Week+2-Comparing+Imovie+to+Windows+Movie+Maker

__**Video Editing Software Evaluation**__

I have been Windows users for the past twenty years. Last year we were fortunate enough to get three IMacs for my Intro to Video class. Due to this fact I will be comparing software’s, I Movie and Windows Movie Maker. The software comes free with the computers and so the startup cost is only the purchase of the machines. What I will be looking for is ease of use, how to import videos, pictures, sound, and include transitions. The availability of resource’s on how to use the software. Finally, how to export the movies into formats to share with other users.

When we started the Intro to Video class last year I had a studio that video and sound would not work together. Two computers that had Adobe Premier Pro for windows, but not enough space to edit the videos on. My students and I had six weeks to learn the software to create a broadcast for our school. I had been teaching Multimedia for the past two years so I did know Windows Movie Maker. This was the first choice since we could use our lab and upload the videos. However, problem number one is that with our small Sony cameras we found out that we could not upload directly to Windows Movie Maker. We had to upload to Sony’s specific software and then export into a format to use in the program. We learned pretty quickly that we had to share files and edit quickly to make the broadcast work. My principal asked if we would like to be the guinea pigs for using Imacs in the classroom for our production. Since this was a trail study we would only be able to get three.

We started using the Imacs very quickly when we got them. Three students become editors and began to learn very quickly on the computers. We could upload directly into the computer without reformatting the film. The ease of use of the Imovie is very simple to use and has a lot of help videos that are located in the Help command. Students were quickly able to learn how to edit and get videos to share. The only drawback was when we exported we had to make sure we put it into a format that windows would be able to open since most of our school was in that format. The other problem we had was that we could not on a network so we had to use flash drives to share our work.

When I was reading the steps of “How to Digital Storytelling in your Classroom” by Jennifer Law. I saw many of the “mistakes” (learning points) that I had to take the past two years. With the Imacs I had to allow the students to have to become the teacher. We were all learning together and at the time my main goal was to get the news information. They had to step up and learn on the go. Don’t get me wrong we had many “trail and errors”. I have movies that have no sounds and actors that look as white as ghost. However, with Imovie we were able to change the format of videos and make them look good even if they were uploaded with glitches. We are also able to record are voices to Imac in a few steps vs. the many steps of Windows Movie Maker. The bottom line is that because of the ease of use and the ability of students take the leadership role our principal bought seven more Imacs. We have a small lab set up next to my windows lab in which any classroom can come in and use the “Mac” lab. The quality of work is improving and we are learning new techniques from each other and helpful websites.

Here are some websites that we found useful:

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