Needed: a beginner's guide to simple software

[hyphenate]

I'm attempting to make my first "movie" with a single song soundtrack, clips and stills (in digital form), some beginning titles and end credits, and some--not a lot!--transitions and wipes.

I've got a current copy of Nero 8 with Nero Vision, and somewhere in the disk graveyard, I have a very old copy of Premiere which I assume is practically useless (from 2000). Evidently, I also have Microsoft Movie Maker. I can also afford to spend $100 if there is something else better than the above.

I was going to try to learn Flash, but my eyes glaze over when I try to read about it. I recalled that I enjoyed working with the original Swish, but find the new Swish Max as complicated as the Flash it's supposed to emulate. This I was going to use to do the beginning titles.

Is there a relatively simple, or at least intuitive program that I can use to create my first film? Since I'm going to be using more single image "stills" for it, and since the music is going to run from the start to the finish of the project (which will be the determinating factor of the length of the film), it's just going to mean minimal editing on my behalf, and little to no complex work. Once it's complete, I will be converting it to FLV and loading to Youtube, but that's it. As I continue to do projects, I'm hoping I can improve my expertise along the way and make them better and use more plugins and creative techniques.

The main thing I'm looking for is simplicity. I've been trying to use the Nero Vision, but I keep getting hung up, like the playback stops when it reaches the end of my first still and won't play any further, and I get very frustrated. If Nero Vision is a better option than Movie Maker or other such, is there a specific book that can visually guide me through the process?

Much thanks for any gentle encouragement and suggestions.

[AlanHK]

I'm attempting to make my first "movie" with a single song soundtrack, clips and stills (in digital form), some beginning titles and end credits, and some--not a lot!--transitions and wipes.

I've got a current copy of Nero 8 with Nero Vision, and somewhere in the disk graveyard, I have a very old copy of Premiere which I assume is practically useless (from 2000).

If Premiere can be installed and runs on your current PC, give it a try.
First version of Premiere was in 1991, so by 2000 it was quite mature.
Nero, any version, is just a source of headaches.

[lordsmurf]

I still use Premiere 6.5 for a majority of my work, even though I also own Premiere CS3. Due to habit and lower CPU/RAM needs, mostly. It's definitely not "too old" by any means, depending on the task.

[citanool]

Premiere Pro guides
Premiere guides

[JohnnyMalaria]

http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/

Re Premiere, I installed 4.2 a couple of months ago (for obscure reasons). I liked 6.5 (as much as I could like Premiere) but regretted upgrading to Pro 1.x.

[Soopafresh]

Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Pro is really good as well and it's around $100

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiopp

[lordsmurf]

http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/
Re Premiere, I installed 4.2 a couple of months ago (for obscure reasons). I liked 6.5 (as much as I could like Premiere) but regretted upgrading to Pro 1.x.

Premiere Pro CS3 is good like 6.5 was, just more resource hungry.

[hyphenate]

Thanks, everyone. I'll see if I can find a trial of Vegas to check that one out, and I'll dig out my copy of Premiere. At least I don't have a rush to do the video--it's all on my own time! It means I can experiment and try new things.

Very much obliged to you all.