Windows Movie Maker:

A general overview

Windows Movie Maker is a program used to make short films, slideshows and mixed media presentations. It is also used by some people to record music using the narration tool. This program has been around for the greater part of the 21st century and comes with Windows computers for free. The Mac version of this program is called iMovie and is much more reliable and tends to not crash as often.

An Example:

This is an example of how Movie Maker's editing effects can change the setting of a moive

Advantages:

by Jessica Hillboe

• This program comes with Windows computers, so it is free.
• When saved, there are many formats videos can be put into: Cd, DVD, Youtube.com, or e-mail.
• It is a user friendly program, so people can learn it quickly
• A person can use this for movies, or slideshows (Multimedia friendly)
• This has audio, video, picture and recording capabilities like other expensive programs
• Film Rotation can be utilized in the "Effects" section in case movies are filmed sideways

Disadvantages:

by Jessica Hillboe

• Windows Movie Maker tends to "crash" unexpectedly, a lot
• The audio does not move when the clip moves, so narration and audio does not always line up after more precise editing
• The "Credits" option is limited to a few variations
• This program requires a lot of precision which might pose difficulty with young children if sound clips move around when editing is used.

Teacher Uses:

by Johanna Guzman

Movie Maker allows teachers to create their own videos, which they will be able to incorporate into their daily lessons/classrooms. These video’s could include:

• Instructional videos for certain lessons
• Welcome video for families
• Create educational song videos to help students remember key concepts (ex: A video about the alphabet)
• Document a class field trip
• Create a classroom story where each student contributes
• End of the year video of all the activities each student did throughout the entire school year
• Feature video for Student of the Week 

Student Uses: 

by Johanna Guzman

Students are able to create their own movie – They are able to create a story of their own and include pictures, video and audio effects. The main idea and topic of these stories come from each child’s imagination so the possibilities are endless. Some include:

• All about me project
• Family story project
• Digital Story
• Show and Tell 
• Final project presentation
• Reenact a story/play
• Reflection for a project

Resources for future learning:

by Brittany Barnes  

This a Windows Movie Maker Tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZXK68NS7gU

This is a written tutorial for Windows Movie Maker:

http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/moviemaker/a/mov_mak_beg.htm

 This is a tutorial for iMovie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_sZ4AeT8a4

This is the apple website for iMovie help:

http://www.apple.com/support/imovie/

Application For Future Teaching:

by everybody

This website offers more specific tutorials on each aspect of Windows Movie Maker:

http://www.atomiclearning.com/moviemaker2

This website offers ideas for teachers to use MovieMaker:

http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/moviemakerlessonplans/Windows_Movie_Maker_Lesson_Plans.htm

This website is from Microsoft and offers insight into how teachers can use this program:

http://www.microsoft.com/education/teachers/guides/windows_movie_maker.aspx

This website offers 322 lesson plans for teachers using Windows Movie Maker:

http://www.lessonplanet.com/search?keywords=movie+maker&rating=3

http://www.spx.org/library/documents/avoidtheredXscript_005.pdf

This article is about the "Red X" problem

http://www.microsoft.com/education/highered/whitepapers/moviemaker/MovieMaker.aspx

This is an article about education with ELL students and Movie Maker

References:

Microsoft. (2010). Movie Maker: How To Use. Retrieved from: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/default.mspx

Movie Clip. [Clip art]. Retrieved from: http://astronomy.luther.edu/EN00500_.gif

Gobster, K. (Producer). (2010, April 5^th) Krin’s Project English Video [youtube video]. Retrieved April 5th, 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojAjPAjRdq0