Lights, Camera, Action

A few weeks ago, I had a question emailed to me about placing photos in a slideshow and then burning it onto a CD. I guess that the natural progression to this question is, what are the options for making home movies from photos. There are several options available to accomplish this.
Macintosh is a graphical productions leader. Apples’ iMovie3 is designed to help nurture the Spielberg in you. The iMovie3 claims to be one of the easiest to use on the market. Notable pluses are its’ audio and visual effects, and also the output choices for the finished product. You have the options of publishing your movie to the web, which can allow family and friends to view it faster. It also makes it easier for them to acquire it. The next option is to copy it onto a standard VHS tape, which also makes distribution easier. The last option is to burn it onto a DVD. For those without a DVD burner, I am unsure of the quality of the VCDs or movies burned to a CD instead of a DVD, that this program produces. The difference between DVD and VCD is basically the amount of information that each type of media can store. DVDs can store about 4.7 gigabytes. CDs, which are the media that are used for VCDs, hold about 650-700 megabytes.
In an attempt not to be out done Apple, Microsoft released Windows Movie Maker. Windows Movie Maker lets you use still photos, video, and audio files to make your movie. It boasts a collection area where you place all of the files that you want to use for your film. Workspace is where you edit and arrange your work in either a storyboard or timeline perspective. It is all done using error dampening drag and drop technique that Microsoft and Windows have become known for. Windows Movie Maker allows you to save your movie to a portable device, CD, or the web. In the interest of easy distribution, Windows Movie Maker allows you to email your movie to family and friends.
For those that prefer third party software to proprietary software, you have options. Some of the noteworthy are the Pinnacle Studio, which can be found at creativepro.com, and Easy CD & DVD Creator found at roxio.com. For all of those that technologically juvenile or wish to get there young interested in movie making, there is Magic Theatre. This software is targeted especially toward children and can be found at magictheatre.com.
You can expect software for making movies to start at about $100 dollars. The good news is that Microsoft and Apple include movie making software with some of their current operating systems. This is why I would first suggest that you look on your computer first, to see if you already have movie making software before purchasing some. I hope that you find the right software to get your homegrown Hollywood started. As always, email me with your questions.