becomes a project. Ultimately, a Windows Movie Maker project file (which has a .mswmm file name extension) is simply a file that contains information about what content is used in the project, as well as the timing information about how and when to display the contents on the storyboard/timeline in the final saved movie. It does not actually contain your source files. If you save the project, you can then later open it in Windows Movie Maker and make more edits at another time.

To save a project

On the File menu, click Save Project.

Figure showing the Save Project command on the File menu in Windows Movie Maker.

In the File name box, type the file name, and then click Save.

The resulting Windows Movie Maker project file is stored on your computer.

Figure showing a saved Windows Movie Maker project file in Windows Explorer.

Important: Since your Windows Movie Maker project file does not contain a copy of the source files that are used in the project, if you want to move a Windows Movie Maker project file and edit it on another computer, you also need to copy all of the source content to that computer or make sure that the computer has access to the location where the source files are stored.

Saving your project as a movie

After you've saved a project, you can then save the project as a movie file, such as into a .wmv or .avi file, by using the Save Movie Wizard. When you do this, all of the files on the storyboard/timeline are encoded into a single digital media video file. You can then share this video file with others, and they can watch and enjoy it in a media player, such as Windows Media Player.

To save a movie

On the File menu, click Save Movie File.

Figure showing the Save Movie File command on the File menu in Windows Movie Maker.

In the Enter a file name for your saved movie box, type a name for your movie.

In the Choose a place to save your movie box, do one of the following:

•	Choose the path and folder name from the drop-down list of available places.
•	Click Browse to choose a new place that's not already in the drop-down list.
•	To create a new folder, click Make New Folder in the Browse For File dialog box, and then type a name for the new folder.

On the Movie Setting page, do one of the following:

•

To use the default movie setting, click Best quality for playback on my computer (recommended).

The specific setting details, such as the file type, bit rate, display size, aspect ratio, and frames per second displayed in the video, are shown in Setting details.

•

To use a different movie setting, click Show more choices, and then choose another movie setting from the list.

If you want to watch your movie after completing the wizard, select the Play movie when I click Finish check box.

After the movie is saved, click Finish.

The resulting movie is saved on your computer.

Figure showing the saved movie file that is saved on your computer.

You or your audience can then play the movie in a media player, such as Windows Media Player.

Figure showing a movie playing in Windows Media Player.

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Organizing your collections

By organizing your collections, you can quickly find the content you want to use and reuse in your movies. This can help reduce the time it takes you to create and edit your Windows Movie Maker projects. For example, you might choose to create a new collections folder that contains only your favorite video, audio, or still image clips.

To do this, create a new collection called Favorites, split or combine video clips in the collection, copy clips into the Favorites collection, and then add some or all of those clips to the storyboard/timeline for the project you're working on at that time. And remember, collections always appear in Windows Movie Maker. Therefore, you can reuse the clips in your Favorites collection to create many different movies simply by arranging the clips in a different order on the storyboard/timeline, as well as by adding titles, video effects, or video transitions in different ways at different times to create different movies from the same video and audio content.

To preview a clip

1.	In the Contents pane, click the clip you want to preview.
2.	On the monitor, click the Play button to preview the video or audio clip.

To create a new collection

1.	In the Collections pane, click the Collections folder.
2.	On the Tools menu, click New Collection Folder.
3.	Type a name for the new collection.

To split a video or audio clip

In the Contents pane, click the video or audio clip you want to split.

Under the monitor, move the slider to where you want to split the clip.

Click the Split button on the monitor.

Figure showing the Split button on the monitor.

The resulting video clips now appear in the Contents pane.

Figure showing video clips that have been split.

Note: To position the slider precisely, you can drag the slider to a point before the place where you want to split the clip, click the Play button, and then click the Stop button at the exact point where you want the split.

To combine a split audio or video clip

In the Contents pane, hold down the CTRL key, and then select the consecutive clips you want to combine.

Note: To select consecutive clips, click the first clip, press and hold down the SHIFT key, and then click the last clip. To select one clip at a time, press and hold down the CTRL key, and then click each clip that you want to combine.

On the Clip menu, click Combine.

Figure showing Combine menu command on the Clip menu.

The resulting video clip now appears in the Contents pane.

Figure showing video clips before and after combining.

Note: You can also perform this entire procedure on the storyboard/timeline.

To copy a clip in a collection

1.	In the Contents pane, click the clip or clips that you want to copy.
2.	On the Edit menu, click Copy.
3.	In the Collections pane, click the collection you want to copy the clips to, and then click the Contents pane.
4.	On the Edit menu, click Paste.