Getting Started with iMovie 06
iMovie is the software in iLIfe that is used to import and edit video from a video camera. It’s also possible to import images (still) from iPhoto to include in a movie. iMovie allows the user to add titles, transitions, special effects, narration and music. Music can be added directly from iTunes as well. A finished movie project can be sent to GarageBand or iWeb or exported as a QuickTime movie.
Opening iMovie
1. Click the iMovie HD icon in the Dock.
2. Click the “Create a New Project” button.
3. A save window appears. Give the project a name and save the file to the Movie folder.
4. In the Video Format window, choose the format you will be using. DV is the standard, but some cameras shoot wide screen as well. If you wanted to use video from a digital still camera, choose MPEG-4 or from the built in computer video camera choose iSight.
1. Set the camcorder to VTR mode (some camcorders call this Play or VCR) and turn it on,
2. Connect your camcorder to your computer using a FireWire cable. Both your computer and your camcorder must have built-in FireWire ports. You need a 6-pin to 4-pin FireWire cable. Note: Some camcorder manufacturers refer to FireWire as iLink or IEEE 1394
3. In iMovie HD, click the mode switch (shown below on the toolbar under the preview screen) to set iMovie HD to camera mode.
4. Use the capture to review your tape in the iMovie monitor. Click to preview video. 5. Click the Import button to begin transferring video into the project.
6. As long as the date and time have been set on the camera, iMovie will start a new clip every time the camera was paused.
7. When finished importing save your project by selecting Save Project from the File menu. (Key combination Command-S)
Working with Clips
The following diagram shows an iMovie project that has been imported from a camera and is ready to edit. Notice the individual clips on the “shelf” on the right side of the screen.
1. Click to select the first clip. Press the play button underneath the viewing window to play the clip.
2. Hold the Option key down and drag the each clip down to the tray that says “Drag clips here to build your project”.
3. Click on the brushed metal surface to the right or left of the play button to deselect the last image. 4. Click the rewind button (to the left of the play button) then click play to view the entire movie.
Editing video
Use this process to delete a clip from the Clip Pane or from the tray where you’re building the movie..
1. Click to select a clip, it becomes highlighted. In the diagram below clip 01 is selected. Notice it is highlighted in blue.
2. Press the Delete key and the clip disappears.
3. Notice the trash icon in the lower right corner shows it needs to be emptied. It also shows how much space is being used by the files that have been deleted from the project.
4. Important: Empty the trash in iMovie by selecting Empty Trash from the File menu.
Cropping a Clip
Using crop preserves the middle part of a clip and deletes the beginning and the end
1. Select the clip you want to crop by clicking it in the Clips pane or in the tray area where the movie is being built.
2. Locate the Playhead, the white triangle that appears along the blue scrubber bar. Notice the two triangles below the playhead. These right triangles are the crop markers
3. Drag the right crop marker to the point you want the video to end. As you do the Scrubber bar becomes highlighted in yellow.
4. Drag the left crop marker to the point you want the video to start.
5. To crop the clip so only the highlighted portion remains, select Crop from the Edit menu. 6. Continue in this manner to crop any remaining video clips.
Deleting Part of a Clip
In this process you will select the portion of the clip you don’t want and delete it. This is the opposite of cropping clip in the previous section.
1. Select the clip you want to crop by clicking it in the Clips pane.
2. Use the crop markers to highlight a portion at the beginning or end that you want to delete. 3. When the section is highlighted, press the Delete key on your keyboard. That portion disappears. 4. You can use this same process to cut out the middle of a clip. Highlight the middle portion of a clip as in
5. Press the Delete key and notice that the clip is spit into two clips. The diagram below shows clip 04 split into clip 04 and clip 04/01. These are now two independent video clips and can be move do separate locations if necessary.
Adding Titles in iMovie
Titles can be added over a video or on a separate slide.
1. Click to select the Editing button under the clip shelf. The editing button allows you to add titles and transitions as well as special effects.
2. Make sure the Titles button is selected at the top of the Editing window..
3. Click the triangle to the left of Bouncing to open it.
4. Select Bounce Across and enter a title below where it says My Great Movie. 5. Make sure Over Black is NOT checked.
6. When you add a title over a video you need to consider the length of the clip it will be added to. The numbers at the top of each clip show their length. The first clip below is 7 seconds, 14 frames. (We work with 30 frames per second)
7. In order to have the title fit on this clip without spilling into the next clip, we need to set the timing as close to 0:7:14 as possible. To do so, drag the Speed and Pause sliders to the right. In this case the longest we can make this title is 0:7:00
8. Make sure the first clip is selected, then click Add to paste this title on top of the clip 01. As the title is added, a red line appears on the slide. This shows that the title is being “rendered” or “added” to the clip.
9. Notice that the clip with the title is now labeled Our Trip to the Zoo, and there is another clip called clip 01 that is only 14 frames long. This is the left over part of clip 01 that couldn’t be included in the title. It’s ok to leave it there or you might choose to delete it, depending on personal preference.
NOTE:
If your title had been too long for the clip, it would have merged the first two video clips. So, as you can see, understanding timing is important in this process.
10. Add another title to the end of the movie, this time placing it on a black slide. Click to select Centered Title and check Over Black.
11. Add “The End” as the text for the title.
12. Click and drag the T icon to the left of “Centered Title” and drop it after the last clip in the tray.
13. A new black slide is added that says The End.
14. Notice also there is a T in the upper left corner of the slide indicating that a title has been added. Look back to the graphic in step 8 of this section. You see a T appears on the first slide in that illustration as well.
15. If you want to delete a title from a slide, select it and press the Delete key. The T icon and the title
disappear but the slide remains. If there were multiple titles added to a slide only the top layer or last title added would be deleted.
Controlling Where a Title Appears on a Clip
What if the title is blocking a focal point in your video? Follow these steps to move it to a less obtrusive area of the clip.
1. Click the Title name in the Title Preference window. This causes the title to preview. 2. Click the Play button (triangle) in the preview window to stop the preview
3. Click on the title in the preview window and drag it down. A yellow dot is added where you initially clicked on the title. ( Under the o in to in the diagram below). This allows you to drag the title up or down to reposition.
4. If you are correcting a previously placed title, make sure the slide the title was placed on is highlighted. Click Update. The title will be rendered again and will now show in the specified location on the clip. 5. If you are placing the title for the first time, make sure the slide you want it to appear on is selected and
click Add.
Adding Images from iPhoto
Images can be imported in to your movie if they have been added to iPhoto. It’s best to create an album with the name of the project and add those images to the album.
1. Click to select the Media button under the clip shelf. The Media button allows you to add Audio or Photos. Click to select Photos. You’ll see all the images that have been added to iPhoto.
2. Click to select the album with your images. Below Zoo images has been selected.
3. Select an image and notice the Photo Settings window appears. The Ken Burns effect is selected as a default. Ken Burns effect allows you to add motion to a still image. You can zoom in, out or pan across an image and determine how long it takes to do so.
4. Click the toggle switch between Start and End so that it is at Start. (Click on one side or the other it doesn’t slide.)
5. Use the first slider to determine the level of zoom you want the image to begin with. In the previous diagram, the zoom level was 3.66.
6. Click the End and determine the level of zoom on the first slider for the end of the image. In the illustration below that is set to 1.00.
7. Decide how long this should take and drag the second slider accordingly. Above this is set to 15 seconds. If you can’t get the slider to the exact point you want, you can type into that space as well. 8. Click Apply. The image will be placed at the end of the movie. Move it anywhere in the movie. This is no
longer a still image, it is a video clip.
9. If you don’t want any movement in the still image, uncheck Ken Burns. Decide how far you want to zoom in on the image and how long you want it to appear. Click Apply.
Adding Transitions in iMovie
1. Click to select the Editing button and choose Transitions in the top portion of the window
2. Select Cross Dissolve and drag the speed slider to approximately 2 seconds. Placing a 2 second transition means that one second will come from the end of the first clip and another from the beginning of the second clip.
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3. Drag and drop the transition between two clips. The transition is rendered and an icon appears between the two clips.
4. Experiment with some of the different transitions. In general, it’s good practice to only use a few transitions in a movie. The focus should be on your content, not the transitions
Adding Music or Narration in iMovie
2. In Timeline view, the video clips appear much smaller and you now have two “trays” available to add audio.
3. Use the Zoom slider in the lower left corner to determine how much of your project you see. If it is to the far left you should see the entire project but the slides may be very small. Move the slider to the right and you will see the slide get wider but you won’t be able to see the entire project at once.
4. Click to select the Media button under the clip shelf. Select Audio, iTunes, Library You have the option of adding music from iTunes, GarageBand, sound effects or voice narration.
5. Position the Playhead where you want the music to begin. (Drag the white triangle and the line follows.) The Playhead below is at the beginning of the movie.
6. Click to select a song in your iTunes Library. Click Place at Playhead. The music is added to the second tray in the Timeline view.
7. To add a narration or voiceover, position the playhead where you would like to place voice narration. 8. Click the red record button, speak the narration and click the record button again to stop.
9. Experiment with adding sound effects. In the upper portion of the audio window scroll to the top. Select a set of effects.
10. Click a sound effect and press the play button to preview it.
11. Make sure the playhead is placed where you want the sound effect. Click Place at Playhead. Have fun and remember there is great built in help on the Help menu!
Working with iMovie Themes
Use themes to add Hollywood-style polish to your movie and give it a creative and unified design. 1. Open iMovie and click on the Themes button.
2. A window appears with several themes to choose from. Select a theme and choose an Open one to use as the beginning segment of your movie.
4. Click on the Media button and select the Photo tab. Choose a photo and drag it to a Drop Zone. Fill any empty drop Zones.
5. Select the Theme button again. This time type a short title for your iMovie and then click the Apply button.
6. Your clip will appear in the movie track. A red bar will move across the bottom of the frame showing that your picture is being rendered. Move it to the beginning of the movie.
7. Continue with other theme segments as desired.
Adding Video Effects
You can add interesting effects to your movies to help tell your story more effectively. iMovie HD includes effects that can make clips shake as if during an earthquake, fling sparkling fairy dust across the screen, filter a scene with passing fog, or add a streak of electricity to an image. Other effects change the brightness or contrast of the video, add slow motion, change colors, soften the focus, and more.
1. Select the Editing tab in iMovie and make sure Video FX is selected at the top of the window. 2. Select the clip or clips you want to alter in the clip viewer or timeline viewer.
3. Select the video effect you want from the effects list. You see a preview of the effect in the iMovie monitor. Below fog is selected with it starting 1 second into the clip.
4. Move the Effect In and Effect Out sliders to indicate when you want the effect to begin and end. When you drag the Effect In or Effect Out sliders, you see the times change next to the sliders. You can also click these numbers and type new times.
5. Adjust the effect with any other available sliders. (Some effects have more options.)
6. You can set the origination point for some effects. If you see a position indicator in the iMovie monitor, drag it to a location in the monitor where you want the effect to begin.
Sharing your Movie Project
Once the project is finished you’ll want to share it in a format others can view. It can be shared directly to iWeb, iDVD or GarageBand, or it can be exported as QuickTime. QuickTime is a format that can be viewed on Macs or PCs.
1. Look at the options on the Share menu. Use this menu to send it directly to another application, device or QuickTime. (Email is also a QuickTime option.)
2. Experiment with different QuickTime sizes: the information window will estimate the final file size. 3. A finished Movie can also be imported into GarageBand for a Podcast. To do this, save the iMovie project
rather than sharing it.
4. Open a New Podcast Episode in GarageBand.
5. In GarageBand open the Media Browser and select Movies. Drag the movie into the Podcast track, then begin adding audio to narrate it.
6. If you ultimately want your movie to be able to be viewed on an iPod, then save it as an iPod formatted movie. The resolution for iPod format is actually higher than a web movie. It can also be added to a webpage in an iPod format.
