Plaza outside the Main Library's front doors on a sunny day

SMS Links 

DIGITAL STORIES - PICTURE OR VIDEO ESSAYS

JUST PICTURES?  USE PHOTOSTORY

Create a "Picture Essay" from digital photographs with narration and music using Microsoft's "Free" Photo Story 3

Photo Story 3 allows you to create a windows video movie from still photographs then add special effects to the pictures, transitions between the pictures, add your own text and titles, add your own voice narration, create original music or use digital music files, then output the finished "picture" story as a windows video in a variety of formats that will work on everything from email to DVDs.

Click here to Download Photo Story 3 This is a link to another web site and/or get "How-To" Instructions This is a link to another web site from Microsoft online 

GOT VIDEO?   USE WINDOWS MOVIE MAKER

Create a "Video Essay" from a combination of video clips and digital photos using Microsoft's "free" Windows Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker will allow you to capture and edit digital videos as well as add digital photographs, titles, special effects and EITHER A NARRATION OR A MUSIC TRACK. 

If you want to add BOTH NARRATION AND A MUSIC TRACK to a Windows Movie Maker project you must first use  multi-track audio editing software, like the "free" Audacity software, to record your narration, add music, export the combined tracks as a single audio track then insert that audio track (narration and music mixed onto a single audio track) into Windows Movie Maker.

Click HERE This is a link to another web site for the "free" Windows Movie Maker download or for complete "how-to" instructions.

Click HERE This is a link to another web site for the "free" Audacity Multi-Track Audio Editing software download and complete instructions.

Click HERE This is a link to another web sitefor the SMS' Audacity Tutorials

Note:  If you want to create a "Hollywood" style movie then you might want to check out our Digital Video Production Tutorial link.   However, the software for this type of video production isn't free so unless you have 100s of $$ to spend, you will have to do all of your work in the SMS.

 

Need Music or Sound Effects?

Here are some links to websites where you can download free music and sound effects for your "picture essay"

http://www.freeplaymusic.com/ This is a link to another web site Excellent site where you can search and download music by Genre, Style, Beat, Mood and Various Lengths from 10 seconds to 5 minutes

http://www.videomaker.com/scripts/free_sound_effects.cfm This is a link to another web site 

http://www.stonewashed.net/sfx.html This is a link to another web site

http://www.animationfactory.com/ This is a link to another web site

Need to create an Audio track combining your Voice and Music for a Windows Movie Maker Project?

Windows Movie Maker only allows you to use one audio track so you  can't combine voice and music directly in this software.  However, you can use Audacity to record your voice, add music and sound effects then export it as a single audio file that can be inserted into your Windows Movie Maker project.

GET FREE Audacity Software at:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/beta_windows This is a link to another web site

Audacity will allow you to save your finished audio tracks as .wav files.  If you want to be able to save your finished audio track as an mp3, you'll also need to download and install the LAME MP3 ENCODER available at the same site. 

WMA to MP3 Conversion Software This is a link to another web site
If you used a DVR that records in Windows Media Audio (WMA) format you'll need to download and install this free software to convert the WMA audio formats to MP3 audio formats so you can import them into Audacity for editing.