iMovie is a simple yet powerful video-editing program. Here is a diagram of the interface layout.
Once you launch the program, the next step will be to import the video from the camera into the software operation. Here’s how:
Use a FireWire cable to connect your video camera to the FireWire port on your Mac, then turn on your camera by moving the switch to playback mode instead of camera mode.
Create a new project by clicking the Create Project button or by going to the File menu and then choosing New Project.
In the window that appears, type a name for your project. Notice that iMovie automatically saves your project in the Movies folder on your hard drive.
Use the playback controls in iMovie to rewind to where you want to start importing.
Click the Import button.
Watch as short pieces of your video footage, called clips, appear in the iMovie Shelf.
When you’re finished importing, save your project by opening the File menu and choosing Save Project.
Arranging your clips
Your goal is to edit your clips in the order that will best tell your story. At this point, the Shelf should be full of clips and the Viewer should be empty. To fill the Viewer pane — which holds the movie you are creating — first find the best footage by viewing each of the clips and then dragging the ones with footage you want to use into the Viewer pane.
Note
This will move the clip from the Shelf to the Viewer, and you will no longer have a copy of the original clip on the Shelf. So if you make changes to the clip in the Viewer and delete some portions, then change your mind and decide you want to include some of the parts already deleted, you will have to re-capture it from the camera. So it’s a good idea to copy the clips from Shelf to Viewer, thereby leaving an original version in the Shelf in case you need it. This is done easily on the Mac by holding down the Option key while dragging the clip from Shelf to Viewer.
Once you have dragged the best clips to the Viewer, arrange them in the order you want by clicking and dragging. You can change your mind later, but it’s best to have a good idea of how the movie will go before you begin editing down the footage.
Just keep the good stuff
While the filming of a video is important, it’s the editing that will make or break it. So be very choosy when deciding which footage to keep and which footage to delete. Here’s how to delete selected footage from a clip:
Click the Timeline Viewer button in the iMovie window. This will show the clip’s length in minutes and seconds.
Select a clip from the iMovie timeline by clicking on it. It will turn blue. A blue scrubber bar appears just below the Monitor area where the clip is displayed. On the top of the scrubber bar is a small gray inverted triangle, marking the point in the clip that corresponds to the picture in the Viewer. This triangle is called the playhead.
Move your mouse over the scrubber bar and two tiny triangles appear on the far left that are called crop markers. These are what you use to crop your video.
Click on the right crop marker triangle and drag it to the point where you want the clip to stop. The playhead also will move to that point in your timeline.
Click on the left crop marker triangle and drag it to the point where you want your clip to start. Again the playhead will move to that point.
Note
The color of the scrubber bar changes from blue to yellow as you drag. You can either delete the yellow area or keep the yellow area, depending on which command you use next.
If you want to keep the yellow area, select Edit -> Crop or use the keyboard shortcut Apple -> K. The blue parts of your clip on either end will be deleted and will disappear.
If you want to delete the yellow area, select Edit -> Clear. The blue parts on either end will merge together to make a continuous clip and the yellow area will be deleted.
Note
This is why it’s a good idea to copy the clip from the Shelf into the Viewer, so you’ll still have the original footage in case you change your mind or accidentally delete too much. It you want to undo an edit, simply select Edit -> Undo or use the keyboard shortcut Apple -> Z.
Now move on to the next clip and repeat the steps, eliminating the excess footage and keeping just the best parts. iMovie will make the clips play continuously as if nothing was cut.
Working with audio
You can adjust the volume of your audio or add music or narration to your video. Here’s how with iMovie.
To adjust audio levels: Although this may be too advanced for most beginners, iMovie allows you to change the volume on the audio for the entire clip or any section you want to be louder or quieter. To experiment, go to the View menu and then select Show Clip Volume Levels.
The thin purple line in the middle of the clip is what you edit. Click and drag the line higher if you want the audio in that part of the clip to be louder, or drag the line lower if you want it quieter.
Using narration: You can record a voiceover quite easily using your Mac. First, write out the script and practice reading it a few times. (See Chapter 11 for more tips.) Then click the Media tab on the iMovie interface and, when you’re ready to record, click the red circle button next to the word Microphone.
Read the script into the built-in mike on the computer or, if possible, use an external mike. This is recommended, but many computers don’t have a place to plug in a mike. If yours does, it will either be in the back near the speakers/headphones jack or, if it’s a laptop, on the side or back.
Import your narration into iMovie with the same process described earlier.
To import audio: iMovie can easily add a music file to video, as long as it’s an MP3 and is already imported into your iTunes program. Just click on the Media button and select the track you want.
Royalty-free music
Be careful when adding music or other audio to your project as most music features restrictive copyrights based on a royalty payment system. In order to use that Radiohead track for background on your video story, you would need permission from the band’s recording company and must pay a royalty every time the music was heard by a reader/viewer.
So look for royalty-free music, which allows you to pay one low price for a piece of music and receive the right to have it played with your project as many times as needed without additional cost.
Apple’s GarageBand software (www.apple.com/ilife/garageband) makes incorporating audio easy and comes with 200 sound effects and 100 jingles that are royalty free. You can also purchase GarageBand Jam Packs that feature dozens more tracks separated into musical genres such as world music, symphony orchestra and “rhythm section.”
The audio channel on the Creative Commons Web site (creativecommons.org/audio) features links to artists and resources with royaltyfree — and sometimes totally free — music available. You can also search for royalty-free music on the Internet and find Web sites that sell a dizzying array of studio music with affordable, royalty-free prices.
Note
Be aware that, unless you have rights to commercial music, you can’t use it in your video. GarageBand, Apple’s music program, which should also be installed on your Mac, features many royalty-free music tracks that can be used as lead-in or lead-out background music.
Adding transitions
Most news videos use very few transitions, such as fading into/out of a shot, to control how one clip evolves into another. However, a few of the basic transitions might come in handy, and you can test how a transition will look in your video. Select a clip that you want the transition to start from and click on the Editing tab, then click Transitions. A menu of available transitions will replace the window where the Shelf was. Select a transition and a preview of it will play so you can see how it will look.
To add it to your video, simply drag it from the menu area into the timeline between the two clips you want to be transitioned. If you reconsider later, simply select the transition in the timeline and hit Delete.
Adding titles
It’s often necessary to identify speakers in your video, or you may need to publish credits at the end. Use the Titles feature to do this. To add a title:
Select the clip where you want to add the title.
Click the Editing tab, then click Title and a menu of title styles will appear where the Shelf was. Select the title that you want and enter the textual information into the box. A preview of the title will appear in the viewer.
Modify the font style and size with drop-down menus.
Modify the effects using the pre-set options but, again, keep it simple and professional (no flying words).
Modify the color of the text by clicking the box next to the word Color and making a selection from the palate.
Opt for your title to appear on a black background, rather than superimposed over the video, by clicking on the small box next to the words Over Black.
Check the small box next to QT Margin, since you will eventually export your video as a QuickTime movie, and this will make the title fit in the margins of the QuickTime movie.
Optional: You can adjust the speed or duration of the title by dragging the blue button in the sliding Speed bar near the top. Drag to the left to shorten the time your title will appear on a clip or to the right to increase the duration of the title.
Now add the title to your video by dragging it to the timeline just before the clip where you want the title to display.
To delete a title, click on the clip that contains the title and in the menu at the top select Edit -> Clear. That will delete the title but won't affect the rest of the video.
Using still photos
At some point, you may find that your subject has photos that would help tell the story, or a photographer has shot some stills that you want to use in your video. No problem. Simply add the photos into the iPhoto Library on the machine you’re using to make the movie, then click Photo from the special menu below the Shelf area. (Note: The photo must be in JPG format. See Chapter 8.)
Find a thumbnail for the photo in the menu and select it. Before adding it to your video, adjust the time the photo will be displayed with the slider bar in the Viewer menu. You can also use the zoom tool for a closer look at the photo, or click the box next to Ken Burns effect to make the photo “pan and scan” during the movie. (You can control how much “pan and scan” will occur with the Start and Finish controls.)
When you have the photo set the way you want, drag it to the timeline and place it where you want, just like you did with video clips.
Grabbing screenshots
To capture a still image that can be used to promote your video package, find a spot in the video that would lend itself to a small, iconic image by moving the playhead to that location. Then under the File menu at the top of the screen, select Save Frame As …
Choose JPG from the Format menu and navigate to your Desktop folder (or one that you’ll remember) and click Save.
Exporting video for the Web
By default, video files are too large to publish online without compressing, even with the proliferation of broadband connections. So the final step in producing your video story will be exporting it for online publication.
Save your project one more time to be sure you have all the changes. The export process will produce a compressed copy of your file but it will not alter the original.
Since you’re using iMovie, the export format of choice will be QuickTime. Under the Share menu on the top of the screen, choose QuickTime. You will be presented with a drop-down menu with several options. Web or Web streaming are probably your best bets, although compressing and exporting video files for the Web can be more art than science.
Read the fine print as you toggle between selections and note the approximate file size. This is the information you’ll use to make your decision. As a general rule of thumb, the file size should be no more than 1MB for each minute in length, meaning a three-minute video should be less than 3MB.
If you are running your own site, it’s probably best to select one file format to use for all of your downloadable videos. If you are part of a news organization, talk to your Web staff about their preferred format for video on the Web site.
