How to Create Backgrounds for Windows Movie Maker

While Windows Movie Maker can't compare to professional grade video editing software like Avid or Final Cut, it is still deceptively powerful nonetheless. There are limited built-in options for titles and credits including ways to spruce up a title sequence or a section header with a cool background. There are still plenty of ways to do it.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer with Windows Movie Maker installed (available free with XP and Vista)

1. Choose the background you want. Either find a photo or pattern on the Internet and download it to your desktop, or create your own picture with image software like Microsoft Paint (for very simple pictures), Photoshop (for professional art or photo touch-ups), or GIMP (a popular freeware equivalent of Photoshop).

2. Make sure the image is in the correct file format. In Windows XP, Movie Maker accepts: .bmp, .jpg, .jpeg, .jpe, .jfif, and .gif image files. In Windows Vista, Movie Maker also accepts: .png, .dib, .tif, and .tiff image files.

3. Import the image into Windows Movie Maker. Either drag the image icon into Movie Maker's "Imported Media" section, or go to "File > Import Media" and then navigate to the location of the image file.

4. The bottom section of Movie Maker can be viewed as a storyboard or a timeline. Switch to a timeline view, then drag the image clip from the clips section into the timeline's video section.

5. The image is now part of your movie. To place titles or credits on top of the image, click on the image in the timeline. Click on "Titles and Credits," and then click "On the Selected Clip," to add the title.

Tips & Warnings

• If all you need is a solid color background, Windows Movie Maker has that functionality built in: in the Titles and Credits section, simply click on "Change the Text Font and Color." Of the options that pop up, there should be one for changing the color of the text, and one for changing the color of the background. To add titles on top of video footage already in your timeline, simply create a title or credit overlay and position it in the timeline at the same time as the desired clip. Change the length of time your image background appears by clicking its edge in the timeline and dragging it to the desired length. You can also do this with titles, and music clips.
• Movie Maker fits the image to the screen. If you have the aspect ratio set at 4:3 (the default ratio), make sure your image's dimensions are the same ratio or else you'll get black bars on the top and the bottom, or the left and the right of your image. Likewise, if you have the aspect ratio set at 16:9, make sure the image's dimensions are in that ratio.