iMovie HD Getting Started Shows you how to import video; edit footage; and add transitions, effects, titles, and more
1 2 Contents Chapter 1 4 4 5 6 6 6 8 Welcome to iMovie HD Using This Document What’s New in iMovie HD 6 Before You Begin What You’ll Learn What You Need Finding Out More Chapter 2 9 9 10 14 16 19 22 24 27 29 29 30 31 32 iMovie HD Tutorial Step One: Start a New Project Step Two: Import Video Into iMovie HD Step Three: Choose the Video You Want to Keep Step Four: Build Your Movie Step Five: Add Photos to Your Movie Step Six: Add Titles and Text Step Seven: Make Adjustments to Clips Step Eight: Add Tra
42 42 43 44 45 46 Editing Pane Titles Transitions Video Effects Audio Effects Chapters Pane Contents 3
1 Welcome to iMovie HD 1 Welcome to iMovie HD 6. This document will get you on your way to creating great movies that have both polish and impact. iMovie HD is the fastest and easiest way to turn your home video into your own motion picture. iMovie HD is the perfect companion for the latest high definition camcorders and the smallest and most affordable flash cameras. The many new features of iMovie HD make it a snap to create an award-winning movie to share on the Internet or on a DVD.
What’s New in iMovie HD 6 Â Improved performance: iMovie HD 6 harnesses the power of Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger and QuickTime 7 to give you quicker effects rendering and pristine video quality. Experiment with stunning new video effects and see the results instantly. From importing footage to sharing your finished movie, iMovie HD is faster and more responsive every step of the way.
Before You Begin To make it easier to do the tasks in the tutorial, print this document before you start. In many tasks shown here and in iMovie HD Help, you need to choose commands from the menus in the menu bar. Menu commands look like this: Choose Edit > Copy. The first term after Choose is the name of a menu in the iMovie HD menu bar. The next terms are the items you choose from that menu.
Did You Know?—Using Magic iMovie to Create a Movie in Minutes Whether this is your first movie or you’ve made many, you can use Magic iMovie to create a complete movie or to get a head start on editing. Magic iMovie can automatically import video from your FireWire camcorder (DV or HDV), compose it into a movie, and send it to iDVD so you can burn it on a DVD disc. You can even choose a title, transition style, and soundtrack, and iMovie HD sits in the director’s chair and does the rest.
Finding Out More Your computer comes with a built-in help system for iMovie HD. When iMovie HD is open, choose Help > iMovie HD Help. When iMovie HD Help opens, type a word or phrase in the search field at the top of the page or click one of the topic areas to find out information about a certain topic. You’ll find links to other helpful resources listed on the iMovie HD Help page, such as an online multimedia tutorial, Hot Tips website, and the Apple Support website.
2 iMovie HD Tutorial 2 This chapter takes you step by step through the process of building your own movie in iMovie HD. You can use video from a variety of sources and devices to create a movie in iMovie HD. If you have some digital video in your camcorder or digital video footage on your computer, you can follow the steps in this chapter to automatically transfer it to iMovie HD, edit the clips, add transitions and a title, and lay down a soundtrack.
4 Click the pop-up menu labeled “Where” and choose a folder to store your movie project. The default location is the Movies folder in your home folder. Saving your movie in this folder will allow other iLife applications, such as iDVD or GarageBand, to find it easily. 5 Click Create. A new project file for your iMovie HD project is created in the location you chose. Eventually it will contain all the video clips, transitions, effects, and audio used in your movie.
If your camcorder uses a dock, connect the dock to the computer and place the camcorder in the dock. The illustration below shows how to connect a camcorder to an iMac using a FireWire cable. 3 In iMovie HD, click the mode switch (shown below) to set iMovie HD to camera mode. Note: You must have a camcorder connected and turned on to be able to switch to camera mode and see the capture controls.
4 Use the capture controls shown below to review your tape in the iMovie monitor. Import Fast forward Rewind Stop Play Pause 5 Rewind the tape to a few seconds before the point where you want to start importing. 6 Click Play. 7 When you see the frame where you want to begin importing, click Import (shown above) or press the Space bar. During the import process, the footage plays in the iMovie monitor. You can import all the footage, or just parts that you choose.
As you import your video footage from a camcorder connected via FireWire, iMovie HD detects where you made a break in recording and automatically divides the video into separate scenes, or “clips.” Each sequence of recorded video is then made into a video clip that is stored in the Clips pane, shown below. ∏ Tip: You can use iMovie HD Preferences to change import settings, such as where imported clips go, whether iMovie creates new clips at scene breaks, and more.
You can also drag files from your desktop or from applications like iTunes or iPhoto to the Clips pane. In iMovie HD 6, you can also drag, copy, and paste clips from one iMovie HD project to another. Did You Know?—Importing Video From a Flash Device MPEG-4 camcorders may have a USB connector instead of a FireWire connector. To transfer video from one of these devices, connect the device to your computer using the USB port. Your MPEG-4 camera or device appears as a hard disk on your desktop.
To delete a clip: m Select the clip, then choose Edit > Cut or press the Delete key. The clip disappears from the Clips pane. Notice that the iMovie Trash at the bottom of the window now has something in it—the clip you just cut. It will remain there until you empty the iMovie Trash. The remaining clips can be cropped so that only the good parts remain. When you crop a clip, you select the frames that you want to keep and delete the rest of the clip.
Did You Know?—Undoing an Edit If you make a mistake or don’t like the changes you’ve made, you can undo them. Â Choose Edit > Undo to remove your last change. Continue choosing Undo to cancel your previous changes one by one. Â Choose Advanced > “Revert Clip to Original” to undo all of the changes made to a selected clip. Â Choose File > “Revert to Saved” to undo all of the changes made to a project since the last time you saved it.
 The timeline viewer, shown below, displays the elements of your movie in more detail, letting you zoom in on sections of the movie. It also displays the movie’s video track and two audio tracks. The three tracks allow you to add and manipulate multiple layers of sound, including the sound contained in the video clips. Use the timeline viewer for precise video and audio editing.
Did You Know?—Saving While Building Your Movie It’s a good idea to save your work periodically as you make changes. Because iMovie HD saves your original footage even after cropping, you can still retrieve cropped footage after you save. To save your project: m Choose File > Save Project. At times you may want to go back to the last saved version of your project, canceling any unsaved changes. To revert to the last saved version of your project: m Choose File > “Revert to Saved.
Step Five: Add Photos to Your Movie iMovie HD lets you easily add photos from your iPhoto library to your movie. You can add photos as still shots that linger for as long as you like, or you can pan and zoom in or out with the “Ken Burns Effect.” In this step, you’ll add still photos to your movie and apply the Ken Burns Effect to others. Use the Media pane, shown below, to select photos and add motion to them.
If the Photo Settings window (shown below) does not appear, click the Show Photo Settings button. You can drag the Photo Settings window anywhere on your computer screen to move it out of the way. Zoom slider Duration slider 4 Click the Ken Burns Effect checkbox to deselect it and turn off motion for the photo. 5 Drag the duration slider to change the display duration for your photo. When you add a photo to your movie, iMovie automatically sets it to appear for 5 seconds unless you change it.
To pan a photo: 1 Select a photo in your movie or in the Media pane. 2 In the Photo Settings window, select the Ken Burns Effect checkbox. 3 Click Start. 4 Click the image in the iMovie monitor, then press the mouse button and drag the image until you see the place in the image where you want to begin the pan. Pan control 5 Click End. 6 Drag the image to where you want to end the pan. 7 Move the duration slider to set the length of time you want the pan to take. 8 Click Play to see how the effect looks.
Step Six: Add Titles and Text No movie is complete without a title, and all the great movies have credits at the end. You can add titles, credits, and other text to add to the overall polish of your movie. Text doesn’t have to just sit there, either. You might have text bounce in, do a cartwheel, or even change color and shine. iMovie HD offers you many choices of title styles. In this step, you’ll add a title to your movie and learn how to place it over a background or over a video clip.
3 Type the text you want to appear in the text fields below the list of titles. If the title style can have more lines of text, you see a plus sign (+) next to the text field. Click it to add another line of text. You can do this as many times as you need to, or until the plus signs stop appearing. To remove lines of text, click in the field you want to remove and click the minus sign (–). 4 Choose a font style from the Family pop-up menu. Try different fonts until you find one you like.
Step Seven: Make Adjustments to Clips Now that you have a movie with video, photos, and a title, you may want to make some adjustments to your video clips. Most of the editing you do in iMovie occurs in the timeline viewer. In this step, you’ll learn how to make small or large changes to your video clips by trimming them in the timeline viewer. Timeline viewer button Clip viewer button To switch to the timeline viewer: m Click the timeline viewer button below the iMovie monitor.
You can take advantage of the “ghosted playhead” in iMovie HD to choose the exact frame where you want trimmed video to begin or end, then trim to that spot. Pointer Ghosted playhead To precisely trim a video clip: 1 Click the clip you want to edit in the timeline viewer. 2 Drag the playhead to the frame where you want the clip to begin or end. 3 Position the pointer over the end of the clip until you see the pointer change shape.
Any time you move a clip to the right, a gap is created. You can drag other clips to fill the gap, or you can leave a gap as a handy background for text or to add an extra dimension to a transition or effect. The illustration below shows what a gap looks like in the timeline viewer. Gap ∏ Tip: A fast way to close up a gap is to view it in the clip viewer, where it appears as a black clip. Select the black clip and delete it. Another way to quickly alter a clip is to split it in two.
Step Eight: Add Transitions You’ve arranged your video clips in the order you want them. But the change from one scene to the next is abrupt, and you’d like to smooth things out. You can do this using transitions. Transitions blend the ends of clips together in a variety of ways—for example, fading one scene into the next, dissolving one scene into another, or “pushing” the last scene offscreen as the next scene comes on. In this step, you’ll add transitions between clips in your movie.
3 Click a transition style in the list to select it. 4 Set the duration of the transition using the Speed slider. 5 Make any other settings specific to the transition you chose. For example, if you select Push, you can use the arrow buttons next to the Speed slider to choose the direction from which the next scene enters. Other transitions, such as Scale Down, allow you to set where the transition originates. A small circle appears in the iMovie monitor that shows where the transition will start.
Step Nine: Add a Soundtrack A soundtrack adds a lot to a movie. It can help set the tone for the movie and add depth to it. When you import video into an iMovie HD project, the video automatically includes the sound that was recorded with it. You can turn down the sound in the video, or turn it off completely and add music, sound effects, or a voiceover. Or you can use a combination of these.
4 Click “Place at Playhead.” The audio file appears as an audio clip in the second audio track. If the audio doesn’t start in the right place, simply drag the audio clip along the track until you see the frame where you want it to start in the iMovie monitor. Make sure you drag from the center of the clip, not the edge. 5 Preview your work by selecting the video clip where you added the audio and clicking Play in the iMovie playback controls. ∏ Tip: You can also drag an audio file to the timeline viewer.
∏ Tip: If you need to lengthen a particular audio clip (for example, a sound effect), you can duplicate the audio clip and add it to the end of the previous clip. Then trim the new clip to keep just the part that you need. Adjusting the Volume of Audio Clips The volume of the sound in your movie is very important. If you set it too low, viewers may not be able to hear it.
If you make an adjustment to the volume while you are playing a clip, iMovie HD pauses playback and then immediately plays the clip with your adjustment. This makes it easier to get the results you want. Did You Know?—Using Advanced Sound Techniques iMovie HD gives you the power and flexibility to make the most of the audio in your movie. You can split audio clips, drag clip volume levels to fade audio in and fade out, apply new audio effects, and use audio waveforms to synchronize audio with video.
To share your movies with friends and family: m Choose Share and then choose how you want to share your movie. If you choose the standard export options, iMovie HD sets up the movie with the appropriate format automatically. ∏ Tip: If you want to share just part of your movie, you can select the clip or clips you want to share and select the “Share selected clips only” checkbox. iMovie HD can also transfer your project to iDVD as a new iDVD project. To export a movie to iDVD: m Choose Share > iDVD.
3 iMovie HD at a Glance 3 Welcome to iMovie HD at a Glance. Here you’ll find a quick overview of the iMovie HD interface and controls. Take a look at these pages to familiarize yourself with iMovie HD features and terminology. Learning the names of the iMovie HD controls will help you follow the instructions in iMovie HD Help. iMovie HD Project Window When you open iMovie HD the first time, or when you close all open iMovie projects, the Project window appears.
Main Window The main iMovie HD window is your command console for movie editing. Here you can view your movie, arrange scenes, edit clips, and add professional polish to your movie. A B H C D E F G A iMovie monitor: View your footage and the effects of all your edits here. B Scrubber bar and crop markers: Drag the playhead along the scrubber bar to move through the movie or a selected clip. When you move the playhead to a frame, the frame’s location is displayed next to the playhead.
G iMovie Trash: Deleted footage goes here. You can open the iMovie Trash and restore deleted video and audio from the iMovie Trash any time you want, or permanently delete it. H Pane buttons: Click these buttons to see the different panes of the iMovie HD window. Clip Viewer The bottom part of the iMovie window has two views: the clip viewer and the timeline viewer.
Timeline Viewer Use the timeline viewer, shown below, to edit the video and audio clips in your movie, and synchronize your audio and video. A B E C F G H D A Timeline viewer button: Click to switch from the clip viewer to the timeline viewer. B Video track: Select clips in this track to edit or add effects and titles to video clips. This track also includes the audio contained in your video. C Audio tracks: Add sound effects, music, and voiceover recordings.
Clips Pane Click the Clips button to open the Clips pane. The video footage and still images you import into iMovie HD first appear here. You can drag a clip from the Clips pane to the clip viewer, the timeline viewer, to your desktop, into other applications, to drop zones, and into other iMovie HD projects. B A 38 A Duration: The length of a video or audio clip is read as minutes:seconds:frames. For example, 01:08:15 is 1 minute, 8 seconds, and 15 frames into the movie.
Themes Pane You can use the Themes pane to add a theme to your movie. Click the Themes button to open the Themes pane. A B C D E F A Theme menu: Click the pop-up menu to choose a theme. B Theme Elements: Select an item in this list to view and edit it in the iMovie monitor. C Show/Hide Preview: Click this button to preview the selected theme in the iMovie monitor. D Show/Hide Drop Zones: Click this button to see the drop zone editor.
Media Pane The Media pane provides easy access to your photos in iPhoto and audio content in iTunes and GarageBand. Click the buttons at the top to switch between Audio and Photos. Audio Click the Audio button at the top of the Media pane to see the audio sources available for your movie. You use this pane to add sound effects, record a voiceover, or import music from your iTunes music library or GarageBand. A B D C E F 40 A Source list: Select an audio source in this list.
Photos Images in your iPhoto library automatically appear in this pane. Use the Photo Settings window to add motion to your still images using the Ken Burns Effect. Click the Photos button at the top of the Media pane to see the Photos window. When you select an image, the Photo Settings window appears. E F G A H I J K B C D A Source list: Select your iPhoto library or an iPhoto album in this list to see its contents. B Images list: Select images in the list to add to your movie.
Editing Pane You can add titles, transitions, video effects, and audio effects to your movie in the Editing pane. Buttons across the top of the pane provide easy access to high-quality editing tools. Click the Editing button to open the Editing pane. Titles You can add opening titles, rolling commentary, end credits, and more in this pane. To see title settings, click Titles at the top of the Editing pane. A B F C D G E I H 42 A Titles list: Select a title style to add to your movie.
Transitions You can add transitions to smoothly change scenes in your movie. To see transition settings, click Transitions at the top of the Editing pane. A C B D E A Transitions list: Select a transition style in this list. B Arrow buttons: For some transitions, you can click an arrow button to set the direction you want the transition to move. For example, a transition might “push” a scene from right to left or left to right. C Speed slider: Move the slider to set the speed of the transition.
Video Effects You can add special effects to change the look of your movie clips. For example, you can change color video to black and white, adjust the image brightness and contrast, or add playful effects like fairy dust. To see video effects settings, click Video FX at the top of the Editing pane. A B C D 44 A Effects list: Select an effect in this list to change the appearance of clips in your movie.
Audio Effects You can use audio effects to manipulate the sound in your movie. To see audio effects settings, click Audio FX at the top of the Editing pane. A B C D A Effects list: Select an effect in this list to change the sound of audio in your movie. B Effects controls: Use the controls to change the sound of an audio clip. The controls vary depending on the effect you selected. C Preview button: Listen to the audio clip to see how it sounds with the settings you made.
Chapters Pane You can add chapter markers to your movie and export it to iDVD or as a video podcast. In iDVD, the chapters will appear in a scene selection menu so that viewers can skip to a particular scene. In a video podcast, chapters can include a URL and a URL title. To open the Chapters pane, click the Chapters button. A B A 46 C Chapter titles: A new chapter appears in the list each time you add a chapter marker.
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