Recently our family celebrated our parents Golden Wedding Anniversary. Part of the celebration planning included making a video of our parents lives beginning with photos of each of them as babies through the years to current times.
This article will cover the following steps to make your anniversary memory movie using Windows Movie Maker:
Determining the Format of the Movie
Gathering and Choosing Photos
Selecting Music
Saving and Sharing the movie.
Which Layout or Format: Chronological, Theme, or Location?
Deciding on the layout of the movie will help you in determining which photos to look for and include in your movie. When it comes to the format of the video consider covering the married couples lives by decades, location or special interests. For instance when featuring the couple through the decades, include transition frames that identifies the decade, such as “1970’s”. If the special couple has enjoyed traveling through the years consider highlighting different trips. Transition frames could be used here too to distinguish different trips such as “Europe, 1970”, “Paris, 1981”. Finally, special interests that the couples has enjoyed throughout the years is another way of featuring the couple, such as travel, special sports, or antiques to name a few.
Gathering, Scanning and Saving Photos for your Movie
With the format determined, gather photos from online and physical albums, family blogs, shoe boxes, and friends to include in the movie. Photos from the celebrating couples friends will add a special level of interest since these may feature events or times that you and your family may not have. These photos will be cherished additions to the movie. Scan the photos to a folder on your computer made just for the anniversary movie. Having the photos located in one place will make it easier when importing the photographs into Windows Movie Maker or other movie program.
Music Selections for your Anniversary Memory Movie
When it comes to adding music to the movie, getting everyone involved is both fun and entertaining. Include songs specific to special events such as the couples first wedding dance. Choose songs that are extra special and meaningful such as theme songs from favorite theater or Broadway shows. Find songs online at retailers such as Amazon, or from your CD collection. Import the songs into the movie maker program and drop and drag the song into the movie time line.
Saving and Sharing the Anniversary Memory Movie
When it is time to save the movie, the Windows Movie Maker program offers several choices. The first is to save the file to your computers hard drive. This is essential throughout the creation process so that your work is not lost. When the movie is complete, you will also have the option of emailing the movie file. This feature may be limited by the file size. Email servers may limit the ability to send large movie files, such as the Google email program, which has a 25mg restriction on its attachment size. The Windows Movie Maker program offers saving the file to a CD which can then be played on a PC or laptop using Windows Media Player. If you desire a DVD that can be viewed on the television using a DVD player, you will need to first save the movie file to CD, then use a third party DVD maker software to make a DVD.
