Play around with green screening – film against a blue or green background, use green screen software to add whatever background you want. Interview famous poets / Romans / people in different countries!
Here is a useful tutorial to show you how
And here is some free software to do it http://www.123videomagic.com/download.asp
(Thanks A.Lydon)
You can change the colour/font of the opening titles and end credits. You can also manipulate the slide transitions (fade in/out) etc and add a soundtrack or voice-over.
More information, ideas and instructions can be found in this great on line tutorial for teachers prepared by Roli Straub
If you do not already have Windows Moviemaker on your computer, you will need to download it.
When you’re all set and ready to go, open the program. The screen will be largely blank, with a small black screen on the top right-hand of the screen (this is where the movie will be played). The business end of the operation is on the top left hand; it includes the usual tabs like ‘file’, ‘edit’, ‘view’ etc. Running down the side will be technical gizmos such as ‘import’, ‘edit’ and ‘publish to’. Along the bottom will be the ‘Storyboard’.
The trickiest bit (which isn’t that tricky really) is importing the footage. You will have your footage in one of four places, and these are as is noted on the links on the left: ‘from digital video camera’ (this includes phones), the ‘video’ file on your computer, the ‘pictures’ file on your computer or in the ‘audio or music’ file on your computer.
Click on the relevant link and locate the footage you want to use. Double right click on the footage and hey-presto, in seconds, the footage should now appear on the main Windows Moviemaker screen.
Drag the video clip(s) you’d like to use, one to each blank square on the storyboard. If you click the play button beneath the screen in the right-hand corner, your clips should play. This is easy if you’re only using one clip. For multiple clips, drag one to each blank square on the ‘Storyboard’. The basic movie is now pretty much complete!
To add give the movie a real film flavour, click on the ‘Titles and credits’ link on the left.
Click on ‘Title at the beginning’ and in the first box type in the film title. To finish, click on ‘Add title’.
Back on the main screen, click on ‘Titles and credits’ again and then click ‘Credits at the end’. Here you can add your end notes.
Press the play button to see the movie in its entirety and to decide if you are happy with your work.
Windows movie maker works best if you have videoed a series of short clips. Copy your video files from your camera or device across to your computer. Then open up Movie Maker and import the files. Drag each clip down onto the timeline in the lower panel and put them in the order you want them. In the top left panel under Edit Movie you will find lots of things to add to your movie. Add video effects and transitions by dragging them onto the clip timeline. Clicking on the timeline at the bottom of the screen allows you to change the length of the clips and add music. Press Play on the top right panel to see your movie and don’t forget to save the movie file, use the ‘Save to my computer’ option, when you have finished. Choose where to save the file then click next, now click show more choices as you don’t want to play the video back on your computer, you want to share it online. Assuming your file is smaller than 100MB choose Video for Broadband (512Kbps). Your file should now be ready to upload to youtube or vimeo. You need to do this to get an embed code so that you can put your video on a blog or other website.