Windows Movie Maker

I know you are wondering just where in the heck I've been. I know you have spent many sleepless hours worrying whether I was ok or not. And I know you have been missing your weekly fashion fix a la me. Well... the wait is over and here is my story.

I can now add movie editor and movie producer to my laundry list of skills and credentials. (Remember my so-called geek squad days?)

I have found something amazing on my computer that I didn't even know was there. Windows Movie Maker. For Mother's Day, my brother made a "movie" for his wife. The movie contained pictures from their life together - their trips, their kids, their friends, their celebrations, etc.

So, I decided to follow suit. For Father's Day, I made a movie of my own for my husband. Only I included pictures from our childhood as well. It was a hoot! However, making it was not such a hoot. And that is what I was doing all last week, scrambling to get it done by the eleventh hour.

It is an amazing tool, really - The Windows Movie Maker. I know it automatically comes with Vista and some XP editions. (But if you don't have it you can download it here.) It's quite intuitive and very fun to make. I will say my two main complaints are:
1) For some reason, 90% of the time I added a picture or moved a picture or created a transition (from one pic to another), my Windows Movie Maker would pause in Not Responding mode. Very frustrating, actually, because it would literally take 1-5 minutes to come back. This is no exaggeration. It could be because I'm on a laptop, I have no idea. I'm sure it doesn't happen to everyone or this product would be out the window (no pun intended).
2) Once the movie is complete, if you want to create a DVD (as opposed to watching it on your computer), it's actually not that easy... unless you have Vista Home Premium or better. I have Vista Home Basic, so I had to go through some trial and error to figure out what was going on and then do a little research on Google to figure out how I could download this movie I had spent (no joke) at least 25 hours making. I wasn't going to spend that amount of time on something, only to have it work on my computer damn it!

Disclaimer: the hours do include me scanning older pictures, many of them in fact. But nonetheless, the process was very time consuming. I must admit it was worth every minute and I know my husband appreciated it very much. The movie is 20 minutes long. I added music to it, so the whole ensemble was so fun to watch. A walk down memory lane. I highly advise using the program, unless you don't have the time. Then pay someone to do it!

There are quite a few features. If you have a microphone for your computer, you can narrate (or you could pretend you are Ralph Edwards from This Is Your Life and go from there). There are effects you can add to your pictures like zooming, panning, fading in/out, a ripple, sepia, and many more. And there are transitions you add which are fun ways to get you from one photo to the next. And of course, you can add movies from your video camera or computer. I think you can even capture still moments from those movies. So, there is a wealth of possibilities for the novice movie editor.

Now the question remains, can I add movie star to my resume since I am in the movie? Right...