A "simple" project....

I think that Windows Movie Maker (WMM) is an awesome program. Easy to use and I love the finished project (it's very much like iMovie.. or whatever those apple people call it). So just after getting engaged I put together a short movie of all the photos of me and my betrothed. I left space for the wedding pictures and planned out a couple songs. Yes, I'm a planner... very very much a planner...

Snag #1:
--Songs you download are copyright protected and can't be imported to movie maker. But they're the PERFECT songs, I can't NOT use them!!!

Relatively easy fix:
--Burn a cd of the songs you want, then rip the songs from the CD and bye bye copyright problem. (just keep track of where on your computer you ripped them to). I see no problem in this as I DID pay for the songs and I'm not going to be selling copies of my wedding movie.

So months pass, wedding occurs (yay!). I compile all the pictures from everyone who attended (THANK YOU!) and pick out my favorites. Time to put the movie together...

Yes, WMM is easy to use, but that doens't mean it's not time consuming. I spent A LOT of time putting in the pictures, effects, transitions, music, titles, timing the music with a few appropriate pictures, timing the music for transitions from pre-wedding to wedding to pictures, etc. I play around with different songs, import etc. I 'publish' the movie... then realize I missed some transitions and stuff... back to work. Then I get some late photos that I want to add. All said I spent at least 6 hours on the project. Good thing this IS my summer job :-)

So I 'publish' the finished work. It's a .wmv file which I've had problems creating DVD's out of in the past. I look through the programs on my computer (I've never burned a DVD on my OWN computer before) I see nothing so I google 'Burn DVD from WMV') I get some great step by step directions. I download the two free programs they suggest, program 1 - converts wmv file to DVD format, program 2 - writes the file to the DVD, I closely follow all instructions and try to burn the DVD and ....

Snag #2
Didn't work. When I try to play the DVD our player says "disc is dirty". When I put it in my computer, it pops the tray back out and says 'please insert disc'.

(DVD-R waste count: 1)

Easy fix #1
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again... so I did... everything the same. Same outcome.

(DVD-R waste count: 2)

Easy fix #2
Try with a different burning program that I've used before at work. Download free program, read instructions, try again... no dice.

(DVD-R waste count: 3)

Easy fix #3
Figure out that I DO have a DVD burning software on my computer that's even better than the ones I downloaded (it makes a menu and everything). I put it all together, try again. The computer says 'DVD burned successfully'. EUREKA! My hopes are high. I pop out the disc and put it in the DVD player..... 'disc is dirty'

(DVD-R waste count: 4)

Easy fix #4
My sister gives me some of her DVD-R's to try, just in case that's what it is, though at this point we're convinced my burner is bunk. I use the program that came on my computer again and try, try again....

SUCCESS!

Finally, I have a burned copy of my Windows Movie Make photo montage, with the wedding video at the end so I can just play it on a loop at our upcoming reception.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!

(unfortunately the file is too big to post here, my apologies!)