65 Add a Special Effect to a Clip

Movie Maker's special effects (called video effects in Movie Maker) might surprise you. You can turn a plain movie into one laden with effects with just a few mouse clicks and drags .

Select Tools, Video Effects to see all the effects available to you. Double-click any special effect to see, in your Monitor pane, what that effect produces.

Keep in mind that you can apply Movie Maker's special effects to all kinds of clips:

• Video clips

• Still picture clips

• Titles and credits

KEY TERM

Video effects ” Movie Maker's term for special effects you add to change the way a clip or movie plays back.

When you apply a special effect to a clip, the special effect appears on both clips if you split that clip into two clips. If you combine two clips, the combined clip takes on the special effects of the first clip. Movie Maker indicates that a special effect applies to a clip by putting a square icon in the clip's thumbnail with a blue star inside the box.

1. Select Clip
   
   Click to select the clip on which you want to apply a special effect.
   
   
2. Select Tools, Video Effects
   
   You can display all available special effects in the Contents pane by selecting Video Effects from the Tools menu.
   
   
3. Select Effect
   
   Click to select whatever special effect you want to apply to your selected clip.
   
   
4. Select Clip, Add to Storyboard
   
   To apply the effect, select Add to Storyboard from the Clip menu. A boxed icon with a blue star inside appears on the storyboard's clip indicating that a video effect is attached to that clip. If you rest your mouse pointer over the clip's effect icon, the name of the effect you applied to that clip will show.
   
   

   TIP

   You can drag the effect to the timeline or storyboard clip to apply the effect instead of using the Clip menu. If the timeline is compressed so that the clips are thin, you will need to zoom into the timeline more closely ( see 37 Zoom a Timeline Clip ) to ensure that you place the effect on the desired clip.

5. View Effect
   
   The effect appears on the storyboard's thumbnail image for the clip. If you add multiple effects for the clip, two blue stars appear in the square effects icon indicating that multiple effects are attached to the clip.
   
   

When you apply more than one video effect to the same clip, Movie Maker generates the effects in order as the movie plays. The effects do not occur at the same time.

Given that you can apply multiple effects to a single clip, you need a way to manage them so that you can add and remove effects. Movie Maker offers a way to see all available effects and all effects that you've already applied to a clip in one dialog box. From this Add or Remove Video Effects dialog box, you can easily manage multiple special effects.

1. Locate Clip with Multiple Effects
   
   Click to select a clip on your storyboard/timeline that contains multiple effects. You can tell by the square special effects icon that multiple effects are applied if two stars appear in the icon's box.
   
   
2. Right-Click the Clip
   
   Right-click the clip to display a menu.
   
   
3. Select Video Effects
   
   Select Video Effects from the menu. The Add or Remove Video Effects dialog box appears. All available special effects appear in the dialog box's left list under Available effects , and all the effects already applied to the clip appear in the dialog box's right list under Displayed effects .
   
   
4. Select Effect
   
   To remove an effect from the clip, select that effect from the right list.
   
   
5. Click Remove
   
   When you click the Remove button, Movie Maker removes that effect from the clip. All other effects remain on the clip.
   
   
6. Select Effect
   
   To add a new effect to the clip, click to select the effect from the dialog box's left list.
   
   

   TIP

   To change a clip's special effect from one effect to another, remove the effect and add the one you prefer.

7. Click Add
   
   When you click the Add button, Movie Maker adds the effect to the clip and the effect appears at the top of the Displayed effects list.
   
   
8. Click Move Down
   
   You won't always want the effects to be generated in the sequence you added them. You can move any effect up or down in the list by clicking the Move Down or Move Up button. The effect's position within the Displayed effects list changes to reflect its new position.
   
   
9. Click OK
   
   When you're done, click the OK button. The Add or Remove Video Effects dialog box disappears and the clip updates with its new effects.