Speeding Up Video Clips in Windows Movie Maker

Even though you may have recorded events in real time you may want to make them appear as though they are occurring faster than in reality. This is often used in montages or transition sequences as a way of showing events but removing them from the temporal trappings of the regular world. This is a standard tool in all video editing programs and Windows Movie Maker has a specific function for it.

Find the clip that you wish to speed up and drag and drop it into the Timeline. If you are in Storyboard mode you will want to put it into Timeline mode for ease of use during this function. Once it is in the Timeline right click it and select Video Effects. This will bring up the standard video effect menu with the unused effects in the left hand column and the ones being used on said clip in the right. Go down the list on the left and select Speed Up, Double. Press the Add button in the middle and the effect will go from the left hand column to the right hand one. Once you press OK it will be added to the clip.

This is sometimes difficult when the clip is embedded as part of a sequence because it will change the position of other clips. It is better to isolate the clip later in the Timeline so that you can alter it and then put it back, repositioning the other clips around it. Unfortunately Windows Movie Maker only gives you the option to double the speed of the clip, so you must be sure what you are doing with it ahead of time. Double speed tends to make a clip far outside the normal rhythm of life so this must be your purpose ahead of time. It is also important to understand that this will significantly alter the audio track, speeding it up as well and raising the pitch. You will probably want to separate the audio track from the video clip and remove it otherwise it will take the full attention of the audience. This also works on photos, which are reduced from their original five seconds to two and a half. It is not advisable to use this on photos because you can drag or shorten the clips manually in the Timeline and that process ends up with a higher level of accuracy.