Create a vacation movie your friends will want to watch

Film your family getting ready before the trip begins. Record your family waking up on the big day, scurrying around looking for last minute items, and trying to find the tickets. It'll provide a great start for your movie, and people who watch your video will have instant insight into your life.

Don't worry about editing while you're filming. With a digital video camera, it's easy to import your video onto your computer and then edit it with Movie Maker. Because you can edit out the boring moments, you can film long sequences to ensure that you get the shot you want. In fact, you should pad each scene with one or two seconds of extra footage at the beginning and end. This will allow you to fade gradually into the next scene when you edit your movie.

Break your video into unique scenes while shooting your video by stopping and starting the recording. Each time you start and stop recording, Movie Maker will create a separate video clip. It's much easier to edit short video clips than long video clips, so stop recording (even for a second) every time there's a break in the action.

Film yourself. Too often, the cameraperson never makes an appearance in the video. Teach everyone in your family to use your video camera, and encourage them to grab it when they see something interesting. Some video cameras have an "Easy" button that makes shooting simple for people who haven't read the camera's manual.

Tip: If you're comfortable asking strangers to take still photos of your family together, don't be afraid to ask people to take a few seconds of video of your family standing together.

Get up early to capture the peaceful atmosphere of your vacation destination. Every place has a unique personality, and a good vacation video shows that personality. Key West has wild chickens that live in the streets. Quebec homes have colorful window boxes filled with flowers. Buildings in Paris have gargoyles along the rooflines. It's hard to get footage of these traits when you're caught up in the action of the day. Get up early to take five or ten seconds of footage showing local character.

Zoom to show both location and detail. For example, if you want to show an interesting boat docked at a pier, start the scene zoomed in to show only the boat. Then, smoothly zoom back to show the entire scene. Similarly, if you want to show your child standing in front of a castle, start zoomed all the way out to show the entire castle. Then, zoom in to a close-up of your child's face. A tripod or nearby stable surface can help to steady zoom shots.

Film with the sun behind you, not your subjects. When the sun is behind your subjects, it's called backlighting. Backlighting causes the faces in your video to appear in shadow. If you're forced to film in backlit situations, adjust your camera's exposure to show faces correctly. Some cameras have a special "Back Light" button that you can press to quickly adjust the exposure.

Take still pictures of still subjects. For example, if you're in a museum and you want to show a painting, use your video camera to take a still picture of the painting, which you can add to your movie when you edit it.

Keep your video camera ready. If you have your camera buried in a bag, you'll miss some important shots while you unpack your camera. If you keep your camera in your hand, you'll take more footage, and you'll catch those moments that last only a few seconds.

Learn from reality TV. Reality TV has taught us that the most honest moments in a video are the most interesting. Those embarrassing moments might not seem funny at the time, but they will when you watch the video later!

Give your movie a beginning, middle, and end. For your first scene, include a few seconds of each family member getting ready for the trip. Then add video clips of buildings, animals, and other scenes that capture the local flavor of your vacation destination. Next, show each of your vacation activities. Finally, show your family returning from the vacation, including the excited reaction from any pets who didn't get to go with you.

Tip: To keep the audience's attention until the closing credits, add a bloopers reel to the end of your movie with trips, slips, and other fun outtakes.

Show only your vacation highlights. It's okay to tape your kids feeding the seagulls at the beach for twenty minutes, but your friends won't want to watch all of it. Just show them the highlights: a seagull grabbing a piece of bread directly from your son's hand or an ocean wave surprising your daughter. Each scene should last one to three seconds, and the entire movie should be only two to four minutes long.

Add music. Good music can make any video enjoyable. Choose music that suits your vacation style and destination. For a visit to Hawaii, use traditional Hawaiian music. If you are vacationing in a unique location, pick up a CD of local music while you're there. For an action-packed snowboarding vacation, use high-energy rock or dance music. To add music to your video in Movie Maker, click Import audio or music to add a song to your collection, and then drag the song to your timeline.

If you're e-mailing your video, add narration. If you're not going to be there when your friends watch your video, use your computer's microphone to add a voice-over. Narration is a great way to tell your friends about the parts of the vacation that can't be seen in the video, such as why you wanted to visit this location and how long you stayed. To record narration, click the Narrate Timeline button on the timeline.

Edit out excessive zooms. While zooming in and out can help you show both location and detail, too much zooming has been known to cause motion sickness. In some cases, you’ll want to show a few seconds of video from the start of the clip, and a few seconds of video after you finish zooming. To do this, add the same video clip from your collections to your timeline twice. Trim the first copy of the clip to show the first few seconds, and trim the second copy of the clip to show the last few seconds.

Use titles to introduce your "cast." Add a few seconds of video showing each person in your family to the beginning of the movie, and use a title to show their names. Even though your friends already know your names, the television-style introduction of the stars sets a fun tone for the rest of your movie. To add a title, select a video clip, and then click Make titles or credits.

Use transitions, but don't over-use them. Transitions are used to fade between two different video clips. Movie Maker includes a lot of fun transitions, but you should use them sparingly. Use the Fade transition for most of your video clips, and use other transitions when they fit your video footage appropriately.

Mute video clips that don't have important sounds. Sound in your video can sometimes be a distraction, like when you film near a busy road or on a windy day. Muting video clips will make it easier for your friends to hear the music or narration. To mute a video clip, follow these steps:

a) If necessary, switch to the Timeline view by clicking the View menu, and then clicking Timeline. If you don't see Timeline on the View menu, then you are already using Timeline view.

b) Right-click the audio portion of the clip, and then click Mute. The next time you play your video, you won't hear that clip's sound, but other clips will be unaffected.