Windows Movie Maker And iMovie What is Windows Movie Maker: Windows movie maker is a video creating and editing software application included in Microsoft Windows. It is also a basic audio track editing program that can apply basic effects like fading in or out to an audio track. After applying the effects to the audio tracks they can be exported in the form of a sound file instead of a video file. Windows Movie Maker provides features such as: effects, transitions, titles/credits, audio track, timeline narration, and Auto Movie. Windows Movie Maker is fun and easy to use, allowing you to make home movies, photo albums, and presentations. Still pictures, video clips, sounds, music, text, and narration can be used in making a movie. While working on your movie it can be saved as a project until the final version is finished, and the final version can be exported to different formats that you can use on other computers, DVD’s, and webpages.

How to use Windows Movie Maker: When starting your project you can add photos and videos by clicking on “Add videos and photos” or by dragging them into the Movie Maker. After you have added all the photos and videos you want, you can add music to set the mood for your movie. You can use more than one song in your movie by splitting the song so that you have the portion you want in the movie, and then fade the songs in and out. You can personalize your movie by adding transitions, pan and zoom effects, visual effects, and text to give it the final touch. If you want the process of making your movie to be simple and fast, you can use AutoMovie after you have added you videos and photos. AutoMovie automatically crossfades transitions between photos and videos, adds pan and zoom effects, and fits your project to the music for you. While you are working on each of these aspects of your movie you can preview your whole project or a single picture or video at any time to see if it is what you want. Once you have personalized your movie you can either publish your movie on the web or save your movie on your computer. You can publish you movie on YouTube straight from Windows Movie Maker or you can download other publishing plug-ins (facebook, TeacherTube, etc.) to publish it to. If you choose not to share your video it can be saved to your computer in different formats. Some of the different formats your movie can be saved in are High-definition, widescreen, standard-definition, DVD, for portable device or cell phone, or for and instant messaging.

Windows Movie Maker in the classroom: In the classroom Windows Movie Maker can be used both as a teaching tool and as a source for students’ projects. There are many fun activities that can be accomplished by using Windows Movie Maker. Some different activities that can be done using Windows Movie Maker are: a how-to description movie, to teach the four seasons, create a tour video of animals in different geographic regions, compare and contrast the first Thanksgiving and the today’s Thanksgiving, analyze a poem by use pictures and songs in a movie to represent the poem, summarize plant growth, and digital storytelling. Students can also use Windows Movie Maker to present a research projects for lessons like civil rights, planets, early explorations, and news reporting. Teachers can also use Windows Movie Maker for art and technology lessons. There are many different creative ways that Windows Movie Maker can be used to capture students focus and enjoy their learning. Here are some sites to help give ideas on lessons that can use Windows Movie Maker in them while capturing students’ attention:

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What is iMovie: iMovie is a movie editing program that allows Apple Macintosh users to create movies for family memories, and presentations. It can be used on Apple products such as Mac computer, iPod Touch 4th generation, iPhone 4, and iPad 2. It is pre-installed on all new Macs and the current version is iMovie ’09. iMovie allows you to import footage from digital camcorders or the built in iSight Camera, and digital cameras to add video and photos to your movie. iMovie works with Apple applications such as QuickTime, iDVD, iPhoto, iWeb, and iTunes. You can personalize your movie by adding music, sound effect, themes, menus, titles, transitions, and other effects. After you have created your movie you can burn it onto DVD’s,and CD’s and share it on internet sites like MobileMe Gallery, YouTube, and personal web sites.

How to use iMovie: To start using iMovie you need to first transfer your video from your recording device to iMovie. If you have already stored your video or pictures to your computer then you can import them from their file, and start building your video library. Once your video has been imported it will be categorized into Events in the Library where you can view, brows, search, or embellish it. After you have uploaded your video into iMovie you may decide that it needs some enhancement. One of the enhancements that you can use is cropping, in iMovie you can crop a video the same way you crop a photo. You can also enhance your movie by adding background music, sound effects, voiceovers, and photos. The sound effects and background music can be enhanced by adjusting the general sound levels by reducing the maximum volume or adjusting clip volumes to fit within a “normalized” range. Both of these adjustments can be made in the Audio Adjustments. You can also add title styles for text and transition styles to make smoother transitions. Once you have personalized your movie by adding different effects to it you can format you movie to view. You can view you movie on the web, your computer, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, and you can publish your movie to your MobileMe Gallery or on YouTube. In order to watch your movie on your iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV you must first send the movie to your iTunes.

iMovie in the classroom: iMovie is an applicable resource that teachers can use to introduce new and creative ways to learning. With our students being technology savvy, iMovie is a great way to provide learning through an avenue that students enjoy. iMovie can be used to present lessons by bringing external artifacts into the classroom for subjects like science, math, and reading. It is also a benefit when teaching lessons that integrate multiple subjects. Below are some resources to help you integrate iMovie into the classroom: lesson-plans-technodrama.aspx lesson-plans-technodrama.aspx