Advanced Tips for Video Editing
**The Most Important Tip: PLEASE SAVE FREQUENTLY! If you use many of the features below while editing full video it is very possible MovieMaker will freeze at times. Save often so you don’t lose work.
Contents:
- Copy Clips to the Desktop of Your Computer
- Importing the Clips
- Muting Clips
- Trimming to the Clip You Want
- Adding Effects
- Freeze Frame
- Adding Transitions
- Adding Titles
Copy Clips to the Desktop of Your Computer
It’s best to work off your computer’s drive rather than the network. Whenever you edit video, start off class by copying the files from the P drive to your Desktop.
1) Open My Computer and find the Video Assignment Files folder in Mrs. Gaudard Digital Media. Copy that entire folder.
2) Then right click on your Desktop and select Paste.
Importing the Clips
Just like when you imported images into MovieMaker, you need to import the video clips so you can work with them.
1) In MovieMaker, click on Import video from the left menu.
2) Browse to your Desktop and highlight the video clips. Get all of them except the sample one I made.
Important: It’s best to not check the box for creating clips!!!
Click Import.
3) Now the various clips can be accessed by going to the dropdown menu at the top of the screen. Pick the one that has the scene you want to add first.
4) Drop the clip into the timeline. You’ll have to trim them to the exact part that you want. Those steps are below.
Tip: It’s best to work from the beginning of the project to the end, one clip at a time.
Muting Clips
For the first video assignment you’ll probably want to mute all the clips. To do that...
1) Expand the Audio/Video tracks by clicking on the + sign.
2) Right click on the audio track of the clip you want to mute and select Mute.
Trimming to the Clip You Want
Cutting to just the right part of a clip is the most important and probably the most time consuming task. Make sure you read all of this!
First, you need to know the main controls for moving around a clip:
The controls are under the Preview window.
A: This is the Play and Pause button. Use it to get close to the start or stop point in a clip.
B: Move back one frame.
C: Move forward one frame.
D: Split the clip at that point in the Timeline.
As you can probably tell, buttons B and C give you perfect control for getting to the exact spot you need to. Button D will let you split it at that point.
Here are the steps for editing:
1) Make sure the clip that contains the segment you want is in the Timeline.
2) Play the video or slide the marker forward until you get to the part you want to edit. When you’re close, use the B and C buttons to move to the exact frame.
3) Press the Split button (marked D in the picture above) to cut the clip at that spot. You’ll see it form a new clip in the timeline.
4) Usually you’ll want to keep a section of video that was in the middle of a larger clip. So, after doing steps 1 - 3, repeat steps 2 and 3 to split the clip at the end of the segment you want.
I did this in this example and the two splits made segment B (one split cut the start point and one split cut the end point).
5) So to get just the part I wanted (B), I would then select clip A and delete it. Then I’d select clip C and delete that, unless there was something else I wanted to keep. In that case, I’d move the marker along clip C and repeat the process above.
6) Each time you successfully trim out a part of the video that you want, save your project!
Adding Effects
It is good to add some video effects, but don’t overdo it! Make sure the effects improve your video rather than distract from the main point.
To add an effect or multiple effects:
1) Right click on the clip and select Video Effects.... That will open the Effect browser.
2) Select the effect you want in the list and click the Add button. You can add up to 8 effects. Sometimes the order will make a difference on how they work together, so you can change the order with the Move Up/Down buttons.
3) Click OK when you’re done. Watch the clip and just undo it if it’s not like you want. Repeat as necessary.
**Tip: Some effects work best when you double or triple them. For example, Ease Out or Slow Down can be more dramatic if you add them to the list twice or even three times.
Freeze Frame
You might add a Freeze Frame to make a strong point or maybe, for editing purposes, you need to extend a clip that ends too quickly.
Here are the steps I use to extend a clip.
1) Using the Play button and the buttons to move forward and backward a frame, get to the exact frame you want to freeze.
2) Click on the Split button to split the clip at that point.
3) Now click the camera icon next to the Split button. That will take a picture of the frame that’s showing in the preview.
4) Save it somewhere in your My Documents folder. It will also import it into the Collection automatically.
5) As shown above, drag the picture from the Collection down between the two clips right where you made the split.
6) Now you can change the length of the frame by selecting it and dragging the ends right or left.
Adding Transitions
Like effects, transitions can improve the quality of a video but don’t use too many. Make sure they enhance and do not distract.
1) In the pulldown menu, select Video Transitions.
2) Pick the transition you want and drag it between the two clips in the Timeline.
3) If the Audio/Video tracks are separated, you can see the transition in the Timeline between those tracks. You can click on that transition and drag the left end left or right to make the transition slower or faster.
**Important: Transitions change the length of your video because they make the clips overlap. If timing is important, do the transitions before you make your final cuts for timing.
Adding Titles
To add text to your video:
1) Move the marker to the point in the Timeline where you want the text to appear.
2) Go to Tools and select Titles and Credits.
3) Select Add title on the selected clip in the timeline.
4) Now you’ll have a series of options that you can work through in any order. Here’s my suggestion for the order:
A) Type your text in the space provided.
B) Change the text font and color. Choose something that will show up clearly on your video.
C) Change the title animation. This controls how the text appears and disappears in your video.
D) Select Done, add title to movie when you’re done.
5) You’ll see the title in the Timeline. If you click on it, you can make it longer or shorter. You can also drag it to different points in your video.
If you double click it, it will open the above options again and you can make changes as necessary after you preview it.
