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.
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Amy Proctor
23. Nov, 2009
It would appear that Windows Live Movie Maker doesn’t have the capability to transition OUT of a video or photo, only IN. I like some of the new transitions but if I cannot fade or transition out, it’s useless to me. Am I wrong about that?
Rich Menga
23. Nov, 2009
What you have to get used to is that transitions apply to the beginning of each scene and there is no need to add anything at the tail.
Example: You have 4 scenes. You want to fade between scenes 1 and 2, cross-wipe from 2 to 3, then fade (again) from 3 to 4. Apply a fade at the beginning of scene 2. Apply a cross-wipe at the beginning of scene 3. Apply a fade at the beginning of scene 4. Scene 1 will fade into 2, 2 will cross-wipe to 3, 3 will fade to 4.
There is no need to add any transitions specifically to the end of a scene. It takes some getting used to but it does work.
Amy Proctor
23. Nov, 2009
Thanks, Rich. I appreciate your time.
I do a lot of video editing and I rely on fading out at the end of the clip. So on the final scene, I cannot transition out. Now, I sometimes add a completely black photo at the end of the video to give the video some end time, so it doesn’t just abruptly end. I’ll try to cross-wipe from the video to that solid image and see if that works.
I also don’t care for the storyline rather than the timeline. The Timeline feature made it easier to splice. The storyline feature cuts up my solid video into too many parts. It gets confusing. I cannot just delete the part of the video don’t want becuase there’s a gazillion pieces to it, and if I have video 1 minute after the part I want to delete, it’s completely confusing with so many image or video blocks.
There are a lot of cool featurs in this new version, but it seems like it’s made for photos rather than video.
Reid Wicks
26. Nov, 2009
Help! When I download movie maker it just gives me the windows live download thingy and it doesn’t have movie maker!
Riannon
30. Nov, 2009
Helpp, can you get slow motion and fast motion on videos like you could on the old one?
Brandon
03. Dec, 2009
I’m liking the new setup for WLMM. It seems to work very similar to iMovie. On that note, is there a way to use “Advanced Features” like cutaways?
In other words, can I overlay an image file on top of a video file while the audio continues playing?
STEVE purvis
04. Dec, 2009
NO SLOW MOTION IN THIS !!! WTH
Kate
08. Dec, 2009
No slow motion!!!! That was one of the cool ones! This blows!!!
Pat
09. Dec, 2009
Hello Amy
I had the same problem trying to fade out of a video and got around it like this. At the end of the video I add credits. Then I click on the credits screen in the preview pane and delete all the text. I now have a blank screen at the end of the video. In the video tools you can select “background colour” to change the colour of the credits clip to whatever you want to fade to – black screen, white screen etc. You can also change the “duration” that the credits display to whatever you want – I change it from 5 seconds to 2 seconds. Then I add a cross fade transition before the credits and the video fades out to a blank screen. This isn’t ideal but it’s better than an abrupt ending to the clip. Pretty much like your black photo but with a few more options. Hope this is useful
Justin
10. Dec, 2009
I have a movie I want to play music overtop of and not hear the orignal music recorded in the video. I can’t seem to find a way to mute the video while having an audio track play. Is there anyway to do this?
Wim
15. Dec, 2009
While editing music, I find it impossible to remove the music from one scene, (to replace it with some more suitable music) without the empty space immediately being filled with the music from the next scenes. It will not stay put!
Any one with some good tip?
Vic Voss
20. Dec, 2009
Two things you could do with the old XP Moviemaker:
1. (& see Justin and Wim above) I want to fit video to music. This was great on the old one. How can I do it now?
2. Extract a jpg at any particular moment?
If these can’t be done and I want to use the old Mmaker, is
there a safe way?
Vic Voss
20. Dec, 2009
Apologies, Rich. You answered the last query above.
I now have the old program aboard. Many thanks.
Finiderire
10. Jan, 2010
Lol no video fade out. So dumb.
Elyse Doerflinger
13. Jan, 2010
It won’t let me upload .mov files and edit them. Any reason why this can be? It is really frustrating.
Angela
27. Jan, 2010
I have a question, for some how, my videos, the audio coming from it speeds UP SOOO FAST that it sounds like chipmunks speaking. But, the video moves normally, and the audio…?!?? help please and thnks!
tytboy
27. Jan, 2010
i no that is says the duration and stuff but i was wandering how i would speed up or slow down the actions like putting it in slow mo?
Bart
28. Jan, 2010
One hell of a nice job. I was lucky enough to find what to do. It IS different from the previous version, but with this I’ll have it right in no time!
Thanks for the well put together effort!
c-man
29. Jan, 2010
Compared to Vista’s Movie Maker 6 (not 2.1 or 2.6), WLMM seems like a dramatic step dbackwards. The lack of a timeline makes aligning photos to specific spots of a song almost impossible. The constant right-down-over-and right again motion of the storyboard is irritating, esp. since everybody has a widescreen monitor – why go downwards when you should just go across? The loss of so many features, like right click fade in/out, narration and slo-mo, is another big step backwards. Thank god you can find some nice ported versions of WMM6 for W7 on Youtube!
Brian
30. Jan, 2010
Does anyone know how to combine multiple WMV’s into one long movie? I want to take many clips from a vacation and make one DVD movie.
Nicholas
07. Feb, 2010
how to publish movie into CD/DVD?