inserting video clips take 2

[Guest]

This post was originally entered as a response to a response but I didn't want it to get lost in the shuffle so here it is again....

Thanks for the response, PapaJohn

Hmmmm......that leads me to my next question. The beginnning of the movie has about 20 seconds of text (in the form of titles/credits) and I definately don't want any video showing during this. There are one or two other sections in the movie which have text and I don't want any video or pictures in the background. What would you recommend? The text portions of the video have a black background and a blue font. I'm thinking maybe I'll take a picture that comes out black and enter it in the timeline during these text only portions

BTW.....maybe you could pass the following recommendations on to Microsoft for future versions of Movie Maker....
1. Create another option for entering text other than "tIitles or credits." In my movie (and I"m sure in many others) this really is a misnomer because althought I'm entering text, it's neither a "title" nor a "credit." Furthermore, allow entering more than a couple of lines of text at a time. I understand that it's easy enough to keep creating new "titles" or "credits" but there is no reason why one cannot enter as much text as they want within the context of single text entry. When one enters numerous "titles" or "credits" it gives the movie a different flow because in essence, each entry is a scene. I think you catch my drift
2.Allow users to drop pictures and/or video anywhere they want on the timeline regardless of whether there is/are pictures and /or video to the left of it. This, of course would be conditional in that SOMETHING has been entered to the left of the video and/or picture either in the form of text or music
3. I don't want to beat this into the ground but it's high time Microsoft offer an option to burn to DVD. Given the proliferation of DVD burners within the general computing population, this should have been implemented some time ago. After a fair amount of research, I have learned how to create DVD's from WMM2 projects (save project as .avi file--->convert .avi file to a non-proprietary .avi file with StoikVideoConverter--->capture with Pinnacle Express (or similar program)--->burn to DVD) but I shouldn't have to go through all these steps. "Burn to DVD" should be an option within WMM2. 'Nuff said

Despite my trials and suggestions, I love WMM2. It's a great little program and I understand that software evolves as the needs of the end user evolve. As always, I appreciate your help, PapaJohn. Your commitment to helping others is unmatched and I certainly appreciate all you have done and continue to do. Best of luck to you and happy computing!

 

[PapaJohn \(MVP\)]

I agree that the use of the names 'Titles' 'Credits' and even 'Text
Overlays' are misnomers.... as you can use any of them interchangeably. When
I wrote the book I wanted to call them 'Text Clips' but I also wanted to
conform to the standard terminology. I create them anyplace and then drag
and drop them to wherever I want them to be.

You're not limited to white text on black background... use any colors for
each.... Usually I'd look for some, maybe very subtle, still image and put
the text over it rather than using a solid color. Sometimes it's the first
frame of your first video clip... make the snapshot in MM2 and use it as a
long still that leads into the first video clip.

I'll be at Microsoft next week and meeting with the Movie Maker team, so
it's good timing for your note about burning DVD. With or without the
feature in MM2, it seems like a universal need (I guess that's for all but
myself, as I don't own a DVD player and I'm still thinking about buying my
first digital camcorder).

But who knows (I'm speculating here).... MM2 can already make movies of
considerably better quality than DVD and the players for the HighMAT/WMV
combo are right around the corner, and the corner is closer. I got a copy of
the new 2-disc pack of 'Coral Reef Adventure', a movie developed for IMAX
theatres.... One disc is a standard DVD. The other is the new WMV/HD (High
Definition) which has 6 times the resolution of DVD. Playback on my laptop
is really amazing. I studied the properties of the WMV files on the disk and
made a custom profile which works great.... I can use my Hi8 analog
camcorder tapes taken in widescreen and make 1280x720 pixel high definition
movies using Movie Maker 2 today. And they play smoothly on my laptop.

Thanks for the positive comment.


PapaJohn

This post was originally entered as a response to a response but I didn't

want it to get lost in the shuffle so here it is again.....

Thanks for the response, PapaJohn.

Hmmmm......that leads me to my next question. The beginnning of the movie

has about 20 seconds of text (in the form of titles/credits) and I
definately don't want any video showing during this. There are one or two
other sections in the movie which have text and I don't want any video or
pictures in the background. What would you recommend? The text portions of
the video have a black background and a blue font. I'm thinking maybe I'll
take a picture that comes out black and enter it in the timeline during
these text only portions.

BTW.....maybe you could pass the following recommendations on to Microsoft

for future versions of Movie Maker.....

1. Create another option for entering text other than "tIitles or

credits." In my movie (and I"m sure in many others) this really is a
misnomer because althought I'm entering text, it's neither a "title" nor a
"credit." Furthermore, allow entering more than a couple of lines of text at
a time. I understand that it's easy enough to keep creating new "titles" or
"credits" but there is no reason why one cannot enter as much text as they
want within the context of single text entry. When one enters numerous
"titles" or "credits" it gives the movie a different flow because in
essence, each entry is a scene. I think you catch my drift.

2.Allow users to drop pictures and/or video anywhere they want on the

timeline regardless of whether there is/are pictures and /or video to the
left of it. This, of course would be conditional in that SOMETHING has been
entered to the left of the video and/or picture either in the form of text
or music.

3. I don't want to beat this into the ground but it's high time Microsoft

offer an option to burn to DVD. Given the proliferation of DVD burners
within the general computing population, this should have been implemented
some time ago. After a fair amount of research, I have learned how to create
DVD's from WMM2 projects (save project as .avi file--->convert .avi file to
a non-proprietary .avi file with StoikVideoConverter--->capture with
Pinnacle Express (or similar program)--->burn to DVD) but I shouldn't have
to go through all these steps. "Burn to DVD" should be an option within
WMM2. 'Nuff said.

Despite my trials and suggestions, I love WMM2. It's a great little

program and I understand that software evolves as the needs of the end user
evolve. As always, I appreciate your help, PapaJohn. Your commitment to
helping others is unmatched and I certainly appreciate all you have done and
continue to do. Best of luck to you and happy computing!