So now you have lots of photos and you want to show off. Sorry, show them off to friends & relatives, with a little bit more pizzazz than your typical ‘slide show’. Yup. Something flashy and preferably for free.

Well first, if we can agree that a video is an image displayed on a cathode ray tube or such, be it a still picture or movie then using Windows Movie Maker (WMM) which we already have on our Personal Computers to produce a show of stills might not seem as strange. And the ‘Speilbergs’ amongst us will also be able to benefit from this spiel. Next let’s see what we already have. Click start, All Programs, Accessories and towards the end if you are alphabetically sorted you’ll find Windows Movie Maker (WMM). Not something that from its name you would expect would handle still pictures, but it does and with a bit more flair than other free ‘slide show’ creators such as Picasa, and yet there it sits, ignored by most people. WMM can capture audio, video, and still pictures from many sources for use in the shows (it calls them movies) you create.  After editing the audio & visual content including titles and transitions, and effects, you can then save your final movie to share with friends & family.  Depending on your equipment, you can save your show to your computer or to a CD/DVD, share it with others via an E-mail attachment or on the Web or by playing it back on TV. To do all this you are going to need as a minimum: Windows XP or later, a 600 MHz processor, such as an Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon processor, 128 MB of RAM, 2 GB of free hard disk space, a CD/DVD writer together with a program that can play WMV files, like Microsoft Windows Media Player 7.0 or later -which again you will already have.
The better your kit the better the performance all round will be.

Whatever, start WMM up and this is the screen that will greet you -less the pictures. The first thing you have to do is import your photos by way of the File menu (see below). They need to be one of the many picture file types that WMM will work with (i.e.) bmp, .dib, .emf, .gif, .jfif, .jpe, .jpeg, .jpg, .png, .tif, .tiff, or .wmf and the chances are they will be.
Select the images you want in your show, click Import into Collections and they will appear in the Collections panel. Select any of those and an enlargement will appear in the Preview panel. Click on Show Storyboard (bottom left). Now select the photos in the Collection panel that you actually want to appear in the show and drag them onto the Storyboard, let go and ‘voila’, you now, already, have a basic slide show. To watch it, click on the play button at the bottom of the Preview panel.

Then save your project as it is called - before you do anything else

Now before the fun really begins (i.e.) experimenting with some special effects, transitions and timings take a closer look at the figure above. Notice how the format of the photos varies (landscape to portrait and back again  and even the size of the pictures varies. This can be unsettling to watch. A bit like those books that you have to keep turning round because the attitude of the pictures are different on every page. Annoying. Better all the same size and all the same way round and to use the effects and transitions to add the ‘interest’.
Next I think I better clarify the difference between (video) effects and transitions. An Effect determines how a picture, or title (or video clip) displays in a show. You can age an image by dragging one of the Film Age Effects on to it, and it will be applied to it for the whole time it is on the screen. A Transition falls between your images be they any of the aforementioned, or indeed any combination, controlling the change from one to the next.

Adding Effects: If it isn’t, open your Windows Movie Maker (WMM) Project, click on Video Effects in the Collections pane and you should end up with a screen somewhat like the one below, with your Storyboard at the bottom, a selected slide in the preview window and some fifteen or so Effect icons in the Video Effects Pane. Not many you may think, but more than enough I assure you. In any one project you only want to use one or two or may be two or three. Any more and they will distract from your pictures which are after all the point of the whole exercise.

To try the Effects click the one you fancy and drag it onto the image in the Storyboard that you want it to occur on. A blue star will appear in the bottom left corner of the image indicating an effect. Now press the pointer at the bottom of the preview pane to watch it. Like it? Then leave it. If you dislike it delete it by right clicking on the blue star, select delete and the effect is removed. It is as simple as that.

Applying Transitions:  WMM stores them in the Video Transitions folder in the Collections pane. You can drag any Transition onto the Story board and drop it between the two images you wish it to work on. If you do not use a transition, there will be a straight cut (no fade) between any two images. Alternatively you can drag the picture (or clip) that you want to transition to, over the one that you want to transition from and a cross-fade will automatically be added as the default between the two. If you want to change the length of time over which the transition happens then click ‘Show Timeline’. The duration of a transition can then be changed by dragging it out or in on the Transition track of the Timeline, but only up to the duration of the shorter of the two adjacent images.

Now have a play with all that, and once you are happy try using Effects & Transitions in conjunction with each other. Create a blend (I choose the word carefully) a blend of effects and transitions, but remember, only a few in each show.

Nothing adds a ‘professional’ touch to your picture show more than a title, some captioning and if you are proud of what you’ve done, giving yourself and anyone else who deserves it, some credit at the end. WMM refers all of the aforementioned as titles. The difference WMM makes between them being where they are placed (e.g.) at the beginning (uh hu, that’s a title as far as I’m concerned), before, on or after an image (that’s a caption to me) or at the end (credits -yup, we agree).

Titles set the scene at the start. With WMM you can add some ‘zing’ that will really make your audience sit up and take note. Titles can be animated - in lots of different ways. All you have to do is choose which and that couldn’t be much more straightforward: With the ‘movie’ you are working on up on the screen click on Tasks in the Tool bar at the top of the screen. That will bring up your choices- Beginning, Before Clip, On Clip, After Clip, Credits. For your Main Title select Beginning and you will be presented with a screen similar to the below. Type the magic words into the box provided then if you want to change the font style, size or position, colour or indeed the animation used, click the option and make the changes you require.

Captions can be used to provide some basic information as the show goes on thereby reducing the risk of a boring narration.

Credits can be used to provide even more interesting background data (watch some on TV and you’ll see what I mean) as well as slapping yourself on the back.

Animations are divided into Single Line, Two Line & Credits. You will be able judge them for yourself in the preview window on the right. When you are happy, click Done and it will be added to your show. It is very much the same with Captions. First you select where you want them, type words into the box provided, adjust the font, the size, colour, position and animate it in the style of your choice. Click Done and it is. So too with the Credits. Your most difficult decision is then the timing but all you do to extend or reduce the playback duration is drag the end or start handles in the timeline view. 
‘This production lark darling, it’s just so wearing.’

Click Ctrl + T in WMM to bring up the Storyboard / Timeline showing all your pictures, titles, credits and captions together and the effects and transitions that you’ve timed to perfection. Now’s the time to ask yourself, would a little music help set the scene and link it all together? Could a few spoken words help tell the story? And mightn’t a few sounds add a touch of  realism? Crunch time. So far we’ve done it all for free but if a microphone didn’t come as part of your basic kit, then my friend, you are about to spend. It won’t cost much these days, so go for one with earphones attached. That will let you hear what you are doing. Pay what you feel comfortable with but bear in mind you’ll get what you pay for.

Theme Music has to be imported first, because as you will see the narrative fits ‘in between’. It can be done much the same as the images were or you can drag music files into the Collection pane. From there you drag a music track to where you want it on to the Audio/Music timeline. You can trim either end of a track and avoid it jarring by fading the ends in and out.

Sound Effects, whether you record them yourself or acquire them, can be added similarly. To ensure these audio clips do not shift when you add other tracks, tick the Limit narration to available free space on audio music track box.

Narration is good if it adds something to your show. So don’t state what is obvious from what is on screen, whether the photo, caption or indeed the title. You’ll have to decide which of those serves the purpose best so as to avoid ‘repetition’ which is boring. Sometimes it will be one, sometimes the other. Write your script down. Indicate pauses. (You don’t have to talk non-stop.) Say it out loud. And time it. Make adjustments and do it all again. Eventually you’ll be ready to narrate the timeline. So click the microphone icon immediately above left  and the top half of the screen will look much like that above. Select your audio device and your input source and move the Input Level slider if you want to alter its volume. Move the Playback Indicator (the blue square with a vertical line on the Timeline above) to where you want to begin your audio narration -which must be in an empty part of the Audio / Music track, and you are ready.
Click Start Narration and begin read your script. You’ll probably want to do it more than once. That’s OK.  Assuming you did tick the Limit narration box your script should last until the time limit expires. If you didn’t then you will have to click Stop Narration after you have finished. In the File name box, type a name for your captured audio narration, and then click Save. The audio narration you captured is imported automatically into the current collection and the narration is added automatically to the point on the Audio/Music track where the narration was first started

By now you could have a presentation to be proud of, that will stand up against presentations produced with programs people have spent many a penny on. Feel good? Want to one better? How? You selected your best pictures and put them in the right order, not necessarily chronological but so as to tell a story. You added  effects to a some of them; and got creative with just a few of the transitions; and you adjusted their timings, clarified with a little narration, supplemented with one or two captions and backed it all with some suitable mood music. You placed a animated tile at the beginning and even moving credits at the end. What’s left?
Well, starting and finishing with a brief, blank, black slide (yes you read it right) will ‘soften’ the beginning and end of your presentation but that’s not it. What we want is a little of magic. Some things unique to your show. And the odd subtle touch that leaves the audience wondering whether they really saw it or not. Such as?

OK, a couple of simple examples in the demo show we’ve been using -to inspire you. Take the wedding invite which is in the form of a booklet. We could have just shown the spread but with just two ’same-size’ images, the front and the inside, laid directly on top of each other, together with one of the many effects to be found in WMM, we can turn the page and make it open before your very eyes. (If you have the time and patience you can do it even better by using more images taken at different stages of opening.)

Here is the other. If we take a digital copy of the shot of the bride and groom at a point in the ceremony which represents their coming together, and create a subtle flare around the candle using something like MS Paint program, which as we have discussed before is also on your PC so no cost there, we can overlay them, precisely, and use an effect to produce flare and flicker - to bring the picture alive.

So now we have finished our all electric magic picture show project what are we going to do with it?
First save to your PC: For best quality and longevity you should save your slide show project as a ‘movie’ to your computer. Then when CDs & DVDs have disappeared you will still be able to watch it on your PC. To do that, click Save Movie File (as your slide show project now becomes known) in the File menu and this will open the wizard shown below.

My computer click and follow through. Enter the name of your ‘movie’ and WMM will save it to the My Videos folder. Click Next> and WMM will automatically choose the settings that are best for your computer. Click Next> again and that’s it, saved. You can view it right away or at your leisure.

Recordable CD is next in the wizard but I wouldn’t because of the quality. I’d go for the better DVD.

E-mail saves your show as an attachment just like you do your digital photos but take note, it and the quality will be shrunk as necessary for it to be sent.

The Web enables a better alternative which is to put a high quality version on the Web and then to e-mail your friends & relatives with the link to it.

Whichever, the interest and plaudits you receive will more than make up for the time you spent adding the bells & whistles. You will be all the keener to do more. Space demands I am brief so I can only touch on each but there is a wizard to guide you through the options.

Attach to an e-mail: Click E-mail, after it is saved, enter the e-mail address of the person you are sending the movie to with your message and send it. Click Save a copy of my movie on my computer as well and then if it cannot be attached automatically you will be able to do it manually both then and in the future.

Upload to the Web: Click The Web enter the name of the ‘movie’ and choose the setting that suits the internet connection speed. After the ‘movie’ has been saved, on the Select a Video Hosting Provider and Sign In page, fill in the required details. If you do not have provider, then sign up and establish an account with one. Wait for your movie to be uploaded to the video hosting provider’s server then, to play the movie,  check the box Watch my movie on the Web after I click Finish.

Record to a DV camera: Click DV Camera to record your ‘movie’ on to a tape so that it can be watched on a DV camera or when it is connected, on a TV. Select the DV device on the DV Camera page, set your camera to playback mode, and then rewind or fast-forward the tape to the point where you want your movie to be recorded. Wait for it to be recorded to tape, then complete the Save Movie Wizard.

Save to a DVD: Not only is the quality good but DVDs allow you to save more than one movie (slide show) on to one disk together with a menu listing each. How many depends on the size of your shows but if you cannot get more than two or three on board I would seriously consider whether they are too big). But hang on there is not ‘Save to DVD’. You are right. Microsoft don’t make it easy...

Saving to a DVD involves using another program to burn your movie (record it) to disk. MS suggest Roxio or Nero but unless you are lucky they’ll cost money. Not only that they are getting too clever for their own good. They have become so bloated and Nero is so buggy that I gave up on it and searched for straightforward alternatives that “do exactly what they say on the tin” and cost about thirty times less (i.e.) £0.

WMM wizard is of little help other than indirectly. In saving your pictures to show on your PC it creates the 'starting' file you need for your DVD. In the second dialogue box click Show more choices and then High Quality Video (PAL) in the Other settings drop down as this is the best choice if you aren’t in the Americas. But the resulting file still needs converting into a format that most players will recognize and from our point of view, this is one area that rather than dominating MS is, sadly, lacking.
Programs that will convert and 'burn' to DVD can be bought but one would need a good reason to do that when there are free alternatives like DVD Flick around. It is designed to be a straightforward but powerful DVD Authoring tool which can import your movie and then create a Video DVD that will play back on your DVD player, Media Centre or Home Cinema Set. You can also add a menu for easier navigation, additional custom audio tracks and subtitles as well.

The basic steps in DVD Flick are as follows:
1 Open the program and insert a blank DVD in your burner. (If your PCs Autoplay opens just close it.)
2 Click the Project Settings button and go to Video / Target format and Accept
3 Left click the Add title button and browse to your Slide show / Movies and select the ones you want on the DVD. You can arrange them by selecting one and then use the Move Up and Move Down buttons.
4 Left click the Create DVD button / OK / Yes / Yes. And sit back while the DVD is created. When the text Finished Successfully appears you may close DVD Flick eject your DVD and go test it in your DVD players. But before you try it be sure to read the DVD Flick Guide to familiarize yourself with the program.

[If your PC has not got an internal CD/DVD burner don't worry so long as it has a USB point you can get an external USB one that you just plug in and play.]

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