Movie Maker Windows Essentials 2012 – New Features Review

Published by Tina on

Movie Maker Windows Essentials 2012

Edit and Create Amazing, Professional Looking Videos With Windows Movie Maker!

With live video streaming, vlogging, YouTube, webinars, etc. all on the rise, having some type of video editing software is an important tool to have in your toolbox. I personally use Windows Movie Maker and find it very intuitive and packed with many great features. The program came free with my Windows computer, which is a no-cost alternative to some of the more feature-rich, costly video editing software programs available on the market today.

Windows Movie Maker is a great way for beginners to get their feet wet, so to speak, in the process of video editing. Because it most often comes with your PC, there is no dollar loss if you decide you do not like the program. Once you become proficient in the available features, and you are able to make the dollar investment, you can move on to more feature rich programs available such as Camtasia.

Movie Maker is packed full of features, but is very intuitive and easy to learn. The more you use the program, the more familiar you become with the individual features and the more proficient you will be.   Although there are some limitations in what you can do, there are plenty of options available to create a unique, professional looking video.

Recently, I upgraded to Movie Maker Windows Essentials 2012, and am enjoying even more features. A few that I’ve noticed include:

  • Webcam video

  • Text outline

  • Record narration

  • Emphasize tracks

  • View waveforms

With the webcam video option, you can record right into the Movie Maker video with ease. If you are using an external, USB webcam, don’t worry.   Within “options,” you can switch between your built-in webcam and an external one.

The ability to have text overlay the video has long been a feature in Movie Maker, but now you are able to have text outline, giving greater emphasis on the text itself.   Unfortunately, it appears that you are still not able to color in an entire text box, which would be a great feature if you were trying to “block” something displayed within the video, such as a password, code, etc.

Allowing you to record narration directly into Movie Maker is another great feature. This is especially great if you have several screen shots that you would like to narrate directly into the program as opposed to having to record separately and then add back in as a separate .mp3 file using the “add music” feature.

Emphasizing tracks is another new feature that is great if you are adding in music and/or narration on top of the audio that is already part of the video feed itself. Being able to manipulate the audio in this way is a bit of a more advanced feature, but does come in handy from time-to-time when working with different media types such as voice and music.

Lastly, being able to see the audio displayed in waveforms allows you to visually see the pauses in the speech. This is a great way to go directly to those pieces of audio/video and edit out any long pauses in speech.   While this option is also in YouTube, it is certainly nice to be able to do most, if not all, of the video editing project in one place.

If you would like to download Windows Essentials 2012, you can find the download option on Microsoft’s website [here]. You will need to download the entire Windows Essentials 2012 suite. However, once you open the suite to run the programs, you are able to pick and choose which programs you would like to run.

  • Microsoft OneDrive

  • Mail

  • Writer

  • Messenger

  • Photo Gallery and Movie Maker

If you are interested in a more in-depth tutorial video on Windows Movie Maker, please let me know by leaving a comment below this video.

This has been another Quick Tip Tuesday. I hope you found this information useful. Thank you for joining, and hope to see you next week.

-Tina

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