Windows used to come with Movie Maker built into it and it wasn’t too bad (I’m not saying it was great I fought with it on many an occasion).  Then Apple vamped up their built in movie editing software iMovie and therefore Microsoft had to up their game a little bit too and created a well thought out title “Windows Live Movie Maker”.  Now if you were to compare the two you’d probably find that iMovie has it beaten (I’ll probably do a blog on iMovie at some point) but because more of our teachers and students have access to Live Movie Maker I chose to give a tutorial on that first. 

So what you will find below is a quick video that will show you the basics: 

• What can it do?  
• How do you go about setting up a project  
• The basic stuff
  

It also includes many screen captures of me doing things  which will hopefully make it easier for you to follow and do yourself.  If you hover your mouse over the video you will get a list of chapters (in case you want to look at something specific or have to view it in more than one setting) and will also be able to make it whole screen. Unfortunately this is not viewable on iPads or iPhones as it uses Flash :(

So what you will find is that for making a quick video of yourself from the webcam for your students, friends, or family, it is very easy.  If you want to make a simple slideshow of photographs with a music accompaniment it’s not bad.  Finally if you have some video that needs very little editing work (simple cropping off the front and back) it will allow you to make a basic video.  Essentially (see what I did there, this is from Windows Live Essentials..) for the technophobe/technoreluctant/video editing newbie this will suffice for your needs.  At best it will do what you need it to do, at worst it will frustrate you because it will not do what you want and therefore will whet your appetite for something more meaty and you’ll become an amazing video editor (I am OK with a walk on part or a minor speaking role in any Hollywood movie you make)!