Learn Digital Video Editing

Adding titles in Windows Movie Maker is simple.

1. Click “Tools” in the top menu.
2. Select “Titles” and “Credits”.
3. Choose where you want to add your title.
4. Type in the text.
5. Click “Done. Add title to movie”.

This is a quick way to add a title, but truth is, it looks horrible (Sorry. I know you were proud of yourself). Most Windows Movie Maker based edits will have the same title with the same fade in on a blue background.

These are the default options and most people leave them as is. They completely overlook at the customization that the program offers.

First, you have the option to change the title animation. Before you get carried away with these, take a second to consider whether you’re creating effects or adding distractions. Many of the animations included are cheesy. In my opinion, the two most useful ones, besides the default fade, are Basic Text and Subtitle. Basic Text isn’t an animation at all. It’s plan text on the page. Sometimes that’s all we need. Subtitles is similar. It’s smaller text in the lower portion of the screen. The centered text in Windows Movie Maker gets a little boring after awhile. It’s nice to be able to have static text in the lower part of the screen. This is also more useful for title overlays, since they don’t cover as much of the content of your video.

Your other title text options are for the font and color. This is also where you change the background color. Test out different font types from the drop down menu, choose your own color for the text, resize it if you want, and set the background color. For my example I’ve gone with gold text and a black background.

It’s not the most amazing title ever made, but we’re working with what we’ve got here. For Windows Movie Maker I think it’s pretty good. Definitely a huge improvement over our previous blue and white default title. It only takes an extra few clicks to customize your titles, and the result is a video that is less likely to be noticed as being a cheap WWM edit. Give it a shot!