Windows Live Movie Maker has long been a part of Microsoft’s Windows Essentials, with the latest iteration fixing a lot of the previous issues and making gallery and movie making as easy as ever.
Installation & Requirements
After you run the setup file, the Windows Essentials window will pop up. There, you can choose which additional components other than the Movie Maker you wish to install. Choosing the complete option will install everything otherwise you can nitpick. Additional required software like DirectX will be installed if they do not exist in your system already. After the setup you might need to restart your computer. The official supported operating systems for the 2012 version are Windows Vista SP2, 7 and 8.
Interface
Figuring the program out is very easy. The various tabs provide a lot of options but all of them are simple as they do not use any technical terms. The Home tab is where most of the work will happen. You can view a preview of the project you are currently working on and any pictures, music and videos you add will be here. You can then edit each frame from here and the other tabs to customize your video.
There are a ton of options regarding each piece of the video. You can edit the way it appears, the transitions between the pictures, the visual effects like colour filters, pixilation, distortion and more. You can put text in any frame using your own template or using the ones provided by the application like the Cinematic one which will put in frames detailing the cast of the video or whatever else details you wish to add. Every frame can be edited individually or as a whole so your video can have multiple effects in different parts and none in others.
You music can also be customized by cutting it and placing it wherever you want. You can even record a narration and add it in while also choosing the option to put emphasis on the narration of the video from the Project tab. You can also record a video from your webcam so making personalized videos is as easy as that. Your videos can then be automatically shared in a lot of social media sites and video ones like Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr and more. There are also a lot of supported formats so you can save the video and use it on your mobile device for example with no limitations. You can even burn your videos directly to DVD through the application which is truly helpful and time effective.
Pros
-A ton of options for picture, video and audio editing across the board
-The ability to import and export virtually every multimedia format
-Webcam and microphone support for personal videos
-Social media integration
Cons
-Could use some more visualization options
Conclusion
Windows Live Movie Maker is still one of the easiest to use but most complete video making software on the market and it comes for free as well. If your movie making needs are simple then you will find a lot to love in the application.
