Though Movie Moments for Windows 8.1 is considered a "universal app"—one that works on both Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1 PCs—the version for the larger platform actually offers more functionality than its smartphone counterpart. Like the phone app, the Movie Moments modern Windows 8.1 app lets you easily edit and create enjoyable one-minute videos, complete with titles and background music. But, as you'd expect if you've done much video editing, the larger screen makes some tasks simpler.
Getting Started with Movie Moments
The modern tablet app version of Movie Moments is available on the Windows Store. It's a reasonable 4.9MB download, so it won't tax your PC's storage, and it runs on both Intel and ARM-based PCs and tablets. I tested the app on a Microsoft Surface Pro 3. On first use, the app asks permission to use your webcam and microphone—it's not of much use if you deny these. After that, tooltips take you through the mini-movie creation process.
Shooting Video in Movie Moments
A couple more options are available when you shoot video with the Movie Moments PC app compared with the Phone app: it adds a timer countdown, and you can choose the resolution, brightness, contrast, and audio device. Possibly the most helpful addition is that your clip can take advantage of stabilization. As on the phone app, you start recording with a tap on the screen, but you don't have to keep your finger on the screen to keep recording as you do in Vine. This also means the app isn't suited for creating one of Vine's forte's—stop-motion videos.
After you record your video clip, a large round control along the timeline at the bottom of the screen lets you scrub back and forth through it. You can retake the shot, or simply hit OK to proceed to editing. To edit, you simply drag the endpoints in to trim from the beginning or end of your video; to make a split, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and tap the Split icon, which removes 3 seconds following the insertion point. You can then extend the duration of the removed footage with the same type of endpoint controls. You get a maximum of 60 seconds for your movie moment. These trimming tools will serve most purposes, but more precise control, like that found in Magix's Movie Edit Touch 2, would be welcome.
The Windows 8.1 version of the app is less step-driven than the phone version: You simply decide whether to use the music and caption controls, rather than having the app take you through steps for these actions. You get the same attractive 17 styles for captions or titles, and these include backgrounds for the text as opposed to just fonts. You can select the text to add emphasis, and you can choose whether your title should be displayed in freeze frame—a nifty effect.
Background music choices include in-app downloadable prefab tunage with evocative names like Energetic, Strolling, and Funky. You can also pick a song from your own library. The app lets you silence the video's own audio, but you can't adjust the relative volumes of the background music and video audio. Finally, there's no ability to add voice-overs after the fact, as you can in Apple's iMovie for iPad.
After you trim, caption, and score your video, the app takes a minute or so to render the final product, depending on its length. The app doesn't add transitions between subclips as Magix Movie Edit Touch does, but there is a nice fade to black at the end of finished productions, and an opening freeze frame provides an appealing start.
Sharing Your Vid
What is the point of creating a video masterpiece that no one sees? The Windows 8.1 version of Movie Moments makes this a tad easier, since you don't have to first tap the floppy disk icon to save the movie to your Pictures folder. You can simply press the big Share button that lets you send it to practically any app on the PC that's capable of sharing: OneDrive, Facebook, email accounts, and OneNote were available. For further editing, the app let me send the final product to another video-editing app, Magix Movie Edit Touch.
When I chose to share via email, the file was actually attached; I'd have preferred a link to a hosted version of the video, say, on OneDrive. Who wants to send or receive an entire movie in an email? My test video emailing arrived in higher resolution with this tablet app than when I tested the Windows Phone version of the app; perhaps the phone app was cognizant of mobile data conservation.
A Video Editor Worth Your Moments?
It's clearly early going for the Movie Moments app, and no doubt there's a lot that could be added to improve it, such as more audio control, more precise trimming, and the addition of some transitions. But I was able to make amusing videos on my tablet with Movie Moments, and that's certainly a good start. For now, however, there's no Editors' Choice video-editing app on the Windows tablet platform. Stay tuned to see whether an update of Movie Moments or another video editor can earn that distinction in the future. For larger selection of video editing tools, check out Magix's Movie Edit Touch 2.
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