Windows Live Movie Maker: A Classroom Tool

                                                By: Kristine Smith, Analiza Cianflone, and Jamee Veasley

Description: Movie Maker is a downloadable program that allows its users to create home-movies and/or slideshows all from a computer.  The site allows you to upload videos of your choice, and then edit them to perfection but adding text, music, etc.  And once you are happy with your production, Movie Maker allows you to share your videos with family, friends, or peers, which makes it perfect for use in a classroom!  For Apple's mac users, I suggest using iMovie, which is essentially Apple's version of Windows Movie Maker.

If you would like to download Movie Maker to your computer, follow this link: http://windows-live-movie-maker.en.softonic.com

Here are some simple to follow steps on the use of Movie Maker.  The same informational steps below can also be found at: http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Windows-Movie-Maker 

Steps

1. Open your file or movie. Then click “Import video”; it will take a few moments to import, depending on the file size and how long that clip is.
   
   
2. Click and drag the different sets of clips you've shot down to the Storyboard, which is located at the bottom of the window.
   
   
3. Add video effects. Click “Video Effects” on the left side of the window. Drag what effect you want and put it the star in the corner of the Clip.
   
   
4. Add transitions. Select the “View Video Transitions” from the left panel. Drag them down to the “Storyboard”, but put them in the middle box. You can view the transitions by clicking on them and watching them on the screen to the left.
   
   
5. Add music or cut short the clips by clicking the “Timeline” also at the bottom of the screen.
   
   
6. When you want to cut some time from the Clip, click the half triangle at the side of the clip, and then you can move how long you want the scene.
   
   
7. Mute the camera if you're going to make a music video; you don’t want anyone to hear that part, just the music. Then, go to “Import Audio or Music” select a song. Then drag it down to the “TimeLine” You can also cut time or make a short sound from clicking the triangle and dragging to make it as long as you want, you can have just one word, chorus or just the whole song.
   
   
8. Add title or credits by clicking on the appropriate link on the left panel. To add credits, there is a big empty bar on the form; you should put either the title of the movie, or credits. The left side of the form should go positions, like Director, or Producer, or the character. Then, the right side, will be the names of the people that play or direct in their position.
   
   
9. Click the view “timeline” and you should see the time line with the song, the title, the clips, and the effects and transitions. Then, you can view the movie that you have created by pressing play on the left panel with the screen.
   
   
10. If you are satisfied, click “Save to my computer” or if you have a CD/DVD you could also save it to that, and it should again, take a few moments to save, then you are done with your movie.
    
    

Some methods of incorporating Movie Maker into the classroom: 

The use of Movie Maker can be made useful in a classroom, and specifically a social studies classroom quite easily.  Projects in Geography, History, economics, civics, etc could be easily made into projects that use Movie Maker.  For example, students could create a Geographic biography of a location by creating a slideshow using a variety of maps showing the location, topography, etc.  Below are some other ideas of incorporating Movie Maker into social studies:

1) Students could use Movie Maker to create biographies on important historical figures.  Using movie maker they would put together a slideshow of a persons life. Here is a site with some examples of projects on historical figures that students have done in the past: http://www.youtube.com/user/sas332/videos

2) Using Movie Maker to create a commercial about a place or a person.  This could be useful in an economics unit on supply and demand and the power of advertising and appealing to your intended audience.

3)  Students could use Movie Maker to research and report as news reporters.  This could a report on current events, or even diving into the past to report on other historical events.  For example, students could do a report on a specific battle of the American Revolution. 

4) Change in Geography- Movie Maker could be used to show a time laps of the change in geography or a certain place over time.  The topic could be Colorado, for example.  Photos could be used to show the life of the Native Americans and what the landscape was like years ago.  The lesson could then continue in timeline form to modern day and include the additions of new technology and people, and the change in the landscape over time.

Helpful Resources:

• A downloadable teachers guide and tips to using Movie Maker in the classroom:

http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/windows-live-movie-maker.aspx 

• This website gives many different ideas on how to use movie maker in the classroom. It gives you ideas for all subjects and lesson plans for each subject:

https://sites.google.com/site/moviemakerproject/Home/classroom-ideas-for-movie-make

• This website teaches you how to use movie maker and how to teach students what they need to know about using movie maker:

http://teachinghistory.org/digital-classroom/tech-for-teachers/25283

• This website has many different kinds of ideas of different kinds of projects you can do in the classroom:

http://www.otsego.k12.oh.us/bradley/movie_uses.htm

• This website explains how you can first have the students begin with writing a script, creating a storyboard, and then making the final product on movie maker:

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2010/01/movie-making

Resources used:

http://windows-live-movie-maker.en.softonic.com 

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Windows-Movie-Maker 

http://www.youtube.com/user/sas332/videos

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/free%20movie%20maker (Where Movie Maker Icon was retrieved from)