Video
To import video select the ‘Import Video’ link from ‘Movie Tasks Bar’ located at the extreme left of the screen (See Figure 1). When you have done this an import file box will open, you will then need to manually select the folders and subfolders that your video clip is in. For example:
My Documents/My Videos/MyVideo1.wmv
It is important to note that Windows Movie Maker will only support the following formats of video: avi, mpg, m1v, mp2, mp2v, mpeg, mpe, mpv2, wm, wmv and asf. If your selected video is not in any of these formats then you should edit them by either renaming the file and adding one of these shortcuts at the end, or preferably by changing it as you export it (such as when using Macromedia Flash).
When you have imported your video it will appear as an icon or thumbnail in the collections screen (See Figure 2). If you cannot see it you may not have the collections screen loaded to load it left-click on the drop down bar at the top centre on the screen and select ‘collections’. When you can see the icon or thumbnail simply drag it down to the bottom of the screen on to the timeline or storyboard (you can toggle between the two options by selecting the appropriate button just above the storyboard or timeline)
You can now play your video by pressing play on the video screen at the right of your screen.
Images
Very much the same as importing video except instead of selecting ‘Import Video’ you should select ‘Import Pictures’ then select the appropriate folders and sub-folders, for example:
My Documents/My Pictures/MyPic1.jpg
Windows Movie Maker will only support the following formats of images: jpg, jpeg, jpe, jfif, gif, png, bmp, dib, tif, tiff, wmf, and emf. If your selected image is not in any of these formats then you should edit them by either renaming the file by adding one of these shortcuts at the end or preferably by changing it as you export it.
Then place the image either on a storyboard or the appropriate place on the timeline. Unlike video the length a picture is shown can be edited by either stretching or shrinking it by moving the move cursor over the very right hand edge and clicking and dragging it to make it longer on the time or shorter.
Audio
Again importing audio is much like video or images. Just select the appropriate link (Import audio) and select the audio you require through the folders and subfolders. Then drag the audio from the collection area onto the timeline (you cannot use the storyboards for audio) you can then move the audio around to have it start (and finish) whenever you want and similar to images you can decrease the length of time the audio is playing for, although instead of speeding up the sounds Movie Maker will literally chop the end of you audio off to make it shorter.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
How the timeline should look with a picture and some audio