Windows Movie Maker is an extremely common free video editing software program. For years, it has come bundled with Microsoft operating systems on all new PCs. (I hear that’s about to change…but that’s another post!)
Being a Microsoft freebie, WMM is everywhere, which makes it the logical choice for beginning video editors. It’s not a bad little program, it gives you what you need without overwhelming you with tons of choices and options. I recommend it to newcomers all the time. Even if you want to go further into editing video, learning Windows Movie Maker first will make learning a program like Sony Vegas easier later on. Like cars, video editing software shares basic features and techniques so you wouldn’t be wasting your time learning Movie Maker, no matter what program you graduate to.
Movie Maker is easy to use and will perform basic video editing functions. It will allow you to add pictures, narration, music or other sounds, titles and transitions to your video. It has limited digital effects. Movie Maker will allow you to re-arrange clips and trim out the bad stuff. (Take 93…get it right this time, will ya?)
Windows Movie Maker also has video conversion features, so you can convert your video into a file format that can be uploaded to the web or burned onto a disc.
Like all video editing software programs, Movie Maker is laid out on your screen with multiple windows, including:
- Timeline
- Story board layout
- Viewer window
- Task pane
- Output Window
- Transitions
- Effects
Before you can navigate your way comfortably through any video editing program, you need to understand what all these windows do and how they work together. Some of them occupy the same screen area so they must be switched on and off to show whichever you need at the moment.
If you take a few minutes to watch the video demonstration I produced, you will discover the basics about Windows Movie Maker that will help you better use the program.
Happy viewing! As Always, drop me an email if you have questions.
Thanks for reading Video Production Tips
Lorraine Grula
I think also that one of the advantages of Movie Maker is that of letting the absolute novice have dig around and see just what a video editor can do. It certainly sets them up for being able to take the jump into one of the commercial video editing programs with greater familiarity and ease.
Hi Lance.
Yup, you are absolutely correct. Movie Maker is a good program that is fine for basic tasks. I hear some people complain about it and of course it isn’t the greatest but it is a magnificent program for basic editing. And it FREE. Can’t beat that with a stick.
Windows movie maker is one of the good software but I after searching for lots of alternative of video editing and movie making software I came across muvee Reveal one of the good software as its very easy to use and you can edit and customize your videos in few clicks.
There are many different free video editing software packages on the market. Many of them are excellent. Windows Movie maker is common, so many people have it but it is not the best. I like it ok, and the convenience makes it good for many people, but if you want to search and download software, you have a good selection when it comes to free video editing programs. .
Here on video production tips I have lots of different articles on free video editing software, search in the video editing category. There are many fantastic free editing software programs out there.
Thanks
Lorraine
Like many video editing folks, I got started on the aforementioned free Movie Maker software. It’s worth mentioning that a lot of cameras (Flip for example) now come with their own software that do similar editing tasks as Movie Maker, but many people are still going to find themselves wishing they had more editing options.
At our company,12 Stars Media we use Adobe products including Premiere and After Effects. There is a consumer level version of Premiere called Premiere Elements that we often recommend to folks getting started.