Interface
Below is the Windows Movie Maker 2 (MM2) interface. This interface consists of seven main elements; the menu bar, toolbar, movie tasks pane, collections pane, monitor, timeline, and storyboard.
Menu Bar and Toolbar
The menu bar and toolbar in MM2 provide access to important program functions. Below is a graphic of the upper portion of the MM2 interface with seven dropdown menus (circled in red). Move the cursor over individual menus to view. Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the various menu options. Below the menu bar is the toolbar. The toolbar includes such functions as new project, open project, save, undo/redo, show tasks pane, and show collections pane. Move the cursor over individual functions to view.
Note: In MM2, access to most program functions can be reached through more than one location.
Movie tasks, Collections, and Monitor
Below is a graphic of MM2’s interface including the Movie Tasks pane, the Collection pane, and Monitor window. First, the Movie Tasks pane provides an access point to capture video, edit your movie, and save your movie, as well as providing movie making tips. The links in the pane are fairly intuitive and follow, from top to bottom, the basic outline of the movie making process from start to finish. Next, the Collections pane provides a thumbnail view of videos, pictures, and even music that have been imported into MM2 for use on your movie project. From the Collections pane you select and drag clips into the storyboard or timeline to create a movie. As will be discussed later, clips can be manipulated to create a desired effect. Last, in the Monitor window you can test or preview your movie. From the function buttons at the bottom of the window (also along the top of the timeline/storyboard) you can play, stop, forward, or rewind your movie (or manually use the seek slider), split a clip or capture a still image from video (Figure 1).
Figure 1
Timeline & Storyboard
In MM2, the timeline and storyboard windows are utilized for controlling placement of media. From the timeline window, all of a project’s elements can be viewed in its respective tracks along a linear (from left to right) layout. By selecting the plus (+) or minus (-) magnifying glass at the upper left of the timeline window, a project can be viewed from its extended length in minute increments or narrowly focused down to tenths of a second. The project can be played by clicking on play/stop buttons. To narrate a timeline, click on the microphone icon and to adjust volume, click on the volume control. To toggle between views, click “Show Storyboard” or “Show Timeline.”
Timeline
By toggling to the storyboard window, tracks are replaced with individual boxes, where clips and transitions can be added (dragged), moved, or changed with ease.
Storyboard
Watch the video
Segment 3: Interface
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flash movie