Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion FoLC Productions need help

Hi!
I've been lurking these boards for like 2 months now and I didn’t even know you guys make great, awesome music videos and fanfic videos here. I’ve watched most of them and they are all wonderful! and got me inspired to do one myself. So I started looking for video maker programs over the ‘net and didn’t even realize I have one in my laptop. Windows Movie Maker! Yes, I don’t know I actually have this. My problem is I don’t know how to use it, I read the ‘movie making tips’ and I’m still confused, (I’m kinda dum) although I did tried to make a simple movie with pictures of me. Just to get familiar with the effects, transitions, blah, blah. But what I really want to make is those kinds of videos you creative minds make over here. I have a really really great idea for a video and I really want to try and make it. So, please help me, especially how to capture clips from L&C episodes. Please can you give me simple and easy to understand instructions on how to make videos? Pretty please! I don’t want to read the tips anymore.
I was up for like hours trying to absorb all the guidelines provided (like I said I’m really dum) but it’s almost 3 am here and I’m frantic.
thanks in advance and I'm sorry if I got out of the subject matter of these boards. If I did though feel free to delete this or do whatever it is to erase this to its existence.
thanks again.

Well, your message is right in time. In the Zoomway message board, someone asked me yesterday to do a tutorial for WMM. I thought that I wouldn't have time until at least Monday, but finally, I'm nearly done. I'll post the tutorial tomorrow in there too. Promise.

About capturing clips, I already did a tutorial, which you can find here:
http://www.lcficmbs.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=000204;p=1#000001

OK. Finally, you're very lucky. I did have more time this night than I originally thought, so I can post the tutorial right now.

But since it's pretty long, and with a lot of pictures, I won't post it here. I made a webpage with it.

Here the tutorial:
http://lncphoto.free.fr/WMM.htm

Enjoy!
Tell me if you want to know more. I just covered the basics. I hadn't explained all the possibilties of WMM, far from it. But you'll know enough yet to do a good job.

Oh, Poussin you're heaven sent!
I'm attempting to do one right now.
I don't have FairUse yet so I might have more questions later. :p
Thank you so much and I will certainly enjoy making videos!
THANKS!!!!!!
I have one more concern though but I should prolly try it before asking again I might not have to ask it anyway.

Poussin your tutorial is great!!
I did a a 20-second clip it’s actually a 4 minute clip because I added a song, I just put a couple of video clips at the start of the song. I did everything with the titles and all. It was really fun!
Now my question, well questions are:
regarding the clips
I don't quite well understand the ‘cutting’ stuff.
Say I wanted to cut a certain scene in the middle of the vid and cut it long enough to what I needed. Is this where I need apps like FairUse? Because I tried it and I press the 'cut' icon like what you said in your tutorial. I cut in the middle and I wanted to just have some few seconds from the vid when I clicked play and it played from the middle (where I had cut it) then all the way to the end. Does my question make any sense?
And one more thing. Lets say I wanted to put dialogues in the middle of my music video.
Like for example in the middle of the video I wanted the music cut and in where a scene say, Clark saying something to Lois. After this clip the music then continues. Or maybe right at the very start of the music video the dialogue comes in and the music plays after. Is this possible using WMM?
Oh and another question, sorry! I have videos saved on my hard drive can I also make clips using either FairUse or WMM?
Thanks a lot!!

Thank you so much. I'm glad you find it helpful, and that you had that much fun. I'm enjoying too making videos.

Yes, your question made sense. I actually maybe went a little too quickly explaining the cuting stuff. I'll do a little new tutorial to extend a little the explanation about that.

But I can already explain to you why it played from the middle, where you cut it. When you cut a scene in two clips, you have two clips in the storyboard area where before you had only one. It's the second one that is selected by default. So, if you press play, it plays the second one. You have to erase the part of the clips you don't want from the storyboard line, once you cut it, and then, you play the entire timeline to see the results.

I'll put theses explanations in pictures later today or tomorrow, if I don't have time today, for you to understand better what I'm saying.

I'll explain that too in my upcoming tutorial.

I'm not sure I understand what your question is but FairUse isn't to make video music. It's just to ripp the DVD to have the clips on your computer. If you already have the clips on your computer, you don't need FairUse. That's a free software. To have it, you just need to download it. It's available here: http://www.01net.com/telecharger/windows/Multimedia/encodeurs_et_decodeurs/fiches/27963.html?fy

Well, I decided to do later what I have to do, and do the tutorial first, so here the link for the continuation of the tutorial:
http://lncphoto.free.fr/WMM2.htm

I explain here:
- How to cut a clip
- How to let some dialogues on the music video

Enjoy!

Hi.
I did just realized that when i cut a scene the 'original' clip cuts into two separate clip from where i had cut it to the rest of the clip.
But I'm going to read your another tutorial or the continuation of your tutorial so i can fully understand it.

Now that I've read my own question, I don't get it either.
I think what I'm trying to ask you is if I can also make/cut clips from those episodes in my harddrive. It just seems kind of long if I tried to import one episode to WMM, I'm just wodering how many clips I'm gonna have on the collections board). But never mind this. It's just me trying to complicate things further more.
Thank you so much for your help.
I'm going to read it now.
I hope I'm not getting you into too much trouble over this or maybe I already did.
Thanks again!

okay, I can't promise this to be my last question.
I'm sorry if I'm being such a bane of your existence.
I tried to open the 'project' I made on the computer in my Dad's office. (It's okay my Dad isn't going to be home for the next few weeks ) I got to open it there but it's not playing, I mean it is playing its just that all I see is black screen. And I see those big red X's on the little boxes on the storyboard instead of the vid clips.
Why is that? And the music is gone too. What's wrong?

No troube. You're welcome.

What's wrong is that your father's computer didn't have the clips needed by the project, and neither the music file, so WMM can't find them.

And even if you transfer the video clips and the music in your father's computer, you'll need to tell WMM all the new "adresses" of the clips (I don't know how to say it diferently - you have to say where the clips are, one by one), because WMM wouldn't find them by itself since your father doesn't have the same folders as you do on your computer.

I see that's what I've been thinking too.

Oh, I tried to import one episode, the whole episode, from my dad's computer harddrive (that's where my episodes are) to WMM and after i got it imported it says error of some sort. It was working at first but when I started cutting parts of the vid, error then appears everytime. And when i tried to run it again and click my collections the video is there but suddenly it will just 'vanish' like the program will automatically close.
here take a look at the capture
Thanks again and I owe you a lot.

Yes, I know the problem. I have it VERY OFTEN when I use Windows Movie Maker. I never found out what to do to avoid that, except I save the project VERY OFTEN (after every thing I do, in fact). I even gave the advice to save very often on my first tutorial, saying that in my opinion, WMM was an unstable software.

That's why I almost never use it. I prefer Adobe Premiere Pro - definitely much more options, we can't even compare, and a lot more stable - but this software is very expensive. It's the better one that exists but it costs a lot! It exists an element version, less expensive, but still!

Anyway, back to your problem, the only advice I can give you is to erase the episode from your collections and try to import it again.

To do that, you click on the "collections" button, and then, the task menu is replaced by the list of the collections(= the clips that you imported).

You right click on the collection that gives you a problem, and you delete it.

Then, you import it again.

If that doesn't work, I can't help. Sorry. I hope someone else will have a better solution, because personally, I never found one. I really don't like WMM.

Well I googled Adobe Premiere Pro - - you were right, definitely expensive but very promising.


I will try this and if it doesn't work, Well I may have to smash my piggy bank.
hehehe!

It's okay you've been a lot of help to me with your great tutorials and answering my crazy questions. Really, there's nothing much you can do.
Thanks again!!