Get Movie Maker

If you use Windows 8, you can use Movie Maker (it's free) to create your video. Once you’ve downloaded and installed it, open the Search charm, enter Movie Maker, and then tap or click Movie Maker. You can also pin Movie Maker to Start if you plan on using it a lot.

Here's how you can edit your video with Movie Maker:

• Add transitions. Transitions give your video a smooth and professional appearance. Here's how to add them:

  1. In Movie Maker, open a project.

  2. Select the clips you want to add the transition between, and on the Animations tab, tap or click one of the transitions from the Transitions group. To add transitions to all the files in your project at the same time, tap or click Apply to all.

  3. When you're finished, on the Home tab, in the Share group, tap or click Save movie.

  

• Add visual effects. You can choose from a variety of visual effects to add to your Movie Maker project for extra impact, including blur, posterize, black and white, 3D ripple, and several fade options. Here's how to add them:

  1. In Movie Maker, open a project.

  2. Select the clips that you want to add an effect to, and then select an effect to add from the Visual effects tab in the Effects group.

• Add a soundtrack. Movie Maker has teamed up with several services to provide free music and sound effects that you can add to your videos. Here's how to add music:

  1. In Movie Maker, then open a project.

  2. On the Home tab, in the Add group, tap or click the bottom half of the Add music button and select the service that you want to use. Each service has its own site where you can browse audio files.

  3. Find the audio you want and download it to your PC.

  4. On the Home tab, tap or click Add music and select the music file you'd like to use.

  

  You can add music so it starts either at the beginning or at a specific point in your movie—to change where the audio begins, drag it to the right place in your project.