Introduction to Movie Making with Kdenlive

Kdenlive is an easy-to-use open source software which provides most of the recent video technologies. Here I would like to present an introduction on how to create a simple movie clip using Kdenlive.
(Ubuntu 8.10 used)


Step 1: Installation

You can install kdenlive by typing the following command in a terminal.
sudo apt-get install kdenlive


Step 2: How to create a simple project

You can start kdenlive by either typing
kdenlive
in a terminal or via Applications-> Sound and Video -> Kdenlive
It will present you with an easy to use GUI which may be similar to other movie makers with which you are already familiar with.

Figure: Friendly UI

Then start a new project by File -> New or simply by clicking on the 'New' icon. There depending on your preferences you can select the given options. For simplicity lets set 1 Video track and 1 Audio Track for this simple project.

Now you are ready to add audio and video clips for your project. For this simple project I would like to use a set of images as a slide show and an audio track of mp3 format.

Project -> Add Clip
allows you to select the required audio clip.

Figure: Adding an Audio Clip

Then you can add the pictures you need to add as the slide show.
Project -> Add Slideshow Clip
and select the folder containing the images you need to use.

You can drag and drop the clips to the tracks at the bottom and at playing you will be presented with firstmost movie clip you created with kdenlive!

Figure: Drag and Drop the Clips onto tracks

You can right click on the audio or video clip to change its properties in a case they do not fit each other in the way you expected. For instance the slideshow may end halfway through the audio track and the remainder of the video may left blank. You can adjust this by increasing the length of the slideshow clip.

Figure: Setting Clip Properties

To come up with a more quality video you may sometimes need to vary the time for images to be displayed. In such a situation adding the whole set of images as a slideshow would not help. You will need to add each image as a seperate clip and define time periods seperately for each of them.

Figure: Adding Images as Separate Clips

To further enhance the quality of the movie, you can add audio and video effects by right clicking on the clip and selecting features according to your preferences.


Step 3: How to Save Your Project

When you click File -> Save your project will be saved as .kdenlive
You can convert it into a .mp4 or .flv format by using Render.


Now your firstmost movie with kdenlive is ready to be played!
Congrats!

Here is a simple project created using only the above mentioned basic features.

Tribute to a True Friendship