Windows Movie Maker最初是作为 Windows XP 服务包的一部分引入的，并(Windows XP)很快(service pack)被证明非常流行。它使创建视频变得非常容易，以至于许多人甚至不需要阅读说明。（像我一样——我用Windows XP 版本(Windows XP version)制作了几个愚蠢的模仿视频。）Windows Movie Maker也包含在Windows Vista中，但随着Windows 7的出现，微软(Microsoft)将其删除并使其成为Windows Live Essentials包的一部分. 对我来说，最新版本似乎同样易于使用，而我正在创建我的第三个愚蠢的视频而没有阅读说明。曾是(Was)我这样做会错过一些东西吗？我很想知道Windows Live Movie Maker 入门(Getting StartED with Windows Live Movie Maker)可以告诉我什么。（是的，他们在标题中将 ED 大写，因为它是一本“ED 之友”的书。）
第一印象
我必须说我被这本书的封面吓到了，这本书看起来很业余，而且匆忙拼凑起来。
尽管如此，想起那句老话不以封面来判断一本书，我路过它并深入研究内容，却发现每一页上都出现了更丑陋的铅笔画图形。虽然异想天开的方法可以很好地发挥作用（请参阅我对极客(Geeks)烹饪的评论），但这本书的设计却不在同一个联盟中。
好的，所以，不以书页来判断书，内容呢？作者James Floyd Kelly使用了大量插图，我一直认为这是一本技术书籍的加分项。标题为“NotED”("NotED")和“ExplainED”的边栏提供了额外的有用信息，标题为“LinkED”的边栏提供了有用的硬件和软件的(hardware and software)URL(URLs)。作者使用轻松的第一人称风格，仿佛在与读者交谈，这也有助于使材料具有吸引力(material appealing)。
灯光、相机、视频
第一章简要概述了该程序，解释了在后面的章节中在哪里可以找到更完整(fuller explanation)的解释，并显示了各种功能的屏幕截图。之后，本书的主要重点是使用从相机导入的材料制作自己的视频。关于如何以多种方式将数据从相机获取到Windows Live Movie Maker中有明确的说明，这应该涵盖几乎每个人的设备和软件(equipment and software). 我喜欢包含一个建议，即相机自己的软件可能是从一个设备传输到另一个设备的最佳选择。即使您的相机附带的软件可能并不复杂（我见过很多情况确实如此），但它仍然设计为专门与您的硬件配合使用。我也很欣赏解释导入的视频不会自动出现在“我的视频”(My Videos)文件夹中的侧边栏，而是转到“我的图片”(My Pictures)。作者还展示了如何创建自己的文件夹结构(folder structure)来组织和保护您的数字媒体。这是很好的建议。Windows Live Movie Maker包含一个名为AutoMovie的功能(AutoMovie)，这可能是新手电影制作人需要拼凑出一个看起来相当专业的视频。这本书包含了这样做的明确说明，这应该让新手有一个良好的开端。
让一切工作
本书的其余部分致力于制作和编辑您自己的视频的过程。作者提供了出色的常识性建议，可以帮助新手避免常见错误，例如将场景置于错误的顺序、过度使用特效或配乐、使视频过长或过短以及让观众入睡。他还指出了未经许可使用受版权保护的材料的非常重要的问题，任何(something anyone)打算在YouTube 上(YouTube)发布视频的人都应该注意这一点。版权(Copyright)随着时间的推移，所有者变得越来越棘手，包含其他人的图形或音乐可能会使视频的创作者陷入困境。在APress(APress)网站（在Source Code/Downloads部分）上还有作者创建的视频的链接，因此读者可以跟随并查看实际的创作过程。单击(Click)“下载”选项卡以找到它们。在静态照片中看到正在做的事情很好，但是在一本关于创建视频的书中，看到实际的视频示例要好得多。我们许多人在描述电影制作(movie making)时听说过的技术术语（“淡入”、“淡出”、“连续性”(Windows Live Movie Maker)解释得很好。纵横比(aspect ratio)（屏幕上图像的物理尺寸）的重要性也给出了详尽的解释。Windows Live Movie Maker还包括微软(Microsoft)所谓的“动画”。当我们听到这个术语时，我们大多数人都会想到动画卡通，但在这里它适用于场景之间的各种过渡，例如淡入淡出、溶解和擦除。解释该术语以及应用各种效果的说明非常有帮助（当我摆弄Windows Live Movie Maker时，我花了一段时间才找出过渡的去向）。
涨涨客场
本书最后的章节向您展示了如何保存您的视频（包括您可以用于成品的格式，如高清视频(definition video)和手机格式(phone format)）以及如何将其刻录到DVD并上传到YouTube。当我完成自己的视频并试图弄清楚要使用什么格式以及如何在YouTube 上(YouTube)获取它们时，我绝对可以使用这些说明。这是一个简单的过程，但Windows Live Movie Maker和YouTube都没有提供太多的说明。我没想过将我的视频（实际上是带有配乐的幻灯片）刻录到DVD，但如果我的技术有限的母亲还在，我肯定会这样做，并且这些说明会非常有用。将标题、菜单和字幕添加到DVD的过程也得到了很好的解释，这可以使视频看起来(video look)更加专业。本书的最后一章包含一个很好的对视频制作者有用的网站列表。由于Windows Live Movie Maker与所有Windows Live Essentials程序一样，经过简化以使初学者的创作过程变得容易(process easy)，因此不适用于高度复杂的工作。这些链接为想要超越基础知识的人提供信息。
我喜欢和不喜欢的
我喜欢作者的个人风格以及他自己的视频作为例子。Kelly 先生(Mr. Kelly)显然是Windows Live Movie Maker的专家用户，但他了解初学者的感受。这本书无疑填补了官方对该计划的“帮助”不足所留下的空白。正如我所提到的，这本书的图形设计是业余的。对于一本涉及艺术设计软件(design software)的书，更专业的布局会更合适。尽管如此，正如他们所说，人们不应该通过封面（或者内页上的铅笔方块）来判断这本书。
判决
Windows Live Movie Maker 入门(Getting StartED with Windows Live Movie Maker)提供了标题所承诺的内容，是对该程序的清晰介绍。它应该可以帮助新手视频或幻灯片制作者快速(video or slideshow makers) 获得信心(gain confidence)，并且与本书链接的在线示例确实很有帮助。Windows Live Essentials程序套件并不复杂，但它们对于普通人来说可能绰绰有余，拥有这样的“用户手册”可以使学习它们变得更加容易。
Book Review - Getting StartED with Windows Live Movie Maker
Windows Movie Maker was first introduced as part of a service pack for Windows XP, and quickly proved to be very popular. It made creating videos very easy, so much so that many people didn't even need to read the directions. (Like me—I created a couple of silly parody videos with the Windows XP version.) Windows Movie Maker was also included in Windows Vista, but with the advent of Windows 7, Microsoft removed it and made it part of the Windows Live Essentials package. To me, the latest version seemed just as easy to use, while I was creating my third silly video without reading the directions. Was I missing out on something by doing it that way? I was very interested to see what Getting StartED with Windows Live Movie Maker could tell me. (Yes, they capitalize ED in the title, because it is a "friends of ED" book.)
First impressions
I must say I was put off by the cover of the book, which looks very amateurish and hastily thrown together.
Still, remembering the old saying about not judging the book by its cover, I passed it by and dug into the contents, only to encounter more ugly pencil-drawing graphics on every single page. While a whimsical approach can work spectacularly well (see my review of Cooking for Geeks) this book's design is just not in the same league.
OK, so, not judging the book by its pages, what about the content? The author, James Floyd Kelly, uses plenty of illustrations, which I always consider to be a plus in a technical book. There are sidebars headed "NotED" and "ExplainED" that provide additional helpful information along the way, and sidebars headed "LinkED" that provide URLs for useful hardware and software. The author uses a relaxed, first-person style as if he were talking to the reader, which also helps make the material appealing.
Lights, camera, video
The first chapter gives a brief overview of the program, explaining where to find a fuller explanation in later chapters, and showing screenshots of the various features. After that, the book's main focus is on producing your own videos, using material imported from your camera. There are clear instructions on how to get the data from your camera into Windows Live Movie Maker in a variety of ways, which should cover pretty much everyone's equipment and software. I liked the inclusion of a suggestion that the camera's own software might be the best for making the transfer from one device to the other. Even though the software that comes with your camera may not be sophisticated (and I've seen quite a few instances where this is true) it's still designed to work specifically with your hardware. I also appreciated the sidebar that explained that imported videos don't automatically end up in the My Videos folder, but go to My Pictures instead. The author also shows how to create your own folder structure that will organize and protect your digital media. This is excellent advice. Windows Live Movie Maker includes a feature called AutoMovie, which may be all the novice filmmaker needs to put together a reasonably professional looking video. The book contains clear instructions for doing this, which should get the newcomer off to a good start.
Making it all work
The rest of the book is devoted to the process of making and editing your own videos. The author gives excellent, common-sense advice that should help newcomers avoid common mistakes like putting scenes in the wrong order, overdoing the special effects or soundtrack, making your video too long or too short, and putting your viewers to sleep. He also points out the very important issue of using copyrighted material without permission, which is something anyone who intends to post videos on YouTube should pay careful attention to. Copyright owners are getting more and more prickly over time, and the inclusion of someone else's graphics or music could land the video's creators in plenty of hot water. There's also a link to the videos the author has created, on the APress web site (in the Source Code/Downloads section), so the reader can follow along and see the creative process in action. Click on the "downloads" tab to find them. Seeing what's being done in still photos is good, but in a book about creating videos, seeing the actual video examples is much better. The technical terms that many of us have heard of in descriptions of movie making ("fade in", "fade out," "continuity" and so forth) which also apply to Windows Live Movie Maker are well explained. The importance of aspect ratio (the physical size of the image on the screen) is also given a thorough explanation. Windows Live Movie Maker also includes what Microsoft has called "animations". Most of us would think of animated cartoons when we hear this term, but here it's applied to the various kinds of transitions between scenes, such as fades, dissolves and wipes. Having the term explained along with instructions for applying the various effects was very helpful (when I was fiddling with Windows Live Movie Maker it took me a while to find out where the transitions had gone).
Up, up and away
The book concludes with chapters that show you how to save your video (including the formats you can use for the finished product, like high definition video and mobile phone format) and how to burn it to a DVD and upload it to YouTube. I could definitely have used these instructions when I was finishing up my own videos and trying to figure out what format to use and how to get them on YouTube. It's a straightforward process, but neither Windows Live Movie Maker nor YouTube provides much in the way of instructions. I didn't think of burning my videos (actually slideshows with soundtracks) to a DVD, but if my techno-limited mother were still around, I definitely would have done that and the instructions would have been very useful. The process of adding titles, menus, and credits to a DVD, which can make a video look much more professional, is also well explained. The book concludes with a chapter containing a good list of helpful web sites for video makers. Since Windows Live Movie Maker, like all the Windows Live Essentials programs, is simplified to make the creative process easy for beginners, it's not intended for highly sophisticated work. The links provide information for people who want to go beyond the basics.
What I liked and didn't like
I liked the author's personal style and the inclusion of his own videos as examples. Mr. Kelly is clearly an expert user of Windows Live Movie Maker, but he understands what it's like to be a beginner. The book definitely fills in a gap left by the inadequate official "help" for the program. As I mentioned, the graphic design of the book is amateurish. For a book dealing with artistic design software, a much more professional layout would be more appropriate. Still, as they say, one should not judge the book by its cover (or its pencil squares on the inside pages, either.)
Verdict
Getting StartED with Windows Live Movie Maker delivers what the title promises, a good clear introduction to the program. It should help novice video or slideshow makers gain confidence quickly, and the online examples linked to the book really help. The Windows Live Essentials suite of programs are not highly sophisticated, but they are likely to be more than sufficient for the average person, and having a "user's manual" like this can make learning them much easier.
