How to Make Your Own Videos with Windows Movie Maker

Did you know that you can now create quality videos and slideshows in minutes just by using your computer and the software that comes factory installed on it?

That's right! There's no need to purchase additional expensive software that you don't need, when you can do it faster and easier by yourself!

It's called Windows Movie Maker and you will find it on your computer. To get started, click on the 'Start' button, then go to 'My Programs'. Depending on your system, there may be a folder named 'Windows Media'. It should be in there.

If it's not, you can simply do a search for 'Windows Movie Maker'.

Using Windows Movie Maker, you can take snapshots, graphics, uploaded video or any other kind of pictures from your computers' hard drive and upload them into the program.

Creating a Slideshow

A 'Slideshow' is like a movie, instead of moving pictures, you have a series of slides and you place a different snapshot in each frame. Then, when you push 'play', it runs through all of the frames, one after another, so that it LOOKS like a movie.

Once you have created and filled the frames with the photos of your choice, you can add text and video effects (called transitions), give it a title at the beginning and credits at the end, you can even add some audio to it!

It's that easy.

Creating a Video

If you have a web camera, you can use it to capture your own video, edit it and make it into a movie! Add cool effects, text and/or audio. Take 2 videos and make them into 1, turn 1 video into 2, etc. The only thing that limits you is your imagination.

Once you have completed your project, you can save it to your computer, burn it to disk and distribute it, upload it to your website or email it to your friends. It's up to you.

You can also create pictures from videos. Take the uploaded video, click on the clip that shows the picture that you want. Then, in the top toolbar, click on 'Tools', then click on 'Take Picture from Preview'. Save it to a file, using whatever name you wish. Now you have a picture from the video!

As you can see, you do not have to have any specialized knowledge or skills to create your own professional quality videos, from your computer without the use of any special hardware or software.

Simply use the software that comes factory installed on your computer, a healthy dose of imagination and go have fun creating your own movie masterpieces!