Most modern digital cameras are capable of recording short video clips with digital images. Combining these clips into one movie will allow you to create a video story with the camera. The movie can be copied to a DVD which can be shared with others. Using the free applications included in the Windows and Mac operating systems is the simplest method. It's easy to merge video clips and edit certain sections!
Steps
Step 1. Transfer videos from camera to create one video
- You can connect the camera directly to your computer via a USB cable. This will allow the computer to treat the camera as an external drive. Drag movies from your camera to your personal documents folder.
- Your computer may have a memory card reader. If so, turn off the camera and remove the memory card. Insert the card into the card slot on your computer to view and edit the video clips it contains.
Step 2. Launch the free application pre-installed on your computer
- On Windows, the application is called Windows Movie Maker or Windows Live Movie Maker.
- On Mac, the application is called iMovie.
Step 3. Create a new project and give it a descriptive title before you start editing videos
Step 4. Import the video clips into the project using the Import Media button
Step 5. Click and drag each clip into the Video section of the timeline at the bottom of the application window
Step 6. Edit video clips to remove all unwanted sections
- Play the timeline. When you get to a section you want to remove, take note of the moment the section starts and ends, that's when you're going to edit the video.
- Move the progress bar to the beginning of the section you want to remove. In Movie Maker, click the Trim button. In iMovie, choose "Split Video Here" from the Edit menu.
- Repeat this process at the point in the clip where the unwanted section ends.
- Delete the unwanted part of the video clip from the timeline.
Step 7. Examine the timeline again making sure that the removed part of the clip is no longer visible
Step 8. Add transitions between clips, apply background music or create the intro screen and end credits screen to make a video
Step 9. Save your edited video clip
- In Windows Movie Maker, click "Save a movie" and then choose "this computer" if you will be playing the movie from a file saved on your hard drive or if you want to upload it to a website.
- Choose "DVD" if you want to copy it to a writable DVD.
- In iMovie, save the movie through the Share button. You can choose to post it directly to YouTube, Facebook, or another sharing site.
- You can also choose to burn your movie to a DVD by choosing the iDVD option in the Share menu.
