Windows Live Movie Maker - Expert Skills Videos

Change Text Transparency

Adjusting text transparency is helpful to know how to do in Windows Live Movie Maker. Adding text-based watermarks requires this ability, which is a simple skill to apply once learned.

Add Audio to a Project

Adding audio to a project is an essential skill to know in Windows Live Movie Maker.  This is the first in a series of instructional clips to assist in making the best use of audio in your projects.

Crediting Audio Authors

Part of being a responsible digital citizen is to accredit the work of others. There is plenty of really good freely available music on the internet, particularly for backing tracks, however many require that their work is credited. Considering that you can access their hard work for free, is this too much to ask?

This scene credits the royalty free music provided by Bensound.

Update Audio Levels and Aspect Ratios

The Project Menu in Windows Live Movie Maker allows you to adjust the audio levels of a video clip against background audio and work out which one takes precedence.

There is also information given to update aspect ratios in a project to allow for creation of a Widescreen clip; ideal for viewing on large screens.

Updating Audio Levels

Change audio levels in Windows Live Movie Maker to ensure that video and audio files work well together and one doesn't drown out the other.

Using AutoMovie Feature​

Use the AutoMovie Feature in Windows Live Movie Maker to create a quick series of Animations (transitions) between scenes and have a simple template for a project that can be created "on the fly".
Click to set custom HTML

Splitting an Audio / Video Scene

To split an Audio or Video scene will assist in fixing perfectly any issue with background music and audio within video scenes without needing to apply specific settings over the entire Windows Live Movie Maker project.
Click to set custom HTML

Speed or Slow Motion Scenes

Windows Live Movie Maker allows scenes to be made faster and slower. This allows you to more accurately fit your video clips to music by adjusting fractionally the speed of the video either faster/slower.

Of course you can also use this feature to create an inspirational slow-mo clip, or a time lapse video in extreme fast motion.
Click to set custom HTML

Insert an Animated GIF

Using interesting and fun animated GIFs are a key part of creating great multimedia content, however all GIF files that are inserted into Windows Live Movie Maker come in without any animation features.

There is a workaround to this, which requires the use of an image editor, splitting an animated GIF into its source images and changing duration of scenes in bulk.  In this particular example, the program IrfanView was used.
Click to set custom HTML

Overlaying an image over video

There is a method of overlaying an image over video within Windows Live Movie Maker.

This is a great way to make a standard interview with straight footage and audio into something far more interesting by inserting images.

Converting WMV files to MP4

Some versions of Windows Live Movie Maker don't allow you to save files directly into the MP4 format. Never fear, there are many different online conversion tools that you can use to achieve this.  

In this example, the online Zamzar file conversion tool was used.