Video Editing Manual

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Video Editing Manual a guide to Windows Movie Maker developed by Peter Zimba and Sandy Campbell for the Equity Gauge Zambia April !""# The Centre for Health, Science and Social Research (CHESSORE) P. O. Box 320168, Woodlands Lusaka, ZAMBIA Telefax: (260)-1-228359 Email: chessore@zamnet.zm 2 1 Introduction to this Manual Welcome to this video editing manual.

The goal of this booklet is to give you a short and functional overview of a non-linear video editor . We will use Windows Movie Maker (WMM) to capture your footage, manipulate video clips , eventually stitching these together with transitions , effects , titles and credits into a short movie. WMM is a simple piece of computer software 3 while it does not give you the range of options available in other video editing software, it does give you easy-to-learn tools to bring your story alive.

There is a steep but short learning curve to WMM and thus experimentation (and asking questions!) is key to understanding the movie-making process. We have tried to use pictures and screen caps as much as possible throughout this manual to assist you in navigating this software. As this manual shows, WMM, a video camera and a USB cable are all ... more. less.

the technical components you need to create a short movie. The story, on the other hand, is up to you. Good luck!! 2 Introduction to some Key Terms Before we continue, let us look at some of the common terms used in video editing. We will be using these terms throughout this manual. " Capture 3 to transfer the contents of a video cassette from the camera to the computer. " Footage 3 the contents of a video cassette. Everything you shoot with the camera is footage (but not everything you shoot is good footage...) " Timecode 3 a number the camera gives to every frame of video on a video cassette. Knowing the timecode allows you to identify, with precision, the footage you want on a video cassette. For instance, if we want to find the footage of a girl holding a red banner at the Showgrounds parade, we know from our recorded timecode (also called a log ) that it is on Cassette #1, starting at 00;25;15;02 and ending at 00;26;12;05. " Log 3 a list of timecodes, descriptions, and filenames for all captured footage. " Project 3 In WMM, the video task you are working on. Projects become finished movies. " Video clip 3 This is a small piece of video (usually called ca clip d) that, when put together with other clips, forms your movie. A movie is a collection of clips all strung together. " Timeline 3 In WMM, this is your canvas. Here you 9ll be moving around clips, getting the logic and flow of your story just right. " Screen cap 3 a photograph of a computer screen (short for screen capture) " Collection 3 In WMM, this is the basket holding all of your clips. " Interface 3 the interactive cface d or appearance of a piece of software. " Playhead 3 the indicator on the timeline that shows your position within a clip. " Non-linear video editor 3 unlike film editing, an editor that can insert scenes in any order. " USB cable - The cable (Universal Serial Bus) that connects your video camera to the computer. " DV tape 3 Digital Video tape (these are the tapes that you use in your cameras) " DVD 3 Digital Video Disc. You can also save your video onto DVD, which have much more storage space than a CD. " WMM 3 Windows Movie Maker (the software we 9ll be using here) 3 3 The story, the script and the capture ... As you know by now, the first step in making a movie has nothing to do with cameras or software. It all begins with an idea, which grows into a story and then a script. In most cases, you should know what you want to shoot before you start shooting. Often you cannot go back to capture footage that you missed or to re-interview someone. Questions to ask yourself before shooting include: What is the overarching goal of this video? What elements do I need to include to reach this goal? Who will watch it? What images do I require? Will it be narrated? And so on. Assuming you have done the shoot correctly, you must now follow these steps: a) write down the key parts of your story. Oftentimes, the story will change as a result of the footage you recorded 3 new opportunities came up, or the anticipated images/interviews just didn 9t happen. Write down, in one sentence , what story your movie will tell. Then write a sentence on how it will begin and how it will end. What are the key scenes? The key interviews? What is the key message? b) ensure that all video cassettes are labelled descriptively . Eg: Parade at Lusaka Showgrounds - morning. Labelling descriptively is a good way of jogging your memory in the weeks to come. This way you don 9t need to look at the tape 3 you already know what it contains. c) now you must log your footage . This means you need to watch your footage on the camera and write down the timecodes of each piece of footage you would like to transfer to the computer. Video files are large and the computer will not like entire cassettes transferred 3 and there is no filmmaker in the world who will use all of what she has shot in the final product. Logging involves writing down the timecode for each clip 3 when the action you wish to capture starts, and when it finishes. For each cassette you should have an organized list of when a clip starts, when it stops, what that clip contains, and the name of the file to be saved on the computer. Example of a log: Cassette 1: Parade at Lusaka Showgrounds 3 morning Start Finish Description Computer Filename 00;14;26;02 00;15;14;06 girl walks in front of the parade with red banner girl-red-banner 00;15;42;09 00;15;49;09 child dancing on the grass child-dancing-grass d) Now that you know, exactly, what you have on your cassettes, you may wish to take a moment and work on your story or script. Can you already see how the clips will come together to tell the story? Do you want to write down the order of the clips? e) You 9re ready to capture this logged footage into the computer. Follow these steps: " Connect the power cable to your video camera and switch on the power. " Connect the USB cable to your video camera and then to the computer. USB port on a computer USB cable 4 " Switch your video camera into VCR mode. " Now, go back to your computer. Click start on the toolbar and then click on Windows Movie Maker. If you don 9t find this in the Start menu, go to All Programs and then scroll through to find it. 4 Understanding the WMM Interface Before we continue this section on capturing footage, let 9s pause a moment for a brief introduction to WMM 9s clook and feel d. The interface of WMM is divided into several main areas or cpanes d: the menu bar, toolbar, movie-task/collection panes, the content (or middle) pane, and the timeline. 2 3. If Windows Movie Maker is not listed among these, then click All Programs and scroll through to find it. This is the LCD screen 3 where you can watch the footage. On some cameras, the playback buttons are on the LCD itself. Camera control buttons- these will help you play, fast- forward, rewind footage 5 COLLECTIONS PANE - all the saved collections of clips are shown here MOVIE-TASK PANE 3 [not shown] To view the movie-task pane click here. It will take the place of the collections pane when selected. TIMELINE - This is where you add video clips for your project. It is where the movie is cassembled d. CONTENT PANE 3 shows clips, video effects, transitions etc. PLAYHEAD 3 Moving this allows you to scroll through the clips on the timeline. You can make the Timeline larger or smaller by clicking Zoom In/Out MENU BAR - this bar provides different ways to access software commands. TOOLBAR - provides cshortcuts d to the commands also found in the menu bar. 6 5 Capturing Video [continued...] Now that we 9re familiar with the interface, let 9s continue capturing our footage. Our camera is connected to the computer and WMM is open. Now we need to: " The Video capture prompt appears and you will be asked to: " Enter a file name for your captured video. Remember to be as descriptive here as possible, you want to be able to identify clips later at-a-glance. ! Save the video to My Videos and then click Next> 2. In the movie tasks pane, locate c capture video d and then click ccapture from video device d THE MONITOR This is the area where your video clips and the timeline are viewed. PLAYBACK You can use these controls (buttons) to scroll through the clips on the timeline or collection pane. The Timeline has 5 separate lines: Video (the visuals), Transition (scene fades), Audio (that corresponds to the video), Audio/Music (for additional audio like a song) and Title Overlay (for subtitles 1. Press Tasks 7 " In the Video setting prompt, there are three options from which you can choose: " Best quality for playback on my computer (recommended): if you will be playing your video on a computer, then this is the best option. " Digital device format ( DV-AVI ) sometimes you will need to record your movie back to Mini-DV tape (see p. 21). " Other settings : this has advanced features we will discuss later. ! Select cBest quality for playback on my computer d and Press Next> " In the Capture method prompt, you 9ll find these options: " Capture the entire tape automatically 3 this option is used when you need to capture the whole tape to your computer. When you choose this option, the tape rewinds itself and starts recording all the contents of your tape from the beginning. Remember, this consumes a lot of computer memory, and most of the time is unnecessary. " Capture parts of the tape manually 3 This is the recommended option. This will enable us to capture just the parts of the tape we want. ! Select this and Click Next> Now cue the tape on your camera to the first timecode that you earlier logged. Now you are ready to capture your first clip. At the bottom of WMM 9s monitor it will say start capture . Click this. When you have reached the end timecode for this clip, click stop capture . Repeat this process until you have captured all the necessary clips as set out in your log. Notes : Give a little extra time at the start of a clip and at the end of a clip. If your timecode reads 00;04;30;28 then start capturing 2 seconds before this, in order to give you some editing leeway. Secondly, the time taken to capture your footage to the computer will be the same as when you shot it. The capture is therefore done in creal-time d. For example, it will take 3 minutes to capture a 3-minute clip, 20-minutes to capture a 20-minute clip, and so on. When you have finished capturing, click Finish . 6 Editing your Project Now that we 9ve captured footage into the computer 3 and thereby created a Collection 3 it 9s time to play with our footage and create a movie! To do this, we move clips from the collection to the timeline [note we will not be using the storyboard function in this manual]. The timeline is the section of WMM where you can experiment with the order of the clips and thus the construction of your story. It is our canvas. 8 Opening a timeline Opening the collection All video clips are stored as part of a collection 3 something that organizes our clips and keeps the related ones together (important if we have more than one project open). In case your collection is not already open, follow these steps: Creating a new project 3 or opening an existing project. A cproject d is another word for a cdraft movie d. If you want to start a new project, you must select New Project from the File menu. If you want to open an already existing project you need to select Open Project from the File menu. If the timeline is not automatically visible, press cView d and then click Click Collections. Click the name of your collection. All clips within this collection now appear in the content pane. 9 7 Adding video clips to the timeline As we know, a video clip is a piece of your footage that you have captured to your computer. In order to stitch together the many different clips you have in your collection, the timeline provides a space for experimentation. It is the virtual equivalent of a painter 9s canvas. Take some time now to drag clips from the collection to various places in the timeline. Is a certain clip appropriate for the beginning of the film? The end? Which is your best clip? Where do you want it to go? What clips should surround it? Note : the easiest way to watch footage on the timeline is to use the spacebar on the keyboard 3 it starts and stops the playhead. 8 Saving a project This is the most important step of all 3 SAVE, SAVE, SAVE. Every two minutes, save your project. Why? Because video files are large and sometimes computers have a hard time digesting them, making the entire system crash. So save, save, save. Get in the habit. Be sure to give your project a unique name so that you can always find it at-a-glance. And keep saving. Click and drag the video clips you want to add to the timeline. Repeat this process until you have all the clips that you want in the timeline 3 or start slowly and evaluate your story clip-by-clip. Experiment. Change their order by clicking and dragging. All the video clips that you add in the timeline will appear here. 1. To create a new project, on the cFile d menu, click c New project d 2 . If you want to open an existing project, on the File menu, click Open project. 10 9 Removing a clip from the project Sometimes you 9ll want to remove a clip from the timeline because it doesn 9t fit or just isn 9t right. There are two ways of doing this. One is by right clicking on the clip and selecting cdelete d. A second is below: Clearing the Timeline Sometimes you may want to remove everything that you have added to the Timeline. In that case, do the following: 2. From the Edit menu, click cDelete d 1. Select the clip that you want to remove. 1. If you are sure that you do not want the timeline 9s contents, press Edit, and then click Clear Timeline. 1. For cSave in: d choose My videos (this is where you will save all your projects and finished movies ). 2. Type in a unique name for your project . 3. Press on cSave d 11 10 Splitting and combining Clips Splitting is dividing a clip into two smaller, manageable clips 3 that can then be moved around independently on the timeline. Combining is joining two clips into one clip. This is useful when you want two video clips that you split previously to appear as one again. Combining a split audio or video clip 11 Trimming clips By trimming you can hide the unwanted parts of any clip, usually the start and end of a clip 3 so that it starts and finishes exactly where you want it to. Trimming is essential to the creation of a high-quality movie. Using the mouse, you can cdrag in d the start or the finish of a clip on the timeline. Or: 1. Select the clip you want to split on the timeline. Put the playhead at the exact spot to split, using the s acebar or the mouse. 2. On the Clip menu, click split. 1. On the timeline, hold down the CTRL key, and then select the adjacent clips you want to combine. 2. On the Clip menu, click Combine. 12 Clearing Trimmed points When you feel you have trimmed too much or too little you can adjust by clearing the trimmed points. This is when you bring back (restore) what you had trimmed. 12 Adding Video Transitions to your movie Adding a video transition controls how one clip cfades d into the next. For instance, does one clip cfade out d while the next one in the timeline cfades in d? Or does one ccross-dissolve d into the next? Note: you should use only one type of transition for each movie 3 too many different types of transitions can distract the viewer from the message of your movie. 1 . Click on the clip you want to trim. 2 . On the Timeline, click and drag the playhead to the point where you want to trim. 3 . When the playhead is at the point where you want the video to start playing, go to the Clip menu and select Set Start Trim Point . 4 . When the playhead reaches where you want the video clip to stop playing, click Set End Trim Point . The remaining part of the clip will be cut from the point where the playhead now sits. 1. Click the trimmed video clip. 2. On the Click menu, click Clear Trim Points . 13 Inserting a Transition Note : You can also add a video transition by pressing and holding down the transition and dragging it to the Timeline and dropping it between the two clips. Deleting a video transition from your project Just select the transition, right-click your mouse and select cdelete d. Or: 1. On the Timeline select a clip where you want to add a video transition. 2. Select Video Transitions from the Tools menu. 3. Different video transitions appear; select one. Experiment. 4. Click cClip d and then click cAdd to Timeline. d Or, just double-click on the desired transition. 5. Your added video transition appears here on the timeline. You can also adjust the length of play for each transition. From the cTools d menu, select cVideo Transitions d. As you 9ll see, there are many types of transitions to add to your project. Play around and discover the one most appropriate. Remember: sometimes simple is best. 14 13 Adding Video Effects A video effect gives you a chance to add a very special touch to your movie. [Like transitions, these should be used with caution!!] For example, you may want to brighten a particular clip; you may want to add a cgrainy d aspect to it to make it seem as though the movie is from the 1920s; or you may want to convert colour to black-and-white (grayscale). Take the time to experiment and see what happens with the various different effects. Remember: sometimes simple is best. 1. When you want to delete or remove the video transition you 9ve added, select the transition on the timeline. 2. Click on the Edit menu and press Delete 1. On the Timeline, select the video clip you 9d like to add an effect to. 2. To view the available Video Effects on the Tools menu, click Video Effects . 15 Note: this picture originally appeared in the WMM Help Topics. The video effect that you add will appear in the timeline as a star on the clip it modifies. The video effects will appear like this in the middle pane. Play around with different kinds of video effects to determine what is most appropriate to your project. 3. After experimenting, select the Video Effect you 9d like to add. 4 . On the clip menu, click Add to Timeline 5. Or, you can simply click on the video effect, hold the mouse button down and drag the effect to the clip . 16 14 Removing a Video Effect When you are not satisfied with the video effect that you have introduced to any given clip, removing or deleting it is simple. 15 Adding titles, subtitles and credits to your movies Titles, subtitles and credits help add important information to your movie. You can add simple text information such as the title of your movie, your name (as writer, producer and director!!), a list of thank- yous, subtitles, the date and so on. 1 . In Timeline, select the video clip. 2. On the Clip menu, point to Video, and then click Video effects. 3. Select the video effect you want to remove. 4. Click Remove 5. To finish ress OK 17 1. On the Tools menu, click Title and Credits. Or on the Task pane, under Edit Movie, click Make titles or credits 2. On this page select what kind of title you 9d like to add 3 at the beginning of a clip, before, after, on it (such as a subtitle), or as credits at the end of the movie. 3. Type the text you want to insert here 4. Press here if you want to change the way your text appears on screen. Experiment. 5. You may want to change the size and colors of your text. Experiment. 6. When you are finished, press Done, add title to movie. 18 How it looks on the timeline... Removing a title, subtitle or credit from your movie. " On the Timeline, click the title you want to remove. " Click the Edit menu, and then press Delete 16 Importing existing pictures and audio files In addition to capturing video from a camera, you can also add digital photographs and audio files (such as mp3s) to WMM and incorporate these in your movie. Here 9s how: 1. On the Menu bar click File 2. Click on Import into collections 1. This is the title of your movie 2. This is a subtitle that appears on the cli itself These are the credits. 19 17 Saving your movie There! You 9ve done it! You 9ve created your own movie. You 9ve strung clips together, you 9ve added transitions, an effect or two, titles, credits and subtitles, and now it 9s time to save it. This is a different operation than saving a project 3 this is actually cexporting d the movie into a full, separate file that can be played on another computer or on television. 3. Select the folder that contains your desired file (eg My Music) 4. Select the file that you want to import. 5. Click Import. 6. Add your music to the Timeline by dragging it to the Audio/Music section on the timeline If you 9ve imported a photograph, drag this onto the timeline. How long will it last onscreen? Will there be music playing while it 9s shown? On File menu, click Save Movie File 20 Enter a unique file name for the movie. Save to My Videos. Press Next> Select Best quality for playback on my computer. Click Next> Select cMy computer d 3 saving the movie for computer playback. Click Next> 21 18 Saving your movie to DV Video Tape This is the best option if you want to a) show your movie on a TV screen (by connecting the camera to the TV) or b) record (eventually) to a VHS cassette. This option obviously depends on who will be watching your movie and what tools are available to show your movie. If the video camera is not connected to the computer, connect it with the USB cable and switch on the video camera. Set the camera as if you are going to record new footage. The final page in the process. Click Finish. 1. Press cSave Movie File d from the File menu. 2. Select the DV Camera option 3. When it says ccue your tape d ensure that the tape in your camera is at the right position. 4. When it says cThe content on this tape will be overwritten and lost. Do you want to continue? d If you are certain (!) click Yes. 22 And that 9s it! The End! Congratulations 3 you 9ve made your first movie. Here 9s to many more! Peter Zimba (CHESSORE) peterwzimba@yahoo.com Sandy Campbell (Research Matters) scampbell@idrc.ca Lusaka, Zambia April 2006 The page that appears is cThe recording movie to tape d and it shows the recording time remaining. The final page that appears shows that your recording to tape has been completed. Click Finish.

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