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How to Create Video From a Picture

All of us have a lot of digital pictures lying around in our hard drive. Instead of just viewing a boring picture, why not create a movie montage out of it? It's a simple way of mixing your static pictures with transition effects, background music and a bit of graphics to make it more interesting. Here's a guide to making a montage or mini-movie using Windows Movie Maker.

Things You'll Need

  • A collection of photos you want to make into a video
  • Computer
  • A video-maker application like Windows Movie Maker (you can also use Picasa, or Microsoft Photostory)
  • Photo-editing software like Adobe Photoshop
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Instructions

  1. Instructions

    • 1

      Select a couple of photos from your collection and edit the images in image-editing software like Photoshop. Add extra elements or embellishments on your photos, such as thought bubbles, animated gifs, or captions to make the pictures more interesting.

    • 2

      Save your edited picture files in another folder and name it for easy reference.

    • 3

      Open your Windows Movie Maker. In the movie task pane, select "Capture Video" then "Import Pictures." Select the name of the folder where you saved your edited pictures. The contents pane will display all the pictures you've selected to include in the movie montage.

    • 4

      Go to "storyboard" at the bottom of the Windows Movie Maker pane. Here you can arrange the sequence of your photos and add special effects. Click and drag a photo to the first box in the storyboard. Repeat the steps until you've selected all the pictures you want to include in your movie.

    • 5

      Go to the movie task pane and under "Edit Movie," click "Video View Transitions." A selection of transition effects will appear in the contents pane. Drag and drop a transition effect into the storyboard in between the pictures. You can also add special effects like rotate, film age, fade in and fade out by dragging the effect onto your storyboard. This will make your still images more dynamic and will add to the movie-like quality of your montage.

    • 6

      Select "Edit Movie" under the movie task pane. Click on "Make Titles and Credits," then "Add Title" at the beginning of the movie. Type the title of the movie, then click "Done." The title will appear at the beginning of your storyboard. Put a transition effect between the title and the first picture.

    • 7

      Add music to your movie by selecting "Show Timeline" on the storyboard pane. Click the "Location" drop-down box, and select "Collections." Drag your music file to the very beginning of the "Audio/Music" track in the timeline. Arrange for the music to end where your pictures end and add a fade-out effect by right-clicking on the music file.

    • 8

      Add your credits at the end of the movie by repeating step 6. This time select "Add credits at the end of the movie."

    • 9

      Preview the movie you just created. Once you're satisfied, go to "File," then "Save Project." In the "Movie Task" pane, select "Save to my computer" and follow the on-screen instructions.

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