Notes for May 17^th, 2004, MEMC Workshop on Windows Movie Maker

 

Good Points

1.    Capture is straightforward.  No limit on size of resulting .AVI file.  Program will split each captured file into clips based on time code stops and starts, if requested.  These clips are not separate .avi files on the hard disk, only within the project.  The splitting is not perfect – starts close together tend to be missed so some clips may need to be split again when you are working on them (not hard to do).

2.    Captured files are standard .avi so they can still be used at some future date if a better program than WMM is available.

3.    Both Story Board and Time Line views are offered.

4.    The timeline is easy to use.  Re-arranging clips, adding transitions and titles is easy and accurate.  In fact, editing for the visual content is very good.

5.    Clips can be cut either in the contents pane or on the timeline.  Clips can be trimmed only on the timeline.  Trimming gives more control because the trimmed part is more easily reinstated.

6.    Live sound can be carried on before and after the clip to which it relates (presuming the clip has tails which have been trimmed off) but this uses the only other audio track.

7.    Audio clips show the sound waveform.

8.    Transitions and titles can be seen in real time straight away. 

9.    There is a good selection of transitions, effects and titles.  One I have had trouble finding in other programs is “typewriter”.

10.           CDs in High M.A.T. format can be burned from within the program.  Unfortunately not many DVD players accept them yet.  Computers are more likely to.  The format is of surprisingly high quality yet is compressed to about 1/20^th the size of an equivalent .avi file.

11.           There are some useful web sites run by enthusiasts for the program.  Search Google for Windows Movie Maker Forums.

12.           Finished movies can be saved to hard disk in a wide variety of formats and qualities or they can be written out to tape or CD.   VCDs can be burned from MyDVD.

 

 

 

 

 

Not so Good

13.           Vagrant individual frames seem to pop up unwanted from time to time at cutting points.  This may be caused by the accuracy of edits seemingly being restricted to two frames – not one frame.  Frame advance jumps the counter on .08 seconds each time.  It might also result from slightly inaccurate automatic splitting of clips after capture.

14.           There are only two audio tracks and one of them is locked to the live visual and is only available for the live sound.  The other one has to carry narration, music and any additional sound effects or overlapped live sound.

15.           Apart from the main Audio/Visual tracks, tracks can not be locked, so you need to be careful when making changes.

16.           Volume control is crude.  It can only be adjusted to the one level for any one clip except for fades up or down at start and end of a clip.  There is no “rubber band” so for more control you find yourself splitting clips into smaller and smaller parts.

 

 

The NEC Computer

1.    As offered it is a good starting point for computer video editing – it works!

2.    First upgrade would probably be a second hard drive reserved for video.

3.    Then more RAM.

4.    A more powerful editing program.

5.    A DVD burner.

6.      Possibly a dedicated sound card.