Amish Buggy Ride – an example of using MovieMaker
by Chris Guld, www.GeeksOnTour.com
We are currently in Elkhart, Indiana. We’re here for the Gypsy Journal Rally last week, and the Escapade next week. Last Friday we were invited by our friends from TechnoRV to join them for dinner at an Amish Family’s home. In addition to dinner, they would take us on a horse and buggy ride if we wanted to go.
Amish Dinner
The dinner was excellent. Family style – 17 of us sat around a long dinner table and passed the meatloaf, mashed potatoes, salad, chicken, corn, bread, and apple butter. All homemade. Mostly home-grown. You could see the corn in the field outside the window! It was delicious! So good that I had no room for the homemade apple pie at dessert. But I did share a piece!
We enjoyed the dinner and conversation so much that we stayed for quite a while. Late enough that it started to get dark. It was then that it really sunk in … this house has *no* electricity. They do use propane for their refrigerator and an excellent, bright lamp.
Horse and Buggy Ride
The highlight was the horse and buggy ride. We took a couple of pictures – we were told that it was OK as long as we didn’t photograph our hosts – and I turned the camera to video for a minute as we went clop-clopping down the road.
Put pictures and video together with Moviemaker
The video is just a minute of the actual buggy ride. We wanted the pictures to be combined with the video to give you the whole experience. Windows Live Moviemaker makes this quite easy. It is a free program from Microsoft, available for Vista and Windows 7.
Steps in MovieMaker
- Add Videos and Photos
- Arrange videos and photos
- Add Music
- Click Automovie. This will add pan and zoom effects to photos, transitions between elements, title slides at the beginning and end, *and* fit everything to the time of the music!
- Choose ‘Publish Movie to Youtube.’
Creating movies can be an extremely time-intensive endeavor. But, with Moviemaker, it can take just a few minutes from camera to the web!
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You did a great job of capturing and sharing this unique moment. Thanx…
Great job Chris. I guess I’m gunna need to learn this now.
With this Moviemake program, can you then burn your movie to a CD or DVD for later viewing or only save it to the web??
Thanks Chris. That helped me remember a trip we took in 2007 – pre-RV – to the southwest corner of Wisconsin. We were in Amish country also and saw a “courting coach” with a chaperone sitting on the bench facing the couple making sure they did not touch or hold hands. It was an interesting look into the Amish culture. We also enjoyed some Amish food at a resturant in central Ohio. I agree, the portions are huge.
Thanks for a pleasant memory. Will be in that area next year to go to the museum.
Wonderful video and story. It makes me think of the simple lives that the Amish live and how happy they are. So uncluttered. Wonderful, warm people. I’m a little nervous about the horses out there in traffic though, I hope people are extremely considerate and careful when passing a carriage.
Thanks for this great review of Windows Live Movie Maker!
Is there a feature you find particularly helpful, or have a feature in mind you’d like to see added?
Your feedback is really appreciated, keep up the great posts!
-Kyler
Windows Outreach Team
Thanks Chris & Jim. A very special thanks for the Picasa seminar at the Escapade, learned a lot.
At the seminar you mentioned a plugin or an overlay for Streets & Trips that had grades & low clearance, I tried to catch up at your Booth but our schedules didn’t work that way Could you eMail me the particulars on it’s purchase & download ?
Thank You Dennis R SKP
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Hahahaha. Im not too bgrhit today. Great post!
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