Transitions are a kind of effect that you add the movement of one clip to another. Transitions constitute a language in films that you see on TV.  If the language is 'well-spoken,' it's mostly subtle -- a language that you intuitively understand without any need for translation.  If you pay attention to television craft, you'll note that 95% of transitions are either "butt cuts" or fades/dissolves:  In a butt cut, one clip abruptly cuts to another, as in an interview -- cutting from interviewer to interviewee.  Fades often occur to show the end of a day, as when the screen fades to black.  Dissolves -- a kind of gradual transition from one scene to the next -- may indicate a change of subject or venue.

Occasionally, though, you might want to be more explicit.  If you watch a cooking show, you might see the chef put something in the oven, and then cut to the chef taking out the dish when it's cooked.  You might want a transition that shows the passage of time.  One such transition is called a "clock wipe."  That is, there is a sweep of an invisible line, from the center to the perimiter of the screen, in a clockwise direction, with the 'cooked' scene replacing the 'uncooked' scene.  Most people intuitively understand that to indicate the passage of time.

Windows Movie Maker 6 includes common fades and wipes, but it doesn't have a clock wipe.  One reason I like Windows Movie Maker better than Windows Live Movie Maker is that they published tools for techies to add new effects and transitions.  There is a place you can go to find some their work in an online forum, which you can get to from here.  A forum member whose monicker is "moviemakerkid " created a clock wipe.  I'm going to give you his creation, and show you how to add it to Movie Maker 6. Here's the outline of the steps:

1. On your computer, open Notepad as an administrator, so you can save a file to a protected area (a directory under Program Files) of your disk.
2. Copy the text that I give you below and paste it into Notepad.
3. Save it in the place that I tell you (and tell you how to create the folder for it, if you haven't added effects before) with the filename I give you.

That's all there is to it.  After you take these steps, you will see a new transition in Windows Movie Maker 6 called "Wipe, Clock," which you can use to indicate the passage of time in your videos.  Here are the details:

1. Begin by clicking the Start button, and typing 'notepad' into the blank at the bottom. When it shows up, under 'Programs,' right-click and select 'Run as administrator.'

2. Copy the text between the  lines, below, by selecting the text and pressing Control+C:

<TransitionsAndEffects Version="2.8">
<Transitions>
<TransitionDLL guid="TFX">
<Transition name="Wipe, Clock" iconid="54" guid="Wheel, 1 Spokes" comment="Wheel, 1 Spokes">
<Param name="Animation" value="Wipe" />
<Param name="Mesh" value="Wheel" />
<Param name="Edge" value="Sharp" />
<Param name="Numbers" value="1" />
<Param name="GradientWidth" value="1.0" />
</Transition>
</TransitionDLL>
</Transitions>
</TransitionsAndEffects>

Paste the code into Notepad by clicking on the Notepad and then pressing Control+V.

3. We are going to save this file as "Wipe, Clock.xml" in the following directory:

C:\Program Files\Movie Maker\Shared\AddOnTFX

This directory probably doesn't exist, unless you have added effects previously. So we will need to create the directory, and we will have to give Windows administrative permission to to so, since this is a protected area.  Creating a new directory and a new file in this area is why we are running Notepad in administrative mode.

We are going to save the file as an ".xml" file. Select "Save" from the "File" menu. Then click the "Save as type:" button, and select "All Files (*.*)".  Then type "Wipe, Clock.xml" (without the quotes) as the file name.  Finally, click the "Save" button.  Navigate to this directory:

C:\Program Files\Movie Maker\Shared

In the "Save As" dialogue, click the "New Folder" button, and confirm that you want to create a new directory by clicking the "Continue" button, and then click the "Continue" button again in the next dialog.  Name the directory "AddOnTFX" (again, without the quotes), and press the Enter key. Notepad will automatically navigate into the new directory.  Finally, click the "Save" button.

You have now created a new transition.  If Movie Maker is running, exit the program and restart it.  To test it, add two clips (or images) to the timeline, select the Transitions mode, and you will find a new transition called "Wipe, Clock." Drag it down to the intersection of the clips.

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