GRC 119 Assignment 4 Photo Slideshow using Windows Movie Maker (PC)

Tasks: 1. Search and download photos 2. Create a Photo Slideshow 3. Add music 4. Customize slideshow 5. Export .wmv video file 6. Open a YouTube account and upload .wmv 7. Embed in a webpage

Note: If you are using a Mac then refer to the following Instructions: http://sites.csn.edu/cg/avalentiner/119/ap/A4%20Photo%20Slideshow%20Mac.pdf

Assignment Overview: This week we will be creating a web photo slideshow created with Windows Movie Maker. Web slideshows have become extremely popular especially on “community” websites like MySpace. There are many websites and numerous software programs that easily allow you to create your own custom slideshows. An optimal and free solution on the PC is Windows Movie Maker. We will use Windows Movie Maker to make a nicely, customized slideshow with a music soundtrack. Windows Movie Maker also gives you the option of exporting to a .wmv video file. Wmv video is the Microsoft video codec used for encoding video into a digital compressed format that is web friendly for both Mac and Pc computers. We will use Windows Movie Maker to export our video as a wmv file and then upload to YouTube, a website popular for sharing your videos with friends.

Creative Commons Intro: In addition to creating our slideshow we will be using images in our slideshow that have been Creative Commons licensed, http://creativecommons.org . Creative Commons licensing is more flexible than traditional copyright and allows creators to communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they waive for the benefit of other creators. Most images we will find are available for use for free with limited requirements or attribution from the original owner. Checkout CC videos explaining CC licensing, http://support.creativecommons.org/videos#wwt .

Windows Movie Maker Intro: Windows Movie Maker is included with Windows Xp and Vista PC Operating Systems. Windows Movie Maker is used mostly for editing digital videos. However, for this assignment we will use it to make a photo slideshow for the web. You can learn more about Windows Movie Maker at its website http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/default.mspx

Step 1 – Search and download photos •

We are going to need a minimum of 30 photos for our slideshow



Download the sample files off of our class website and unzip folder, http://sites.csn.edu/cg/avalentiner/119/ap/a4%20picts/picts.zip



Or you can use your own photos



You can preview the images using explorer



In addition you will need download at least 5 Creative Commons licensed images, sized 320x240 or larger (640x480 or larger recommended)



Go to http://commons.wikimedia.org

or

http://search.creativecommons.org



Do a search for vegas or vegas.jpg or your own topic?



Download 5 images that are different than the ones I have already given you



Pick a minimum of thirty images you want to use, you can delete any extras

Step 2 – Create a Windows Movie Maker Slideshow using Pc computers •

The following instructions are for Pc computers. If you are using a Mac then refer to the alternative instructions mentioned on the first page of this assignment.



Open Windows Movie Maker



Start>All Programs>Accessories>Windows Movie Maker



Under Movie Tasks (on the left side) for step 1 Capture Video, select the option "Import pictures"



Navigate to the folder containing the images you want to use. Select all the images in the folder by shift+click on the first and the last image or control+click on each image individually you want to select.



Under the center area you will see the images appear in Collection: Collections



Drag the first image down to the Storyboard timeline at the very bottom and to the first slide at the far left



Repeat steps adding images to each slide until you have approx 30 images added to your slideshow



Next, select the first slide/image and then rt+mouse click over the star in the lower left corner and select Video Effects...



Under Available Effects select the Ease In or Ease Out option and then click on the Add>> (button) and then Ok. This adds a “Ken Burns effect” to the first slide.



Ken Burns Effect is where an image slowly gets bigger or smaller, for more info view http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Burns_Effect



Repeat steps adding an effect to each slide. You should add effects to all of your images in your slideshow.



Click on the Rewind Storyboard button and then click on the Play Storyboard. Both located bottom left above slides.



Click in the box in between the first and second slide. Next, find the drop down menu at the very top that says Collections, click on down arrow of menu and change to video transitions. Find Fade and drag in between the first and second slides.



Repeat steps for the remaining slides/images, adding various video transitions throughout your entire slideshow, add a transition in between each of your images

Step 3 – Add music •

Next, we want to make our slideshow movie more interesting to view by adding music



We will need to find a “legal” song to use as our soundtrack



Find a CC licensed song (CC gives you the permission to use).



You will need to download an mp3, aif, or wav file format



Recommended site CCmixter http://ccmixter.org . Notable others: Creative Commons Audio http://creativecommons.org/audio , Jamendo http://www.jamendo.com/en , or SoundClick http://www.soundclick.com .



Important, make sure to write down the name of the artist and the song so we can give them credit later in the Assignment.



Download desired file to your local computer



Return to Windows Movie Maker



Next click on the Show Timeline button (next to the play and rewind buttons)



Notice how there are three layers, Video, Audio/Music and Title Overlay.



Add a soundtrack to the Audio/Music layer. Soundtrack should play for the duration of your slideshow. If necessary repeat the audio. Windows Movie Maker will allow you to

import wav, aif, and mp3 files. File>Import into Collections will allow you to import your audio file. Then you will need to drag from Collections onto the Audio/Music layer.

Step 4 – Customize slideshow •

Customize slideshow to your liking



Click on the Rewind Storyboard button and then click on the Play Storyboard button.



Remember there are two timeline views Show Timeline and Show Storyboard, toggle by clicking on button (next to the play and rewind buttons).



Optional, add a Title to your slideshow



Click on Tools>Titles and Credits. Choose add title at the beginning of the movie or one of the other listed options.

Step 5 – Export video file •

You will export movie as a .wmv video file



Export as a video, File>Save Movie File



Select the My computer option for Movie location option



Enter a file name for your saved movie



Save it to an a4 folder inside your 119 folder, click on Browse



For the movie setting, leave the default setting Best Quality…



Click on Next



After export finishes, use Explorer to find your file and double click on file to preview within the Windows Movie Player

Step 6 – Open a YouTube account and upload .mov Next, we will upload our video slideshow to YouTube. You will need to open a YouTube account. YouTube supports wmv media files, however videos are limited to 10 minutes in length and a max file size 1024 MB. Most free web hosts do not support media files. However, paid web hosting will allow you to upload video files. We will use the YouTube account only to store our media files (no web pages). •

Create an account with YouTube http://www.youtube.com/signup?next=/index



You will need to confirm your YouTube account by checking your email and then logging into YouTube.



Upload your wmv video by clicking on "Upload" button within your YouTube page (top right in You Tube). Your video is limited to 10 minutes and 1024 MB.



Make sure to mention the Artist and Song you are using and that it is CC licensed. YouTube provides fields for adding a Title, Description, Tags, Category, and Privacy.



Make sure to keep Privacy option the default Share your video with the world…



Save changes



Uploads usually take at the most1 minute per MB on a high-speed connection, and converting your video also takes a few minutes, approx 20minutes before you can actually view your youtube movie.



Click on go to my videos, select your video



On your video page, find the embed field, select and then copy code



You will need to copy the “Embed code” to embed video inside a new webpage in the next step.

Step 7 – Embed in a webpage •

Open up DW, create a new webpage, name similar to slideshow.html save into your A4 folder



Make sure you have created an A4 folder and save page inside this folder.



Make sure you have copied your embed code from YouTube.



Switch to code view inside DW, paste code inside body.



Switch back to Design view



Somewhere within the page type out a name for your slideshow movie, your complete name and the artist and song used in your movie, for example: “Vegas Nights” By Adam Valentiner Soundtrack by: John Doe, “Red Lights Green City”



Make sure to add a title to your webpage.



Style page as desired. Save page and preview in a browser.



Test page, video should be playable



Add a link on your index.html (course management page) for A4, should link to slideshow.html (or whatever you called it) inside the A4 folder.



Upload both pages to your webhost.



That completes the assignment, recommended you send Instructor email notifying them you are done and the URL for this assignment

Optional – Upload wmv to regular hosting account •

An alternative to YouTube for those who have regular web hosting is to upload .wmv to your web host.



Use the html code below to embed movie. Copy and paste code into the code view inside DW, must go inside body, adjust size, height and width, and filenames to your movies values

'); ');