GROOVY
HOME MOVIE
GROOVY
HOME MOVIE
FROM BLAND TO GRAND: MAXIMUM PC
WALKS YOU THROUGH THE ESSENTIALS
OF EDITING DIGITAL VIDEO BY JOHN BUECHLER
Einstein taught us that time isn’t absolute, but rela-
tive to the observer. If you don’t know what he meant,
try sitting through your neighbor’s home movie of little
Gretchen’s fi rst swimming lesson. Chances are, min-
utes will seem like hours, and hours will feel like days.
That’s the result of unedited footage, which has
the power to turn even the most festive gathering
into a cruel wax museum of forced smiles. During the
barbaric reign of 8mm fi lm, the only way to edit your
home movies was with a razor and tape, but the digital
era has changed all that. With a fairly robust PC and
Windows XP, you’ve got a full-fl edged post-produc-
tion studio at your fi ngertips.
Though many folks regard trimming the fat from
their beloved memories as sacrilege, thoughtfully edit-
ing your video adds much more than it takes away. By
snipping idle shots of Aunt Juanita chain smoking her
Lucky Strikes, the focus remains on Gretch’s fi rst dog
paddle in the wading pool. You have the freedom to
cut to the beaming smiles of proud parents, add back-
ground narration and music, and even manipulate time
by showing her progress over a period of months or
years until she falls in with the wrong crowd and ends
up as a sideshow racer.
It’s true that even simple video editing applications
can be daunting to the neophyte. But once you’ve
grasped the basics in one application, you can apply
those lessons to any app! You’ll fi nd that editing your
videos can be as easy as making a mix CD for your
friends. And we’re going to prove it. Just look over
our shoulder as we walk you through the process of
taking raw footage and turning it into a professional-
looking movie using Windows Movie Maker 2, which
is a standard component of Windows XP. Before you
know it, you’ll be improvising with your own footage,
and spending next January hobnobbing with Parker
Posey at the Sundance Film Festival.NOVEMBER 2005 MA XIMUMPC