trying to publish avi to windows movie maker

[carlafreid]

while i am computer savvy, i am not savvy when it comes to this importing and saving vids, so bear with any mistakes in the appropriate language / descriptions please

dell inspiron 1525, vista user here - trying to publish a recorded avi file to windows movie maker. I import the file successfully but when i try to publish it and save it, then view it, the published to computer video comes up as totally distorted. It looks like a weather radar screen- all reds, yellow, blues and dotted, almost like a heat infrared photo showing the hot spots.
any help on this?
thanks,
carla