How to Create a Video for Associated Content Using Still Photographs

I've made a couple of videos using photographs of flowers and I've been asked by a fellow CP to write an article on how I make them - so here it is. First of all, I choose which photographs I want to use and place them into a new folder. I do this because it makes it easier to transfer all the photographs at once rather than hunting them one by one. No other photographs should be in the new folder so there is less likelihood of confusion later. Once I've placed the photos into the folder, I close it.

Next, I open Windows Movie Maker software that was included on my computer. A list of tasks appears as follows: Import, Edit, and Publish to. Under Import you have four options: Import from a digital camera, Videos, Pictures, or Audio or music. Under Edit you have three options: Effects, Transitions, or Titles and Credits. Under Publish to you have four options: This computer, Recordable CD, E-mail, or Digital video camera. Since I use photographs that are already stored on my computer in a special folder, I click on the Pictures option. Then I browse to find the special folder I set up that has all the photographs I want to use, click on Organized, then I click on Select All. To transfer all the photographs I click Import. If you didn't make a special folder that is okay, just browse until you find a photograph you want to use and Import it; repeat the process until you have all the photos. Don't worry about importing them in order; we'll take care of that later.

In the third step is where I set up the timing of the photographs both the transition period between photographs, and the duration of each photograph. For my flower videos I usually choose between 3 to 5 seconds of duration for each photograph and a transition period of 1 second. Here's how to do it: select Tools, then select Options, click on the Advanced tab. From here you can change the picture and transition durations. I leave it on the NTSC Video format, Aspect ratio set to 4:3 and use 1 MB for the email size. Then click OK.

Now is the time to move all your photographs onto the story board; this is the strip at the bottom that looks like a movie reel. I move my photographs one by one onto the storyboard in the order I want them to appear. Once I put a photograph on the storyboard, I delete it from the list of photos just so I don't put the same photograph on the storyboard twice. If you don't like the order you have chosen then click on the photo and drag it to the place you want it then release.

We are now ready to edit the movie. Under the Movie Task panel go to part 2 to Edit Movie click on View Video Effects. If you have the basic program then your options are blur ; brightness, increase ; brightness, decrease ; ease in ; ease out ; fade in from black ; fade in from white ; fade out from black ; fade out from white ; film age, older ; film age, oldest ; film grain ; grayscale ; hue, cycles entire color spectrum. If you have a fancier version you can choose to focus in or out from different sections of the individual photograph. When I have access to the focus in/out feature I use that otherwise I just leave this section alone.
Experiment with the different effects you may find something you really like. To choose an effect, drag it to the storyboard into the star in a box in the bottom left hand corner of the individual frame. If you want to delete the effect, just right click on the star and choose delete effects.

Now under part 2 to Edit Movie go to the Make Video Transitions option. This is where you choose to pick what happens during that time period between frames. There are a lot of options in this section: bars, bowties, checkerboard, circles, diagonal, diamond, dissolve, eye, fade, fan, filled, flip, heart, inset, iris, keyhole, page, pixelate, rectangle, reveal, roll, shatter, shrink, side, spin, split, star, sweep, wheel, whirlwind, wipe, and zigzag. Again just experiment until you find the one that makes you happy. Just drag your selection down to the storyboard to the small box between frames. To delete just right click and choose delete.

Did you notice the area on the upper right side of the Windows Movie Maker has a place to play your movie? Anytime you want to check to see how an effect is working just click on the frame you want to see and press the right arrow to play it. This is also the area that tells you how long you have made your movie. There are two ways that I know of to make your movie longer or shorter: One is to add or delete photos, the other is to change the picture duration.

Now is the time to add the title and/or credits. We are still under part 2 to Edit Movie. Go to the Make Titles or Credits option. Here you will have five choices: Add the title at the beginning of the movie ; Add title before the selected clip on the storyboard ; Add title on the selected clip of the storyboard ; Add title after the selected clip on the storyboard ; and Add credits at the end of the movie. I just usually add a title page at the beginning. When I click on that option two text boxes appear. Text in the top box is bigger than the bottom box. So put your main title in the first box and the subtitle if you have one in the second. The title will appear in the playing area and you will see that it is animated and has colored background. You can make changes if you don't like what you see. If it is the animation you want to change click on Change the Title Animation. Be careful there are three sections: Titles, One Line ; Titles, Two Lines; and Credits. Be sure to click on the appropriate section or you may lose some of your information. If you want to change the font or the background color click on Edit Text Font and Color. When you make it change it automatically appears the playing area so keep editing until you find the right and perfect animation, font and background color.

We have finally come to the part where we get to move to Part 4: Finish Movie. Click on it and you have several options on where to save your movie. I prefer to save it to my computer, but it also can be saved to a CD, send it to email or the web, or send it to a DV camera.

To see the videos I've created using photographs visit:
Mums in Genie Walker's Yard
Zinnias in Genie Walker's Yard