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Windows Movie Maker in the English Classroom

Module by: Eric Brinker. E-mail the author

Summary: Ready to revolutionize the book report? Give students the chance to enter into literature, concepts, biographies, and more in their own creative way: video editing. Free and simple software such as Windows Movie Maker make it easy for students to quickly become pros and to turn formal presentations upside down.

Windows Movie Maker in the English Classroom

by Eric Brinker

Contents:

0. Introduction

1. Essential steps to making your own movie

1a. First things first: What am I looking at?

1b. Import

1c. Edit

1d. Export

2. Fine Classroom-based examples

3. Strengths

4. Limitations

5. Tips for Teachers

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0. Introduction

There are three steps to making a finished movie: preproduction, production, and post-production. Preproduction is a time for writing, throwing paper balls on the floor beside the trash can, haggling over equipment, and finding competent and good-looking actors. Production, next, is a time for bringing the script to life: shooting takes and retakes and retakes and retakes, yelling at actors, and falling behind schedule. Lastly is post-production, the magical stage where, from the mind of the editor, raw footage morphs into feature films and DVD extras. We are concerned with this last stage, post-production.

Enter: Windows Movie Maker. Since its release in 2000, PC users have rejoiced that they too could join Hollywood's ranks in using one of the world's most popular forms of creativity and expression. This free and simple software, coupled with Internet broadcast sites like YouTube, has enabled anyone with a computer and Internet access to tell the world something new with the video medium.

Students can use this power in a number of ways to enliven English classroom participation. Formal presentations, for example, have been revolutionized. Now students can have the pleasure of a final product without the dread of public speaking. Videos can be used to analyze specific literature. Videos may also be used for creative writing, such as creating original narratives or re-imagining classic narratives. Students can even make movies as a means of studying; for example, students could creatively tell the biography of a famous figure, or could study literary concepts such as poetry and the art of a persuasive document.

1. Essential steps to making your own movie

Windows Movie Maker has three essential steps to making a movie: import, edit, and export. Users must import all necessary media files into Movie Maker; those files must be put in one folder so that Media Maker can safely access them without danger of changing, corrupting, or deleting the root files. Users then edit those files together into the desired video, usually a mash-up of separately shot/gathered videos and audio files creatively woven into a new message. Finally, users must export their creations into a new being, a video file that plays back on its own all the user's hard work in one streamlined visual. For the purposes of this article, we will use Windows Vista version of Windows Movie Maker.

1a. First things first: What am I looking at? (see Figure 1.)

Figure 1
Figure 1 (graphics1.png)
  1. Menu. Be familiar with this! Especially the “File” menu, Edit>Undo; Tools> Titles and Credits, Transitions, and Audio Levels; and the “Help” menu for anything else you might like to know about the program.
  2. Imported Media folder. This is where you can access any of your “raw” (original) media files.
  3. Preview screen. If an item in your Imported media folder is selected, the preview screen previews that media file. If the Timeline (4) is selected, the preview screen previews your movie so far.
  4. Timeline. This is where all your hard work will be; almost anything you might like to do with your raw media files will happen here. Any file that appears in the timeline is proportionately as wide as it is long, according to the numbers at the top of the timeline. To switch to storyboard mode, where any file is the same visual width no matter the time length, click View>Storyboard.
  5. Video line of timeline. Drag your video files here to insert them into your movie; the timeline shows you how long each clip lasts. Audio of any video clip is automatically included, even though the Audio line (6) of the timeline does not show you each clip's audio.
  6. Audio line of timeline. Dragging audio files here will play them at the same time as video; dragging video files here will convert them to audio-only. Effective for cutting to graphics while characters keep talking.
  7. Title Overlay. use Tools>Titles and Credits to create a title to put here; this will get you words on a screen. If video should be happening at the same time, make sure the title has video playing in the video line (5) at the same time. For credits with a solid background, you can also simply insert pictures (jpg, bmp) of words or graphics into the video line (5).

1b. Import

The first and best thing to remember about importing is that you can import at any time in your editing process; it is never too late to decide to bring in other footage, audio files, or graphics. With the software open, click on “Import Media” (see Figure 2).

Figure 2
Figure 2 (graphics2.png)

A dialog box opens, and you simply select any media files you want to add to your project to work with. Add anything you think you will need; the original files will not be changed or affected in any way by your work with Movie Maker. You may copy, paste, rename, delete, or split these files in your Imported Media folder—the original files will remain in tact, exactly as you last left them.

In Figure 3 you will see that I have added two files: a song I wrote called “Senior Wii Olympics Theme” and a video called “Apt J Sing-a-long.” I clicked on the video, and the preview screen off to the right showed the first frame of the video; in the preview screen, if I click “play” (the big triangular arrow button), my raw video will be played.

Figure 3
Figure 3 (graphics3.png)

Great! Now you're ready to edit.

1c. Edit

Windows Movie Maker is a simple video editor, yet there are enough tools to talk for pages about how to use everything. Click on Help>Help Topics for great detail and many more tools; I will show only the most basic and most crucial thing to do with imported video: splitting. This function is the number one reason for even having a video software, and is easily the main ingredient to well edited videos.

Drag the video you wish to use (e.g. Apt J Sing-a-long) into your timeline to make it a part of your final video. Select with your mouse the timeline video file, and see that your preview screen in the upper right now shows this video. I have played and stopped the video about three-quarters through; see in Figure 4 that the green time-placeholder of the preview screen matches the green placeholder of the video timeline:

Figure 4
Figure 4 (graphics4.png)

With the video in the timeline selected, click “Split” over on the right side of the screen. The video will split exactly where your green time-placeholder is. Now you have two separate videos.

To delete one section of the video, simply click and delete (with the delete keyboard key or by right clicking and choosing delete). You can drag videos back and forth along the timeline and to and from the Imported Media folder. Try dragging a new video from the Imported Media folder to the spot in between your two timeline videos.

Audio can not only be added by dragging audio files from Imported Media to the audio section of the timeline, but can also be split and moved around exactly the same way video can.

Get this: titles too.

Here I have split, or “cut,” the video at the location of the green time-placeholder, THEN dragged the second video clip to the beginning of the timeline. In Figure 5 the original beginning of my movie was automatically moved up to make room for the switch:

Figure 5
Figure 5 (graphics5.png)

If you play it back from the beginning, the preview screen will play back your current product and thus demonstrate what a master editor you have become.

Masterpiece=completed. Time to export and show the world!

1d. Export

The purpose of exporting is to make your finished product into a file that can be played by anyone on any video-playback software.

Again, this and everything else is in detail in the Help documents located in the menu at the top. Let's do it this way.

Click File>Publish Movie.

Select where you'd like to publish; I like to save it to the computer so I can be in charge of what to do with it afterward.

Name your file and choose where on your computer to save the file.

Now you are at a screen titled “Choose the settings for your movie” (Figure 6). This is the meat of the exporting phase.

Figure 6
Figure 6 (graphics6.png)

Before you choose your settings, you must first ask: how will I show off my movie? On DVD? On an Internet streaming site, such as YouTube? Only on my computer?

If only on your computer:

Select “Best quality for playback on my computer (recommended).” You won't find out the file size of your product until after it finishes exporting. If the file size of the final product is too much for you and your computer, simply go back and choose a setting from “More settings” that is smaller. Anything from “More settings” offers a predicted file size on which you can base your decision.

If on DVD:

Click on “More settings.” From this drop-down menu, you basically want the option that results in the largest file size, which will have the clearest picture when blown up to TV proportions. The file size is reported in the bottom right of your screen. The “DV-AVI (NTSC)” setting is a resolution appropriate for playback on a camcorder tape, which is the highest file size and about the video highest quality you'll get with Windows Movie Maker.

If for Internet streaming, such as YouTube:

The display size does not have to be big at all; this is good news, because you need your file to be under 100 MB (the file size limit for YouTube). For Windows Movie Maker, the setting “Windows Media VHS Quality (1.0 Mbps)” is my personal preference for Internet streaming. It offers a very low file size for a very decent Internet picture.

2. Fine Classroom-based examples

I. Lesson Plans

A. Videos as analysis

1. “Music and Me: Visual Representations of Lyrics to Popular Music”

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=964

Students choose a song they like and demonstrate analysis of lyrics by putting selected digital images into a movie with song via Movie Maker.

2. “Final Project: Exploring the Election”

http://msschimmel.blogspot.com/2008/08/final-project-lesson-plan-note-to.html

Students will research various social issues and the positions of the two presidential party candidates; with this students will “create a script and a newsvideo [sic] synthesizing and reflecting on these findings.”

3. “Rewrite the Message”

http://klaw85.wordpress.com/video-lesson-plan/

Students will analyze the ways in which original messages, such as in advertisements or political campaigns, are reconstructed to make new messages. Student will “then create their own re-writing of a message like the examples shown”: students can use Windows Movie Maker to create their own rewrites of commercials.

B. Videos as Creative Writing

“Lesson Plan: Create your own Narrative”

http://sitemaker.umich.edu/mscoleman/lesson_plans

Students create a movie using still images about a topic for which they will write an essay within the unit; the movie will serve as the essay's narration. This particular lesson plan is college-level, but the concept of creating a movie guide to an essay can easily be adapted for high school.

II. Student Works

A. Literature Re-creation

1. “Hamlet - movie trailer”

Figure 7
Figure 7 (graphics7.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ5YnRxiY70

Not made by twelfth grade students, but easily could have been; I made it in college. This or something like it could easily be used as a model or project prompt for what students might do.

2. “12th Grade English Video Project Trojan War”

Figure 8
Figure 8 (graphics8.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CxA7KWdqd8

World literature project by twelfth grade students. Retells Homer's famous story with narration and acting.

B. Biographical Re-creation

1. “John Keats: The Movie”

Figure 9
Figure 9 (graphics9.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8e_fDij2eg

Comedic and semi-allegorical recreation of John Keat's life. Humorously recreates Keat's family battle with tuberculosis by personifying the illness as a soliciting mobster.

2. “GROUCHO MARX MOVIE”

Figure 10
Figure 10 (graphics10.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EtQ4kMaDt8

Groucho Marx tells his own biography in an interview after two high school students kidnap him for their class project.

3. Strengths

  1. Delivers polished finished product; presentation skills not as key.
    • Students have the opportunity to refine their product in a visually exciting way into the outcome is exactly what they mean it to be. Their nervousness, confidence, or physical well-being on presentation day does not in any way affect the quality of their video. In public speaking, how the speaker feels is often how the presentation simply is.
  2. Can have write-up accompany video, giving students opportunities to explain their projects.
    • The write-up may be delivered after the video in the form of a formal presentation. Giving students a writing component to any project is always a good idea, and very often addresses one or more learning standards. It gives students an opportunity to analyze their own work to make sure that all its parts have a meaningful purpose. It also gives students a chance to make sure that their teacher sees everything the student wants them to see. No one wants their subtle genius to be overlooked.
  3. Can have students critique each other's videos.
    • Virginia Standard of Learning 12.2 says that students will evaluate formal presentations. This is a great way of receiving feedback and analyzing new approaches to literature.
  4. Integrates technology into the classroom.
    • This is one way to let students have a hands-on, proactive approach to their learning. Students learn multiple skills at a time; they perform acts of comprehension, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis; students often do not realize how much they learn because of how much fun they have.
  5. Leads to a variety of creative video report forms.
    • This point is wonderful if all the students are studying the same text. Different movies mean different character and conflict studies, different interpretations, and different conclusions. Plus, as students become aware of the various possibilities that lay before them, they have the opportunity to choose which option is best for them; this leads to stronger student ownership and often better quality of work.
  6. Students frequently enjoy this way of knowing literature, literary concepts, and important figures.
    • Visual essays are so different than what students have very often done. Because the medium is refreshing, so too can the students ideas be.
  7. Has plenty of opportunity to incorporate pop culture.
    • Movie clips, famous images/people, sound clips, and music are all ways for students to tie in the things they love with the things they study. Again, stronger personal connections means stronger work and learning.

4. Limitations

  1. Takes lots of time to edit movies; this will either cost many class periods or will replace many homework assignments.
    • This type of project comes with many dependent variables. Do students have this software available at home, in the lab, or only in class? Takes lots of preparation and time to teach this software to students. How many students already know this software? How fast do they learn? Teaching video editing literacy could be a class by itself, let alone using it as a tool to create effective literary analysis. There may not be enough time or resources available.
  2. Students must already have video footage from which to edit; this either means stock video, or time (possibly class time) to film their own.
    • If students use stock video, where will they get it? Will the teacher create it? Will it be from movies, and unoriginal, who will provide the license? If students make their own video, will this be done during class time? Will students have materials available through the school?
  3. Does not necessarily include public speaking skills.
    • Shooting, editing, and showing a movie does not necessarily mean that the filmmaker needs to be in front of an audience. Teaching good public speaking skills would be a huge and wonderful accomplishment; video editing can let shy people turn in creative work without stepping out of their comfort zone, but part of education should be to push people past their comfort zones. Lev Vygotsky calls the area just past one's comfort zone the “zone of proximal development.”
  4. Does not necessarily include a writing component.
    • There is plenty of work to do to make a movie without having to write anything down. Asking for a writing component may be too much work for the students in too short a time (depending on the class schedule). Writing should not be discarded, however, because demonstrating the creative process of the final product will help both the student and the teacher reflect on the entire project.
  5. Requires time for presentations.
    • A 5-minute video for each of 25 students means two solid hours of videos. Preparing, making, and showing videos will take up many, many class periods. Do you have this sort of time?

5. Tips for Teachers

  1. Have written directions/references for anything you say/teach out loud; students need to find information again and again.
  2. Have students work in groups when possible, to cut down on time and materials.
  3. One way to ensure positive interdependence and personal accountability might be to have students routinely switch roles withing the group (e.g. actor, director, editor).
  4. In the event of technical difficulties, the teacher should know the program forwards and backwards; learning a more advanced program will shed light on the inner workings of a simpler program like Windows Movie Maker.
  5. If technical difficulties are unresolvable, have a backup plan, whether it is another way for the student to complete the assignment or another way for the student to get necessary materials to complete the assignment.

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