Editing/Assembling Video Clips  

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Here we'll talk about the fundamentals of creating a custom video clip. The heart of the program lies in this section; here's where you can get really creative by making truly unique and professional-looking videos. You can then use the clips you make as chapters in a DVD movie. Don't forget to use this tutorial along with the built-in Help file. The Help file details the functions of each button and option.

It's best to go straight through this section, but feel free to jump to any topic on the page:

- OVERVIEW - top

Video clips are created by adding content (existing videos, photos, and audio tracks) to a template called the STORYBOARD. The Storyboard can also be referred to as the TIMELINE. The Storyboard/Timeline is basically a template for the creation of your movie. Fill in the spots within the template, and you essentially have your video. The Storyboard/Timeline represents different views of the same thing. You add still images, videos, and scene transitions to the Storyboard. In addition to these, you can add audio, text, and special effects to the Timeline.

As you can see, you aren't limited to pictures, video clips, and music when constructing a new video. You can also add transitions between each component (for example, you can have one video clip fade out as the next one fades in), as well as other special effects. You can add scrolling text for beginning titles or end credits. When you're done, your video can then be included as a chapter in your final DVD (or VCD).


The Storyboard displays still images, video clips, and transitions.


The Timeline displays still images, videos, transitions, text, audio, and special effects.

If you want to create a basic video consisting of shorter video clips along with still images, stick to the Storyboard. If you'd like to include multiple audio tracks, special effects, and text, you'll need to use the Timeline. Practice makes perfect! Use the included sample content to play around with the Timeline and all of its options.

When your final video is compiled, all the content is processed into a single video. The video will progress through each clip and image that you've added, kind of like a slide show with video clips in addition to still images. You have complete control over the display time for each still image, and you can speed up/slow down and trim your video clips with ease.

The bulk of your options are accessed through the top portion of the screen that is divided into numerous tabs: MEDIA, TEXT, TRANSITIONS, EFFECTS, and EXPORT ("Export" may not appear until you've actually started to construct your video):



All of your content comes from "albums" found in the "Media" tab. Before we go any further, you're going to need to have a basic understanding of what albums are and how they work.

- ALBUMS - top

In order to add content to the Storyboard/Timeline, you need to first create an album. Albums consist of shortcuts that link to files stored on your computer. If you can master this concept (and it isn't that difficult, trust us), you're way ahead of the game. Think of album content in the same light as shortcuts on your desktop or taskbar. The icons that you click aren't the actual program icons; they're merely shortcuts. It's the same with albums. Albums contain shortcuts to your pictures, music, and videos. Several sample albums are included, but you're free to make your own.

You can create multiple albums, giving each one a unique name. For example, you can have one album for vacation photos, another one for family events... you get the idea. Obviously, you need to know the location of the photos, videos, and sounds that you want to include in your album.

To create a new album:

  1. Make sure you are within the "Media" tab. From the album pull-down, choose "<New Album>."
  2. Enter in a new album name. Just click on and type over the existing name.
  3. Click where indicated to browse your system for files to add to the album. You can add still pictures, video clips, and audio tracks. You'll use files from your album to add to the Storyboard/Timeline to create new video clips, which can then be burned to DVD.


  4. To add additional files at any other time, click the Add button.

Once your album is ready, you can then add content to the Storyboard/Timeline. Remember, the album thumbnails only link to the actual files on your system. If you delete, rename, or move the actual files, you won't be able to use the respective thumbnails in the album to add to your project. Also, don't forget that you can create more than one album. Organize your media so that it's easy to find what you need when you're making your movies.

- ADDING CONTENT TO THE STORYBOARD - top

With your albums ready to go, you can now add content to the Storyboard and start to piece together your movie. Let's take a look at part of a blank Storyboard:

You'll notice that the Storyboard consists of several squares. The larger squares are where you can insert STILL IMAGES and VIDEOS. The smaller squares inbetween are reserved for TRANSITIONS. Transitions are effects that occur as one video/image changes to another. When your final movie is compiled, everything on the Storyboard is combined into a single video file.

This animation shows you how to add a still image or video clip to the Storyboard:

Highlight the thumbnail you want to add and then click the "Add" arrow. Or, simply double-click the thumbnail. In either case, the file will be added to the next available spot on the Storyboard.

Now let's add some transitions. Click on the "Transitions" tab. Choose a transition that you like and add it before or after any photo or video. HINT: If you want a quick and easy way to apply transitions to your movie, right-click the Storyboard and choose "Random Transition to All." The program will automatically add transitions to every available spot on the Storyboard:

When you're finished adding content, your Storyboard may look something like this:

Remember, the larger squares represent still images and/or video clips. The small, colorful squares inbetween represent transitions.

- SAVING YOUR WORK - top

Now's as good a time as any to save your project. Remember to save often! Nothing's worse than a computer crash or power outage that causes you to lose all of your hard work. Go to "File" and select "Save Project." Give your project a name and remember where you save it. All of your work on the Storyboard/Timeline will be saved and can be fully edited the next time you access the file (which can be done by going to "File" and selecting "Open Project").

- PREVIEWING YOUR MOVIE - top

All right, so you've got some cool content on the Storyboard! Good for you! These small steps are important. Don't worry, while you don't need to be a wiz to make your own movies, you'll find that it does take a little practice. Who knows, maybe you'll be the next Spielberg. Or Chaplin. Anyway, let's take a look at your movie so far:

"The Player" offers standard playback controls for viewing either your entire movie, or specific components. If you want to view your movie in its entirety, click "Entire Movie" and then press "Play." Easy, right? If you only want to view a specific piece of your movie, click "Active Clip." Click the thumbnail on the Storyboard that you want to preview. Finally, click "Play" and you'll see the section playback in the window.

So, how does your movie look? Pretty bad? Don't worry, we're only getting started. You still need to organize and edit the content, add special effects, and more. Now's a good time to take a break if you haven't done so already. Go outside and shoot some more cool video or take some rockin' photos. The next sections will show you how to rearrange content on the Storyboard, edit photos and videos, and... drumroll please... use the TIMELINE to add audio, text, and special effects to your project.

- MODIFYING CONTENT - top

So far, the focus has revolved around adding content. However, most of the fun comes from organizing everything in a cool way to make a real cool lookin' video. When you're using the Storyboard, it's incredibly easy to rearrange things. This is because each component is segregated nicely; it's easy to differentiate each photo, video clip, and transition. The Timeline offers a more complex view, thus making it more difficult to organize things.

REARRANGING PHOTOS & VIDEOS top
Basically, you can rearrange photos and videos on the Storyboard by clicking and dragging any thumbnail to a new location. Yeah, that's it. Note that transitions immediately following each clip are moved along with the clip.

SWAPPING TRANSITIONS top
Changing transitions is a little different. When you click-and-drag one transition over another, the one that you clicked and dragged simply replaces the one that it lands on. In effect, transitions aren't shuffled inasmuch as they simply replace each other when one is dragged over another. Don't forget to save your project!

EDITING STILL IMAGES - DISPLAY TIME, COLOR, ETC. top
You may have noticed that when you preview your movie, still images are displayed for a set amount of time before moving along to the next component on the Storyboard. Well, you have full control over the display time for each individual photo. All you need to do is click the photo on the Storyboard, and then modify the duration in the area to the left of the Player:

You can specify the hours, minutes, seconds, and frames that you want the photo displayed. You can do this for each photo.

If you want the same display time for each preceding image, right-click the thumbnail that you just modified and choose "Apply Duration to All Following."

Check out the image above. Notice that there are various sliders for Brightness, Contrast, etc. Feel free to modify these sliders to enhance the photo. You can see the effects of your changes in the Player. At any time, you can click "Restore" to undo all the changes you made (basically, the sliders will return to the center default position).

EDITING / TRIMMING VIDEO CLIPS top
When you click on a video clip on the Storyboard, you'll see editing options similar to those available when editing photos. In addition to being able to modify the video color, you can also adjust the volume and playback speed.

Sometimes the volume of a certain video clip will be too loud when played with the rest of the audio in your movie. If that's the case, simply drag the slider to the left to lower the sound level. If you want to completely mute the sound, simply check the appropriate box. You can also perform some advanced volume control functions by raising or lowering the volume at virtually any point. Check the FAQ for details.

You can have a lot of fun playing with the speed control. Speed video up to produce funny slapstick scenes of your family members running around the house, or slow things down to create that cheesy slo-mo action sci-fi effect that Hollywood has been milking for the past few years. Whoa.

If your video clip is a little long or has parts you simply don't want to include, you can trim it in no time.

Notice that there are green and pink trim markers. These let you change the start/end time of the video. All you need to do is click and drag them. Alternately, you can move the timer to the spot you want, then click the respective Trim button (the green and pink scissors). This is the method used in the example.

In this example the video simply counts up from 1 to 5. It is then trimmed to play only 2 through 4.

The green and pink areas on the timer are cut out, and only the gray area will be played:

You can modify the trim at any time. Don't forget to save your project!

- THE TIMELINE & ADVANCED EDITING - top

Look how much you've learned! You now know how to add still images, video clips, and transitions to the Storyboard. You know that when you compile your movie, everything on the Storyboard is smooshed together to create a single video. You know how to enhance your still images and trim video clips. Now, let's find out how to add a soundtrack, special effects, and text to your movie. In order to do this, we need to leave the comfort zone of the Storyboard and use the slightly more complex Timeline.

As you already know, the Timeline displays all the same information as the Storyboard, and more. Things may look a little jumbled at first, but once you have a basic understanding of the layout, things appear much less confusing. The Timeline is divided into separate tracks. The tracks are: Text, Video, Audio 1, and Audio 2. As you may have guessed, the Text track is where you can add text effects. The Video track is where you can add still images, transitions, and video clips. The Video track also has a section that displays any audio that may be included with a video. The two audio tracks are where you can add audio files. Two different audio tracks are provided so that you can layer multiple audio files. You can effectively include an ongoing soundtrack, along with a narration or special sound effects track.

ADDING AUDIO top
Adding audio to the Timeline works exactly the same as adding still images, videos, and transitions to the Storyboard. Choose your audio from whichever album, and double-click it. You can move audio tracks around from Audio Track 1 and 2 freely. Click-and-drag them anywhere you want.

TRIMMING AUDIO top
If you've added a song that's really long or you only want to include a single verse or chorus or whatnot, you can trim the clip just like you would a video. You can also click and drag the respective edge of the file on the Timeline to change the start/end point. (Coincidentally, this works for video clips on the Video track as well.)

ADDING TEXT EFFECTS top
Just like the pros, you can add scrolling text effects to your movies. In fact, you can choose from a variety of effects to add to your text. Click on the Text tab to get started.

Start off by choosing the text style. There are two categories: Simple and Fancy. Simply click the style you want, then click-and-drag the text style you want to the Timeline. A new window will appear, allowing you to enter in the text, modify the font, etc.

Okay, so, all you need to do is click within the text box and modify the text that's already there. You can alter the text style by choosing a new one on the right side. You can add a new text string by clicking anywhere outside the existing text box. You can add multiple strings, and have each one use a different font and style. The Scroll checkbox and corresponding buttons let you add motion to the text. When you're content with your text, click OK.

You can then add/alter a text effect. Choose the Effect category that you want, then click and drag the effect directly over one of the effects on either side of the newly added text on the Timeline. You can use a different effect for when text appears and disappears. Below shows a sample of a Timeline with an added text effect.

Both the text and its related effects can be modified. Simply click on the desired component and look at the available options that appear. You can adjust the display time for the text. Depending on the effect, you may be able to adjust the display time in addition to specific effect properties. For example, if you chose a motion effect, you can choose the direction of the text movement. By the way, you've saved your project, right?

ADDING SPECIAL EFFECTS top
Click the Effects tab to see all of the fun and unusual effects. Effects are added to specific items on the Video track. You can modify the duration of the effect by clicking and dragging the edges. Note that effects are added to individual components of the video track. You can't, for example, extend an effect over two pictures. You need to add the effect over both of them.

Adding effects is similar to adding audio. You can use up to two effects at any time, and multiple effects throughout the duration of a clip. Take a look at this example; there are a total of five effects:

Click and drag the left/right sides to extend or shorten effects. Drag and drop new effects over existing ones to replace them. Effects can be deleted at any time by highlighting the effect and pressing the delete key on your keyboard.

- EXPORTING YOUR VIDEO - top

Your video must look amazing at this point. No? Well, don't worry, great film makers aren't made overnight, or however long it took you to get to this point. At least you now know how to make a cool video. Now it's just a matter of getting used to all the tools, discovering your own techniques and tricks, and gathering cool content. Before you "export" your video, save your project and give it a good preview in the Player. Okay, now go ahead and click the Export tab.

We'll make like you've created this video so that you can put it on DVD. So, go ahead and choose "DVD File" from the pull-down. You can save in a variety of file types, and alter various settings for each one. Let's use the default settings for now. Verify that you're saving the movie as a DVD (MPEG-2) file to your hard drive, then click Start. A standard Save As window will appear:

Type in a file name for your movie, and save it in a location that's easy to remember. VERY IMPORTANT: Check the box called "Add to album" and then select the album to which the saved file will be added. It isn't actually critical, but if you want to use this video clip when you're creating your DVD, it'll need to be in an album anyway.

That's it! You're done. Just relax while your movie is compiled and saved. Go take a nap; you've earned it! Once it's done, you can add the clip to a DVD or VCD project in the Create section.

- GENERAL ADVICE - top

Yes, ShowBiz can seem quite complex at first. The purpose of this tutorial is to help get you started in the right direction and understand the basic principles involved. Once you master these, there's still a whole world of possibilities. Use the sample content to make your own sample videos. Click EVERYWHERE with both the right and left mouse buttons to see all of the options that are available. Always have the Help file open so you can see definitions of each button and command.

Start by making simple videos. Link together a few pictures along with an existing video clip or two. Mix in some transitions so your final clip doesn't look too dull. Stay exclusively in the Storyboard view until you get the hang of doing and finding things. Once you've got that down, try the more advanced stuff available when you use the Timeline.

Remember, this section is the heart of the program in terms of designing movie content. You can skip this entirely if you already have video clips that you're happy with and you just want to put them on DVD. But it's good to know regardless, and if you want to do any sort of video editing, you'll have to do it here.