Create a movie that tells a story

Open a new Flash document and save it

1. Create the sky
2. Create an environment for your story
3. Add some characters who interact to tell your story
4. Add some sound files
5. Add some buttons to start and stop the action and open a Web page

Create the backdrop

• Open a new movie
• Change the name of layer1 to sky
• Click in keyframe 1
• Use the Rectangle tool to draw a border the defines the entire stage
  • Select a blue color for fill to represent the sky (light or dark)
• Click F6 in frame 60 to make it a keyframe
• Select a different fill color in the toolbar to change the color of the sky
• Click inside the sky layer
• Select Motion in the Tween box in the Frame Property Inspector

Create an environment for your story

• Insert a new layer for the main object in your story (ship, building, tree)
• Click in keyframe 1 of the layer
• Draw an object such as a ship, building, or tree
• Click F6 in frame 60 of the layer to extend the drawing to the end of the layer

Add a moon or sun to the sky

• Insert a new layer in your movie
• Click in keyframe 1 of the layer
• Select the oval draw tool
  • Select no stroke color
  • Select yellow for the fill color
• Draw a sun or moon in the sky in keyframe 1
• Click F6 in frame 60 to extend the drawing to the end of the layer
• Select the yellow sun or moon in keyframe 60 to change the color
  • Select a different fill color
  • Click a frame in the layer between the two keyframes
  • Select shape in the tween dropdown list

Add some characters who interact to tell your story

• Insert a new graphic symbol (CTRL+F8)
• Import dogbert.gif onto the symbol editing screen that appears
• Click Modify>bitmap>trace bitmap to vectorize him
  • Color threshold: 100
  • Minimum area: 8 pixels
  • Curve fit: Tight
• Corners: Many Corners
• Repeat the above steps to create a bart graphic symbol using bart.gif
• After you vectorize Bart, click the white area outside his body to select it
• Delete the white pixels
• Repeat the same steps to create a Godzilla image
  • Delete the black pixels outside Godzilla's body
  • Use the paintbrush with red color to paint flames coming out of Godzilla's mouth

Add the characters to the movie to tell a story

• Click Scene1 above the timeline to open the movie editing screen
• Create new layers for bart, dogbert and godzilla
• Have them appear in different keyframes in their own layer
• Change their sizes
• Change their appearances with color tint, alpha, etc.
• Create a suspenseful, exciting story.

Add some sound files

Countryroad.mp3 | Countryroad.wav | guitar.wav

guitar.mp3 | drum.wav | drum.mp3 | loweasy.mp3

Loop Sound

• Create new layer for sound: Insert>layer and name it "background sounds"
• Create a keyframe at the end of this movie in the background sounds layer
• Import a WAV or MP3 file from the flashcontent
  • Open the Library for your movie (CTRL+L)
  • The sound file should be in the library
• Click the cursor in Keyframe 1 of the background sounds layer
• Select the sound file in the movie library and drag it onto the stage
  • You will then see the sound wave in the background sounds layer

Modify the Sound in the Property inspector

• If the sound file is shorter than the number of frames in the movie, you can loop it
  • Click the sound file in the layer
  • Configure the sound file in the property ispector
  • In the loop box, type a number that will extend the sound to end of the movie
  • You can also change the way the sound plays by changing the other attributes in the effect dropdown list or by clicking the Edit button
• Save the movie and play the movie to test the sound
• Turn on the bandwidth profiler when you test the movie (under View). Check the file size of the movie with the sound file

Add some buttons to start and stop the action and open a Web page

• See buttons page.