Capture the best days of the year in a worthy way You are hardly back from vacation, and already back to the daily grind. Sunshine, the beach or a nice mountainscape suddenly seem to be far, far away. Photos and videos can help to capture your memories, but have to be sorted first before you can show them to friends and family. And they often cannot really appreciate it.
You can achieve more attention, if you create a holiday movie out of the best photos and videos. Accompanied by the right music and nice video and sound effects, you can capture your precious memories and refine them in an exciting way to make your movie even more interesting for your audience.
To make it easier for you, we already arranged a Holiday Collection.Here you can find different media that will help you with your movie. These are songs, special effects, decoration elements, DVD menus and a lot more. Just chance a glimpse and see, if something is in there for you.
MovieShow Maker – The easiest way to create your vacation video If you do not know much about video editing, you can use the MovieShow Maker to create your video quick and in a simple way. You can open it via clicking on the '1 Click' button above the video screen, via the 'Files' menu or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+M.
The MovieShow Maker automatically identifies scene changes and connects the single scenes with sound and video effects. Thus it is important to arrange the video track before you start working with the MovieShow Maker. First you will have to choose a style that you want to apply. You can do this in subitem 1.
Tip: MAGIX Movie Edit pro already includes some styles. You can download more of them at catooh.com (e.g. the style 'Beach holidays').
Every style includes a matching background music. If you do not deactivate it in subitem 2, it will be placed under your video track automatically. In addition, you can adjust the frequency and intensity of the effects in subitem 4. If you open 'Advanced' you can also deactivate effects you do not like, by removing the checkmark from the list. It would be best if you made some test runs, to find out what you like and dislike.
When you are done with the preadjustments, you only have to click on 'Apply style (preview)'. The MovieShow Maker will then create a video, which you will be able to watch at the preview screen. If you like it, you just have to click on 'Apply' to keep it. If you do not like it, you can change the presettings and let the MovieShow Maker create a new video.
Tip: If only small details bother you, you should apply the style and change them yourself afterwards (e.g. remove a decoration element or a sound effect).
Handmade video Of course you might as well do it yourself and work on your video with different effects and underlay it with matching music. For this, you may use media from the Catooh Vacation Collection.
Soundtrack Choose a soundtrack for your movie right in the beginning. Then you will be able to adjust cuts and the length of your scenes to the music. Drag the soundtrack of your choice beneath the video track and adjust length and volume, if necessary. Just drag the audio track to the right length with your mouse. Fade it in or out by moving the small box at the beginning or end of the track. You can adjust the volume by clicking on the small box in the middle of the audio track and moving it up or down.
Soundtrack Maker If you do not want to place a soundtrack under your movie yourself, you can use the Soundtrack Maker. It works similar to the MovieShow Maker and identifies scene changes. Above that, you can mark positions in your video, where you want a mood change to happen. The video track should be arranged, before you start working with the Soundtrack Maker.
You can open the Soundtrack Maker via the 'File' menu, by pressing 'W' or by clicking on the note symbol above the video screen.
Then pick a music style of your choice, so the program can automatically create a matching soundtrack for your movie. If you like it, just click 'apply'. Or let the program create a new soundtrack, if you are not satisfied.
Tip: You can buy more music styles at catooh.com. Connect to Catooh from the Soundtrack Maker menu by clicking 'Purchase more styles online'. After downloading the new styles, you will have direct access to your downloads from the same menu.
Fades To create smooth changes between photos and videos, you should connect these with fades. Open the 'Fades' menu, where you can find a huge amount of different fades that you can easily use for your movie. Just click on the fade of your choice and drag it onto the passage between two scenes. It will then be applied. Matching fades for the vacation theme may be waves or similar forms. Try different fades, until you find what you like best.
Effects You can also spice up your video with special effects and decoration elements. You can find them under 'Decoration' in the 'Effects' menu. Add them to your movie, by marking a scene and then clicking on the effect you chose.
Then right click on the effect under your video track and open 'Image size and position' or press Shift+D. Now you can change the position of the decoration element and its size. When you are done, click 'OK' tho apply the modifications.
Above that, you can adjust the volume of the effect, by clicking on the small box in the middle of the audio track and moving it up or down.
Many of the elements you can find in the 'Effects' menu, are also used by the MovieShow Maker. But you can just as well use them separately. You can find them by opening 'Fun', 'Deco' or 'Border' in the category 'Decoration'.
Intro/Outro To frame your video, you can use an intro or outro. You can find them at catooh.com in the categorie 'Videos' → 'Animation' → 'Intro'/'Outro'. After downloading them to 'MAGIX Downloads', you can open the files from the 'Import' menu. You only have to place the intro in the beginning of your video track and the outro at the end and add a matching soundtrack.
DVD menu Finally, you will have to export your movie on your hard disk or burn it on DVD. If you want to burn your movie, click on 'Burn'. The 'Burn DVD' menu opens, where you can pick a matching DVD menu before you burn your DVD.
Tip: You can also find DVD menus, matching to the summer vacation at catooh.com and, of course, in the Catooh Holiday Collection.
And now start your video and reminisce about your vacation.
