simple user guide to free video editing software

1. 1
MoviePlus user guide
Installing MoviePlus
The MoviePlus Starter Edition installed on the Toshiba laptops is a simplified
editing software that can be downloaded free from www.serif.com/free-video-
editing-software
If you need to re-install the software for any reason you will need an internet
connection to download the software (153MB) and an email account to
register and receive the product key to enable it. In addition to the software
you will also need to install the £GBP 5 codec pack (983KB) to be able to
import and export the mp4 videos.
Be sure to remove the ‘Download Protection Service’ that the Serif site will
add to your basket!
Also, because it is a free version, every time you close the programme you
will be given an upgrade prompt – just close this.

2. 2
Using MoviePlus
When you first install MoviePlus you should find a circular purple shortcut will
be added to the Start>All Programs menu and should be copied to the
desktop. Double-click to open – and be patient as it can take a few moments
before it opens – don’t keep clicking!
You will be asked to either Start New Project or Open an existing project (any
projects you have stored will be listed as a .mvp file). The Learn menu
contains links to tutorials – but these are online and require an internet
connection.
If you open new project the first thing to do is save it in the MoviePlus
Projects folder, giving it a recognisable name, e.g. Janet’s diary 14.02.12:
File>Save As>Janet’s diary 14.02.12
Once you have named your project it is a good idea to save it regularly while
you work: either File>Save or use the save icon on the tool bar. You will
also be prompted to save the project when you close the programme.
On the top right hand side of the screen you will see the Media Pane. This is
where you will put links to the video and stills you want to use. Click on
Import Media>Import and navigate to Libraries>Documents>Bloggie
Library. If you have just downloaded the contents from the Bloggie camera,
the files should be in the latest Import folder at the bottom of the library
(usually named by date and time). If you click on an import folder you will see
a list of files (DSC for photos; MAH for videos). If you click on any file you will
see a preview on the right hand side.
Select the files you want to bring in to MoviePlus (CTRL+A if you want them
all) and then Open. You will see all the selected files open in the Media Pane.
You can click Import Media again and import files from a different Bloggie
Library folder, or indeed any other folder on your laptop.
If you put the cursor over a video file it will start playing a preview. You can
drag photos and videos to organise them in any order you like in the pane.
Trimmingvideos
Usually you will only want to use a portion of the video file – you may want to
trim footage at the beginning or the end of the file, or you may want to use
different sections of the file at different points of your edit.
You will be able to trim later in the Timeline, but a good place to start to view
your video and make decisions is the Trim Tool. Double click any video clip,
or select and click the Trim icon (knife). The clip will open in a new Trim
window. You can play the video, and set new in and out points using the [
and ] buttons. This does not alter the original clip – it is all still there for you to
use if you change your mind, or just want to use another section later on – it
just selects the portion of the clip you want to use now. If you click on the
audio button you will also see the ‘waveform’ of the sound – this can help
to place your in or out point precisely between words.

3. 3
Once you have trimmed the clip you can drag it onto the Timeline. Before
you do it is worth clicking on the Linking and Rippling buttons:
Drag the clip so that the grey outline of the video goes into the Video Track
and the outline for the sound goes into the Audio Track (the Overlay Track
can be used for captions or subtitles – you can make it smaller while you are
editing by dragging up the line that divides it from the Video Track).
If a dialogue box opens asking if you want to change project settings to match
the media file’s source format, click Yes.
If you click on the Minimize/Restore button on the left of the Audio Track, it
will show the waveform in the Timeline.
If you click the play button or just press the space bar the video will play
in the Video Preview window and you will see just the part that you selected
in the Trim Tool.
80 Editingin Timelinemode
When movingclips, any linked clipson different trackswill moveto new relative
locationson thetimelineprovidingthereisenough spaceon each track for your
clipsto relocateto.
Temporarily disabling Linking
Thereareoccasionswhereyou may find theneed to temporarily disable
Linking, for instancewhen tryingto trim clipsthat arepart of aLink,
discard an unwanted audio track (below), or copyingaclip independently
of itslinked clips.
Unlinking/linking media
Linkingoperationscan becarried out in several ways:
By clicking Linkingon theTimelinecontext toolbar. Ensure
clipsareselected.
OR
Viaright-click Link and Group> submenu (or viaEdit menu).
Select Unlink to unlink theclips(or Unlink All to unlink all
currently linked clips).
Select Link to establish alink between selected video and audio
clip (if theclipsarenot already linked).
MoviePlusletsyou link between an unlimited number of clips,
either on the same or acrossdifferent tracks.
Gettingstarted 37
Thelower playback controlsoperatemuch likeyour DVD player controlsand
allow you to navigatearound your project duringpreview.
GotoStart
Jumpsto thestart of your project.
PreviousFrame
Jumpsto thepreviousframein your project.
Click thePlayor Pausebutton to start and
pausethevideo preview, respectively. On play,
thepreview will begin from thecurrent
preview marker'sposition.
Pressthe Space bar to play and
pause.
Click theStop button (or ESC key) to stop
your video preview and reset thepreview back
to whereit originally started.
Next Frame
Jumpsto thenext framein your project.
GotoEnd
Jumpsto theend of your project.
Shuttle
Allowsyou to vary thepreview playback speed
and direction by draggingfrom thecentre
point to theleft (to reverse) or to theright (to
fast forward); releasethemouseto snap back
to normal play speed. Thisisknown as"trick
play".

4. 4
You can see the clip in more or less detail in the Timeline by using the
buttons, dragging the bar, or CTRL+/CTRL-. This is particularly useful if you
want to use the waveform in the Audio Track to find exact positions between
words.
You can trim clips on the Timeline, by dragging either end to lengthen or
shorten:
1. move the cursor over the start or end of the clip so that it changes to
2. click and drag to right or left to shorten or extend the clip (you can only
extend it if you have earlier trimmed – it can’t get longer than the
original clip!).
You can fade in or out (bring the clip up from black or fade down to black) by
moving the cursor over the blue triangle at either end of the clip until you see
the hand icon, then drag it for as far along as you want the fade to last. If you
do the same with the blue triangle on the Audio Track, it will fade the sound
up from silence or down to silence.
As you play your video (using the play button or the space bar) you will
notice the black play bar moving along the Timeline. You can drag this
anywhere in the blue time bar at the top of the Timeline to find a precise
frame, and can use it to trim shots very precisely:
 you can use the scissors icon to split the clip, then just click on the
part you don’t want and click the DEL button. If the Rippling
button is selected, it will automatically close up the gap.
 or when you find the point where you want to trim to, leave the play bar
over it – you can then drag the end of the clip, using
until it ‘snaps’ to the play bar (it will only
snap if there is ‘blank’ timeline next to it – probably
easier to use the split and DEL if it’s where two
clips join together.
HOT TIP!
If anything ever goes wrong, you seem to have
lost an edit or don’t understand what has just happened – click CTRL-Z.
It will undo your last action, and you can step back several actions. You will
use this a lot! Alternatively use the buttons on the top toolbar.
A simple edit:
For a simple edit:
1. import the video clips (and photos) you want to use into the Media
Pane
To seemoreor lessof your project at onetimeo
can perform variousoperationsalongyour time
Zooming
TheTimelinetoolbar hostsaseriesof very usefu
timeline.
To seemoreof your project in t
Out button or scroll your mousewheel do
your timelineto makeit easier to perform
button or scroll your mousewheel upward
You can usethezoom
alternativeto usingtheZoom buttons.
To seeyour entireproject within the
click theZoom toAll button.
If your timeindicator isout of view d
playback of your project preview, select Sc
View menu to jump to thetimeindicator's
Scrolling
To scroll thetimelinehorizontally, hold down t
mousewheel, or to scroll vertically, hold down t
It'salso possible to drag your timein
of your window to scroll previously h
into view.
Gettingstarted 37
Thelower playback controlsoperatemuch likeyour DVD player controlsand
allow you to navigatearound your project duringpreview.
GotoStart
Jumpsto thestart of your project.
PreviousFrame
Jumpsto thepreviousframein your project.
Click thePlayor Pausebutton to start and
pausethevideo preview, respectively. On play,
thepreview will begin from thecurrent
preview marker'sposition.
Pressthe Space bar to play and
pause.
Click theStop button (or ESC key) to stop
your video preview and reset thepreview back
to whereit originally started.
Next Frame
Jumpsto thenext framein your project.
GotoEnd
Jumpsto theend of your project.
Shuttle
Allowsyou to vary thepreview playback speed
and direction by draggingfrom thecentre
point to theleft (to reverse) or to theright (to
fast forward); releasethemouseto snap back
to normal play speed. Thisisknown as"trick
play".
88 Editingin Timelinemode
Splitting clipson the timeline
TheTrim option in theMediapaneallowsyou to split aclip into separatescenes
beforeaddingto thetimeline. However, you can still split any video clip onceon
thetimelineat thecurrently set timeindicator'sposition.
Splittingaclip into two letsyou insert another "filler" clip in between each split
clip. You can perform multiplesplitsto createdistinct sectionsof your clipsfor
deletion.
To split a clip:
1. Select theclip you would liketo split.
2. Position thetimeindicator on theruler at thepoint in theclip where
you'd liketo makethesplit.
3. Click Split on theTimelinetoolbar.
If you have no clip selected,all clipsacrosstracksare split at the
timeindicator.
Cropping
You can perform simplecropson any clip by usingthe Fit button in
either Storyboard or Timelinemode(SeeResizingclipson p. 50). Thisaffectsthe
clip for itsentireduration. However, thepower of theTimelinemodeletsyou
changeaclip'scroppingover time(just asfor transformingaclip).
Themethod for croppingand transformingover timeissimilar in theway it is
applied, i.e. likeatransform, croppingusesadedicated envelope, which is
accessiblefor any clip from theclip'sAttributesmenu. Thiscropenvelopeis
displayed, controlled and modified asfor any other envelope. It can host oneor
morekeyframesalongtheenvelopeslength (called thestrip) to dictatethecrop
selection area, i.e. each keyframesetsthecrop areasizeat that time.
For aquick recap on envelopesand keyframes, seep. 90 and p. 95.
MoviePlusopensup someinterestingpossibilitieswhen croppingover timeas
you can pan in any direction, zoom, pan/zoom together and createpanoramas.
104 Editing in Timelinemode
Manual transitions
Another typeof transition isamanual transition, which can beeither an In
transition or Out transition. They arecreated manually at thestart or end of a
singleclip, respectively. Theformer can beuseful asafade-in on thefirst clip at
thestart of atrack (first examplebelow). Conversely, an Out transition can be
applied to thelast clip in any track asafade-out (second examplebelow).
In Transition Out Transition
You may havenoticed that theabovetransition region'sshapesaredifferent
compared to previousexamples. Thearrow-shaped regionsindicatemanual
transitions—thearrow isactually ahandleto dragleft or right to adjust the
transition'sduration.
To change a manual transition'sduration:
Dragtheleft or right-hand end (asshown below) of thetransition region to
stretch or shrink it, or specify an absolutevaluein thetransition'sProperties
pane.
Remember that each transition takestimeto happen—so makesurethevideo in
theoverlap region isnot part of themain action. If you expect to usetransitions,
it’sagood ideato allow acoupleof secondsof non-essential material at thestart
and end of clipswhen you initially capturethem.
The duration of Automatictransitionsisaltered automatically by
moving either clip on thetimeline.

5. 5
2. put the clips in the order than you want to use them in (you can always
go back to a clip if you want to use it again later in the edit)
3. double click on the first clip, so it opens in the Trim tool – set the in
and out points by dragging the markers or using the [ ] buttons
4. drag the trimmed clip from the Media pane onto the Video Track on
the Timeline
5. add each trimmed clip, snapping to the end of last clip on the Timeline
6. make a fade in at the front of the first clip and a fade out at the end of
the final clip.
7. to view your edit click the Full Screen button on the top tool bar.
When you want to go back to the Timeline click in the bottom right
hand corner
A more complexedit:
You may want to do a few additional actions:
1. adjust the sound volume
2. put the sound from one image over another image
3. put one picture over another
4. output a file of your finished video to send to someone
adjust the sound:
1. click on the grey triangle next to the loudspeaker symbol on the
Audio Track and select Volume. You will see a new track open below
the Audio Track. You can choose where to put ‘key frames’ by
clicking on the blue line and then can pull these up and down to
increase or lower the sound – if a voice is too quiet you can make it
louder or if a sound is too loud, you can make it quieter.
2. If you want to extend the sound from
Getting started 39
Previewing in full screen
At somestageyou may want to view your project in full screen view. Aswell as
beingableto seehow your movielookson alarger scaleyou'll beableview your
project without guidesand makeuseof dual monitors(oneset at default size
and oneset asfull screen).
To view in full screen:
Click Full Screen on theTaskstoolbar.
Playback controlsdisappear during preview but reappear with a
mouse movement.
To close full screen view:
Click Closeto exit from full screen view.
Dual-monitor use
With dual monitorsyou can instantly preview your changesasyou perform
video editing. If you'readual-monitor MoviePlususer, you can display your full
screen view on your secondary monitor easily.
To operate dual monitors:
1. In full screen preview, click the button.
2. From thedrop-down list, enablethe"Monitor x" option from the
drop-down list (wherex isthesecondary monitor number).
After closingfull screen preview, thesetting isremembered. Thesecondary
monitor will automatically beused again for full screen preview.
If you'reexperiencing poor playback performance(e.g., stuttering) you
can:
ReducetheRender Quality(Previewmenu).
Usepre-rendering.
Gettingstarted 39
Previewing in full screen
At somestageyou may want to view your project in full screen view. Aswell as
beingableto seehow your movielookson alarger scaleyou'll beableview your
project without guidesand makeuseof dual monitors(oneset at default size
and oneset asfull screen).
To view in full screen:
Click Full Screen on theTaskstoolbar.
Playback controlsdisappear during preview but reappear with a
mouse movement.
To close full screen view:
Click Closeto exit from full screen view.
Dual-monitor use
With dual monitorsyou can instantly preview your changesasyou perform
video editing. If you'readual-monitor MoviePlususer, you can display your full
screen view on your secondary monitor easily.
To operate dual monitors:
1. In full screen preview, click the button.
2. From thedrop-down list, enablethe"Monitor x" option from the
drop-down list (wherex isthesecondary monitor number).
After closingfull screen preview, thesettingisremembered. Thesecondary
monitor will automatically beused again for full screen preview.
If you'reexperiencingpoor playback performance(e.g., stuttering) you
can:
ReducetheRender Quality(Previewmenu).
Usepre-rendering.