I had never done anything like this as well, but when I got hurt in April I started doing video edits with Movie Maker and a little Sony Handy Cam. We've had the camera for ever... u could prolly score one for $250 or so now. I've really enjoyed it and for nothing but a little time and effort feel like I turned out a few good videos and learned some appreciation for good cinematography and editing.
Check out the work...
http://vimeo.com/user1838426/videos IMO you can really see how my editing and filming got progressively better.