To note up front: This is for Windows Live Movie Maker and not the older Windows Movie Maker.

WLMM is something which is a separate download in the Windows Live suite of applications. It does not come bundled with Windows 7 but can be added in easily.

The last time I tried this software it was in beta form. Admittedly, I hated it. But now the software is finished so I gave it a go. It is far better than it was in beta and a truly completed product.

There is a video below this showing a basic tutorial of how to get simple thing done in WLMM, here’s a few questions answered up front.

Is it the same as the older Windows Movie Maker?

No. The way in which is operates is completely different. It has the ribbon interface seen in the updated versions of the Office suite, Paint and Windows Live Mail. This is an attempt by Microsoft to make everything look similar no matter what you’re using.

Is it better than the older Windows Movie Maker?

Yes. It supports the native import of more formats (like MOV, MP4 and M4A for example), has effects that are much more streamlined and useful and also has other useful bits, such as direct-to-DVD, direct-to-YouTube and so on.

Is there a learning curve with WLMM?

Yes. You will not take to it like a fish to water. But as stated in the video, once you start using it you’ll realize the way in which it works does make sense, and over time you will be able to edit videos faster and more efficiently. The only people who would purposely stay with the old Windows Movie Maker are robbing themselves of a truly good and useful video editor.

See video below for more details.

Said honestly, Windows Live Movie Maker Beta, in a word, sucks. It lost so many features compared to the old Windows Movie Maker that it’s just not worth using.

Are you stuck without a free video editor in Windows 7 at this point? No. You can install the old – and far superior – Windows Movie Maker in Windows 7.

All you have to do is download and install it.

What you want is Windows Movie Maker 2.6. You can download this here.

The installation went thru without a hitch and everything worked fine.

Above: Old but still great.

Above: This is what you want to see from Help/About.

Will this software work for Windows Vista?

Yes. It was designed for Vista originally so it will work in both Vista and 7.

Since upgrading to Windows 7 I was finally about to try out Windows Live Movie Maker Beta.

Summary: I hate it.

This software is awful. I have tried hard to find anything good about this app, but the XP version was just so, so much better than this.

The only saving grace of this app is that it’s in beta, so I am praying when out of beta this software changes drastically.

Here are the problems I’m talking about with Movie Maker Live Beta:

1. Where’s my timeline?

I have no timeline at all and couldn’t find any way to get it.

iMovie tried this too and Mac users griped about it loudly, so I’ll say it loudly as well for Windows users – KEEP THE TIMELINE IN YOUR VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE. This is required stuff, guys.

2. Ribbon interface will confuse the crap out of people.

I can see the ribbon interface being easy to use in WLMM, but only if it has a complete revamp. In its present state it’s just bad.

When you have a drastic change in the way the software works, it should greet you with, "Hi! Here’s how to use me!" No such instruction exists. And the help section is Spartan and terrible.

Again, yes I know this is beta software.

3. Lack of features.

Three transition effects, six "color change" effects, a text box and a trim feature. That’s it.

And that’s not enough. XP’s old Movie Maker had way more than this.

Windows Live Movie Maker beta gets a huge thumbs down from me.

It’s a good thing this wasn’t included with Windows 7 as it’s definitely not finished. Not by a long shot.

This chapter is a video presentation.

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This chapter is a video presentation.

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This chapter is a video presentation.

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As stated earlier, most simple video editors allow for adding additional audio such as background music and sound effects.

Important things to remember:

With free video editing software such as Windows Movie Maker, you only have one additional audio track. If you choose to have music played throughout the entire presentation, that audio track is being used and you cannot add any additional sound at that point.

With sound effects you can add as many as you wish due to the fact they’re short (once a sound effect has finished playing, you can add another, and another after that, and so on).

Common Mistakes Made by Beginners

Too LOUD
When adjusting your volume for background music/effects, it is typical that beginners will have the volume much too high. The important thing to remember is that background music and effects are supposed to be IN THE BACKGROUND and not be “front and center”.

Some sound effects are louder/quieter than the others
People will usually find whatever sound effect they can find on the internet, then drop it into their presentation. At times this may present a problem because some some effects are louder/quieter than others. Being that you only have one audio track to work with, you may have to individually adjust volume for each sound effect if your video editing software allows it.

Remember: It is worth it to spend time making sure the audio is of proper volume to avoid annoying your audience with sound that is too loud/quiet.

Over-use of music/effects
Beginners will think “I have to make this interesting! I have to add more sound! More effects!” No, you don’t. The presentation overall is what counts and not the add-ons. Granted, sometimes effects can be entertaining/interesting/funny, but most of the time they’re not.

If you’re spending more time worrying about music/effects than you are the presentation itself, this is bad. The presentation counts first.

A title slate is simply text on-screen and nothing else. Slates are using to introduce scenes into your video should they be necessary.

Sometimes the only slates you need is at the beginning (such as stating the title of the video) and at the end (for credits). At other times you may need slates during the video to separate different chapters. For example, if you were producing an instructional video that showed a 5-step process on how to do something, each one of those 5 steps would most likely need a title slate to introduce each step.

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A transition from one video clip to another means under most circumstances that an effect is being applied. For example, dissolving (sometimes known as fading) from one clip to another is a digital effect.

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In simple terms, the difference between video and audio is that video is for motion imagery and audio is for sound.

However the way in which video and audio are edited are distinctively different.

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The timeline is a horizontal bar typically located at the bottom for any video editing software you may use. You use this bar to “jump” to specific points in your video to make edits, such as adding video, removing video, transitions and so on.

Using the timeline in modern-day software is very easy because all you have to do is literally drag and drop what’s known as “clips” into the timeline to begin editing.

Using Windows Movie Maker as an example:

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When working with video editing software it’s important to understand the file formats you will be working with.

The most common formats will be files that end with the extensions AVI, MPG (or MPEG), MOV and WMV.

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In this video, we will introduce Microsoft’s web browser, Internet Explorer. While we’re at it, we’ll introduce the number one search engine online: Google.

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