Creating a video montage

What is a "video montage?"

A montage video is made up of still photographs that are electronically linked with interesting affects that allow the video to show emotion and slight movement. You can create a montage video by using photos that you have previously taken.

At its simplest, it is a slide show. But, a slide show that displays a series of still photos with no transitions, effects, or audio is quite dry. An effective montage uses transitions, effects, and audio to bring the still photos to life and a give a sense of movement.

What software is needed? On Windows XP or Vista, Window Movie Maker is included and works very well. On Macs, use iMovie.

What preparation is necessary? Before you run one of the aforementioned programs, you need to:

• Collect a library of high quality digital photos of your home and any surroundings that relate. Surroundings could include your neighborhood, nearby beach, beautiful local scenery, local landmarks or attractions - anything that might influence vacationers to chose your home.
• Construct a mental storyboard of the order that you want to display your photos. Just like selecting the order for photos on your property listing, you want the pictures to flow naturally from one to the other. Put all interiors together in the order one might see the rooms upon entry to your house, emphasizing the best features of your home. Normally, the outside pictures would be all together.
• Provide the vacationer with new scenes not the exact photos on your web page.

How to create a "video montage" with Window Movie Maker?

Still photos are stored in "collections." The actual movie is created by dragging photos into the "timeline" and adding "transitions" or "effects." A transition controls how your movie plays from one video clip or picture to the next. You can add a transition between two pictures, video clips, or titles in any combination on the storyboard/timeline. You can change the playback duration of a transition up to the duration of the shorter of the two adjacent clips. Transitions you can add include fading in from a black screen, sliding one clip across the screen to reveal another, or making it appear that one clip is shattering to reveal the next. Effects let you add special effects to your movie. For example, you might have an imported video that you want to look and feel like a classic, old-time movie. You could add one of the Film Age effects to a video clip, picture, or title to make the video for that clip look like an old-time movie.

See Window Movie Maker's Help for more detail.

1. Click on "collections" in the task bar. A collection is where you store the still photos.
2. On left hand vertical menu, right-click on "collections" to "New Collection". Name your collection of pictures such as "My rental montage".
3. Click on "Tasks" in task bar.
4. Click on "Import Pictures". Find the pictures on your computer and "Import."
5. Go to "timeline" at bottom of screen and click on "show Story Board".
6. Drag pictures into the larger rectangular boxes in the timeline, starting with first picture, second picture, etc. You can rearrange pictures by holding and dragging them into place.
7. On task bar, use pull down menu to select "video transitions".
8. Drag desired transition to smaller rectangular boxes between each picture.
9. In pull down menu, select "Video effects".
10. Drag the desired effect to the small boxes with a "*" in the box. A picture can use multiple effects such as "ease in" and "fade to black" for last picture in your montage.
11. Optional: Click on "show timeline". Use the magnifying glass with plus sign icon to enlarge the timeline and make it easier to read.
12. Optional: You can add text to your montage by clicking on "make titles or credits".
13. *Be sure to save your project by clicking on traditional save icon or by using the File menu.

How to create a "video montage" with iMovie?

1. Open iMovie.
2. Click 'Create New Project'.
3. Name your project.
4. Click File > Import.
5. On your computer, locate and highlight the photos you want to include in your project.
6. Click 'Import' to import the photos to iMovie.
7. You should now see your photos sitting in the corner of the iMovie window. Identify the photos you want in your montage. Drag them down to the Clip Viewer below the main screen.
8. Arrange the order of your photos by dragging and dropping.
9. See the headings bar with Clips, Themes, Media, Editing and Chapters.
10. On that headings bar, click 'Editing'.
11. See the 'Editing' subheadings bar with Titles, Transitions, Video FX, and Audio FX.
12. Click 'Video FX'. Effects (Video FX) alter what the viewer sees while looking at the photo, e.g., zooming in, zooming out, color changes, and special effects. Bear in mind that your montage does not need to be complex or fancy. An effective montage displays attractive photos in an arrangement displayed at an easy pace. Note that you control certain aspects of each effect.
13. Test a few effects. Highlight a photo. When you have found an effect you like, click 'Apply'. A few favorites:
    • 'Brightness & Contrast' allows you to brighten up rooms that need more light.
    • 'Fast/Slow/Reverse' is a basic zooming effect.
    • 'Saturate' allows you to accentuate the color in your photos.
14. Within 'Editing', click 'Transitions' on the subheadings bar. When jumping from one photo to another, transitions can be more soothing to the eye. Identify a couple transitions you like. Drag your transitions down to the Clip Viewer and drop them in between your photos. Sample:
    • Begin with 'Wash In'.
    • Use 'Cross Dissolve' for photo-to-photo.
    • End with 'Wash Out'.
15. On the headings bar, click 'Media'.
16. See the 'Media' subheadings bar with Audio and Video.
17. Click 'Audio'.
18. On your computer, locate and highlight the songs or sounds you want to play during your montage. You can drag them directly to your Timeline Viewer (converted from Clip Viewer) or click 'Place at Playhead'.
19. You can also record your voice or other external sounds using the Microphone (red circular button).
20. Be sure to save your project.