If you are a video buff, Windows Movie Maker is a tool you may be familiar with. It comes in handy to create and edit your videos besides adding special effects to it. Considering it is a free tool it is very effective providing basic editing for your videos
. Your computer has to be powerful enough to run the program effectively. If your computer doesn’t meet the minimum requirements, then you best upg your system to support this tool. You must have enough free space in your computer as you need it to save on multiple video clips as you progress through your editing.
The more you work with video editing the more hard disk space you’ll consume. If you can, shell out some bucks for an external hard disk drive to provide addtional space for your video clips. If you want to speed up the transfer rate then opt for a IEEE 1394 card and link cable to transfer the data to your external drive. IEEE 1394is a serial data transfer protocol that has a transfer rate of 400 Mbps and is considered suitable for high bandwidth applications. It is faster than using a USB connection.
The Movie Maker allows you to: Add transitions and special effects: If used effectively, transitions like fading, flipping, or sliding scenes can lend a professional touch to your videos. The program comes with an array of transitions and special effects that you may want to experiment with. You can also give a retro look to a new video. Similarly, you can play around with some special effects to achieve different results.
Add titles and credits: To give a more professional look to your homemade videos, you may use the ‘add titles and credit’ option and include rolling credits in the end or at the beginning of your video clip, give an apt title or even try a flashback mode video with datelines and other description to make the video interesting. Add music: This feature can set the right tone for your video and create the mood to want it to convey.
Ensure the choice of music complements your video, and even blends with it. If you are doing a sales video, the concensus is to avoid music during your narration. Just use it in the introduction and exit. Add narration: Silent videos can be very effective. However, when you present your own face and voice to the audience you get an opportunity to share part of your personality. This helps build trust and your viewer may develop more of an emotional bond to you or your service/product.
Remember to use a headphone while editing your movie, instead of the speakers, to ensure you are able to detect faint sounds faint sounds that you may either need to dilute or enhance. The program also allows users to: • Mix different video clippings, making your final output more creative. • Create a movie from some old video clips using the new AutoMovie feature. • Add title animation/music as you have 43 animation styles to choose from. 
During the making of the video, if you ever get confused about any of the features of the tool, you may consider consulting Microsoft’s Movie Maker instruction pages or even visiting Web forums on video-making.
DVDrhelp.com, DVD FAQ and PapaJohn’s Movie Marker 2 site are just some of the many sites that may have an answer to any of your queries. After you have made your first movie, you may try venturing into more advanced DVD authoring capabilities. Roxio Easy CD and DVD creator 6, Ulead DVD Workshop and Win DVD Creator are some tools to look into.
