Slow Movie Maker

I am producing a movie with still photos, music and transitions. It is 29
minutes long so far. It has been, since about 10 minutes long - taking at
least 7-10 seconds to make every move or click. It also will freeze up and
I'll have to end the session. It is really frustrating. I've tried to
understand if it has something to do with the codecs mentioned. I have no
idea what to do.
Any QUICK fixes? I'm under a time restriction to get this done.

PapaJohn
Mon Jul 18 14:20:28 CDT 2005

When I get beyond 15 minutes on the timeline, I split the project in two,
make the parts individually and then combine them into the final movie.

The complexity of the project ties into memory resources... when you get
past the point of RAM and into your virtual memory, things slow down
significantly....and you might run into serious issues when trying to render
the large project.
--
PapaJohn
Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 website - http://www.papajohn.org

tips and tricks: http://www.simplydv.co.uk/simplyBB/viewtopic.php?t=4693

Online Newsletters: http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/PapaJohn/Index.aspx



"BB" <BB@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C55DF3AA-3D4A-4C7D-B76B-6058086B803E@microsoft.com...
>I am producing a movie with still photos, music and transitions. It is 29
> minutes long so far. It has been, since about 10 minutes long - taking at
> least 7-10 seconds to make every move or click. It also will freeze up
> and
> I'll have to end the session. It is really frustrating. I've tried to
> understand if it has something to do with the codecs mentioned. I have no
> idea what to do.
> Any QUICK fixes? I'm under a time restriction to get this done.

dickmr
Mon Jul 18 14:27:10 CDT 2005

I don't know the answer to why your are having the freeze up problem, but
maybe a few suggestions could help. Its possible your computer can't handle
the complexity of your project at that length, and also it possible to have a
corrupt photo/song file in it. Its often talked about that sometimes mp3's
and jpegs don't work well in MM.

However, I would just make 'smaller' movie clips. For example, maybe 3 or
4 songs long with transitions and pictures. That movie could be saved as
Clip1 for example...I'm assuming you are going to make a DVD from your movie,
so save it in DV-AVI format...if not, use 'High Quality -NTSC' for computer
playback.
Then I would make Clip2 and Clip3 until I complete the movie. In your DVD
authoring/burning software you can import and order all your clips to make
the final production.

Otherwise, if you are just producing the movie for your computer....save
each of the clips as said above, and when finished 'import' each of them back
into Movie Maker...bring them to the timeline in order, and see if it will
save your large completed movie from the smaller rendered clips. Just some
ideas for you while other answers are forthcoming....good luck.
"BB" wrote:

> I am producing a movie with still photos, music and transitions. It is 29
> minutes long so far. It has been, since about 10 minutes long - taking at
> least 7-10 seconds to make every move or click. It also will freeze up and
> I'll have to end the session. It is really frustrating. I've tried to
> understand if it has something to do with the codecs mentioned. I have no
> idea what to do.
> Any QUICK fixes? I'm under a time restriction to get this done.

BB
Mon Jul 18 14:38:03 CDT 2005

PaPa John,
Is there a way to save portions or make sections of my existing movie.
For example, I have 15 minutes for one person's life story and then the
remaining starts with their family. Can I take and copy a portion and then
make a file to save to a DVD later? AND, can you tell me how to make that
DVD into sections for the final movie? Or is that somewhere in your web
site? Hope this make sense on my question.
THANKS!

"PapaJohn (MVP)" wrote:

> When I get beyond 15 minutes on the timeline, I split the project in two,
> make the parts individually and then combine them into the final movie.
>
> The complexity of the project ties into memory resources... when you get
> past the point of RAM and into your virtual memory, things slow down
> significantly....and you might run into serious issues when trying to render
> the large project.
> --
> PapaJohn
> Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 website - http://www.papajohn.org
>
> tips and tricks: http://www.simplydv.co.uk/simplyBB/viewtopic.php?t=4693
>
> Online Newsletters: http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/PapaJohn/Index.aspx
>
>
>
> "BB" <BB@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:C55DF3AA-3D4A-4C7D-B76B-6058086B803E@microsoft.com...
> >I am producing a movie with still photos, music and transitions. It is 29
> > minutes long so far. It has been, since about 10 minutes long - taking at
> > least 7-10 seconds to make every move or click. It also will freeze up
> > and
> > I'll have to end the session. It is really frustrating. I've tried to
> > understand if it has something to do with the codecs mentioned. I have no
> > idea what to do.
> > Any QUICK fixes? I'm under a time restriction to get this done.
>
>
>

BB
Mon Jul 18 14:41:02 CDT 2005

dickmr,
Thank you for your reply. Question then, I just got a new DVD burner, so
I'm not real familiar yet with how to do what you're saying. How would I
take the current sections in the project file and save like you're saying?
Do I just highlight a section and then make the AVI as you say? THEN, in
burning the DVD - I have Nero, assume there is something there that explains
what you're saying...AND when all clips are combined will it FLOW LIKE ONE
MOVIE as this is very important as I have transitions from person to person.
Thanks for your help!
BB

"dickmr" wrote:

> I don't know the answer to why your are having the freeze up problem, but
> maybe a few suggestions could help. Its possible your computer can't handle
> the complexity of your project at that length, and also it possible to have a
> corrupt photo/song file in it. Its often talked about that sometimes mp3's
> and jpegs don't work well in MM.
>
> However, I would just make 'smaller' movie clips. For example, maybe 3 or
> 4 songs long with transitions and pictures. That movie could be saved as
> Clip1 for example...I'm assuming you are going to make a DVD from your movie,
> so save it in DV-AVI format...if not, use 'High Quality -NTSC' for computer
> playback.
> Then I would make Clip2 and Clip3 until I complete the movie. In your DVD
> authoring/burning software you can import and order all your clips to make
> the final production.
>
> Otherwise, if you are just producing the movie for your computer....save
> each of the clips as said above, and when finished 'import' each of them back
> into Movie Maker...bring them to the timeline in order, and see if it will
> save your large completed movie from the smaller rendered clips. Just some
> ideas for you while other answers are forthcoming....good luck.
> "BB" wrote:
>
> > I am producing a movie with still photos, music and transitions. It is 29
> > minutes long so far. It has been, since about 10 minutes long - taking at
> > least 7-10 seconds to make every move or click. It also will freeze up and
> > I'll have to end the session. It is really frustrating. I've tried to
> > understand if it has something to do with the codecs mentioned. I have no
> > idea what to do.
> > Any QUICK fixes? I'm under a time restriction to get this done.

dickmr
Mon Jul 18 14:59:03 CDT 2005

You last question first.....at the end of each clip I would 'right click' on
that picture and choose 'fade out'. Do the same with the 'audio' line. I
would do this at the end of a song so that it would flow into the next clip
in your movie. For a smooth flow you can also right click and 'fade in'
following clips.

Now, as far as your current stage in the project.....I'm sure you could
reconstruct it, but that would take time and you would like to keep what you
have so far. Make sure you don't mess with your existing files
(pictures/audio files etc)....meaning don't delete or move them to other
folders or MM won't find them. First I would save what you have so
far....do a 'save project as' (make sure you know where you are saving the
file to get it later) and give it a name such as 'PROJECTSOFAR'... ha ha
Now I'm assuming you can break your 29 minutes down into two parts....find a
point near the middle where a song ends......right click and delete
everything to the right of that point. Both the pics and the audio. After
you have completed that, you can do the 'fade out' thing on the video....and
then 'save movie as' and call it clip 1 and save as DV-AVI for your future
dvd. It will take some time to render, so go get a sandwich and a drink...
ha ha When completed, you can 'edit' 'clear timeline' ....and 'edit'
'select all' and 'delete' the collections, so you have a clean slate. Now do
a 'file' 'open project' and open up your 'PROJECTSOFAR'. It should all come
into the program and you are ready to 'delete' the first half of your long
clip as you did before, and save your clip 2 as the next part of your movie.
Don't forget to 'fade in' and 'fade out' on this clip also. Good
luck....let us know how you did!! Hope this helps.

"BB" wrote:

> dickmr,
> Thank you for your reply. Question then, I just got a new DVD burner, so
> I'm not real familiar yet with how to do what you're saying. How would I
> take the current sections in the project file and save like you're saying?
> Do I just highlight a section and then make the AVI as you say? THEN, in
> burning the DVD - I have Nero, assume there is something there that explains
> what you're saying...AND when all clips are combined will it FLOW LIKE ONE
> MOVIE as this is very important as I have transitions from person to person.
> Thanks for your help!
> BB
>
> "dickmr" wrote:
>
> > I don't know the answer to why your are having the freeze up problem, but
> > maybe a few suggestions could help. Its possible your computer can't handle
> > the complexity of your project at that length, and also it possible to have a
> > corrupt photo/song file in it. Its often talked about that sometimes mp3's
> > and jpegs don't work well in MM.
> >
> > However, I would just make 'smaller' movie clips. For example, maybe 3 or
> > 4 songs long with transitions and pictures. That movie could be saved as
> > Clip1 for example...I'm assuming you are going to make a DVD from your movie,
> > so save it in DV-AVI format...if not, use 'High Quality -NTSC' for computer
> > playback.
> > Then I would make Clip2 and Clip3 until I complete the movie. In your DVD
> > authoring/burning software you can import and order all your clips to make
> > the final production.
> >
> > Otherwise, if you are just producing the movie for your computer....save
> > each of the clips as said above, and when finished 'import' each of them back
> > into Movie Maker...bring them to the timeline in order, and see if it will
> > save your large completed movie from the smaller rendered clips. Just some
> > ideas for you while other answers are forthcoming....good luck.
> > "BB" wrote:
> >
> > > I am producing a movie with still photos, music and transitions. It is 29
> > > minutes long so far. It has been, since about 10 minutes long - taking at
> > > least 7-10 seconds to make every move or click. It also will freeze up and
> > > I'll have to end the session. It is really frustrating. I've tried to
> > > understand if it has something to do with the codecs mentioned. I have no
> > > idea what to do.
> > > Any QUICK fixes? I'm under a time restriction to get this done.

PapaJohn
Mon Jul 18 15:09:45 CDT 2005

Here's one approach that just focuses on this current hurdle:

1... save a copy of your project file to go back to if things don't work as
expected
2... strip everything off the project timeline after the end of the person's
life story... clipping it down to the first 15 minute segment.
3... render that segment to a new DV-AVI file... 15 minutes long.
4... import the new 15 minute DV-AVI file as a single clip in the
collection....
5... reopen the full project and swap out the first 15 minutes of assorted
clips/effects/etc... with the single clip... doing that will considerably
reduce the project complexity and let you keep going.

--
PapaJohn
Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 website - http://www.papajohn.org

tips and tricks: http://www.simplydv.co.uk/simplyBB/viewtopic.php?t=4693

Online Newsletters: http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/PapaJohn/Index.aspx



"BB" <BB@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7D259813-0BB3-46CC-9197-B13EEA493C09@microsoft.com...
> PaPa John,
> Is there a way to save portions or make sections of my existing movie.
> For example, I have 15 minutes for one person's life story and then the
> remaining starts with their family. Can I take and copy a portion and
> then
> make a file to save to a DVD later? AND, can you tell me how to make that
> DVD into sections for the final movie? Or is that somewhere in your web
> site? Hope this make sense on my question.
> THANKS!
>
> "PapaJohn (MVP)" wrote:
>
>> When I get beyond 15 minutes on the timeline, I split the project in two,
>> make the parts individually and then combine them into the final movie.
>>
>> The complexity of the project ties into memory resources... when you get
>> past the point of RAM and into your virtual memory, things slow down
>> significantly....and you might run into serious issues when trying to
>> render
>> the large project.
>> --
>> PapaJohn
>> Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 website - http://www.papajohn.org
>>
>> tips and tricks: http://www.simplydv.co.uk/simplyBB/viewtopic.php?t=4693
>>
>> Online Newsletters: http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/PapaJohn/Index.aspx
>>
>>
>>
>> "BB" <BB@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:C55DF3AA-3D4A-4C7D-B76B-6058086B803E@microsoft.com...
>> >I am producing a movie with still photos, music and transitions. It is
>> >29
>> > minutes long so far. It has been, since about 10 minutes long - taking
>> > at
>> > least 7-10 seconds to make every move or click. It also will freeze up
>> > and
>> > I'll have to end the session. It is really frustrating. I've tried to
>> > understand if it has something to do with the codecs mentioned. I have
>> > no
>> > idea what to do.
>> > Any QUICK fixes? I'm under a time restriction to get this done.
>>
>>
>>

BB
Thu Aug 11 13:30:09 CDT 2005

dickmr.
Wanted you to know this helped me in completely
this movie faster and successfully. It was a hit.
Thanks for your help!
BB

"dickmr" wrote:

> I don't know the answer to why your are having the freeze up problem, but
> maybe a few suggestions could help. Its possible your computer can't handle
> the complexity of your project at that length, and also it possible to have a
> corrupt photo/song file in it. Its often talked about that sometimes mp3's
> and jpegs don't work well in MM.
>
> However, I would just make 'smaller' movie clips. For example, maybe 3 or
> 4 songs long with transitions and pictures. That movie could be saved as
> Clip1 for example...I'm assuming you are going to make a DVD from your movie,
> so save it in DV-AVI format...if not, use 'High Quality -NTS