What is iMovie?
Making videos at UW Bothell are easy to get into with iMovie, Macintosh’s default video editing software. iMovie comes shipped with Mac OS’s on new desktops, laptops as bundled with iLife, and is available on every Macintosh computer on campus. Users can upload video via FireWire, USB or from the internal hard drive; once the project is open, use iMovie to add clean looking titles, fade-ins and fade-outs as well as other transitions, add music adjust audio settings and levels and create slideshows. Once your project is finished you can burn it to DVD or even export it directly to YouTube!
Available Tutorials:
Understanding the Workspace:
1) Below is a picture of the iMovie user interface. On the very top of the screen will be your menu buttons. Click on them to get more options. The top left square is where you will edit your project. You can also view your projects by clicking on the “Project Library” tab. The top right square is your viewer where you will be able to watch your video. The bottom middle square is where all your un-edited footage will be. Your newly imported videos will be placed there. On the bottom right is where your music, photo, and text tabs are. The buttons are on the gray line the bottom rights box is where you can see the files. Finally in the middles in the grey area is the inspector button. It looks like an “I” in a circle.
Adding Still Images:
1) To import a still image is a little different. I find the best way is to find your image in your finder and to click and drag and drop your image into the iMovie project bin.
2) When you bring a still image into IMovie it will automatically add a zoom to that image. I’m going to show you how to disable that. On your image click on the little cog icon and a menu will pop out. Then click on “Cropping, Ken Burns, and Rotation”.
3) If you want your images to be stationary click on the “Fit” button. Then click “Done”.
4) If you click on the “Crop” button you can crop your image down. Click and hold on the green lines bordering the corners and pull it in our out to shrink or increase your crop. You can also click and hold anywhere in the middle of the green square and move it around to change the center point of your crop. When you’re finished click “Done”.
5) Next we will learn the Ken Burn’s Tool. The Ken Burn’s tool works a lot like cropping. First reselect the “Ken Burn’s” button. If the red box is bigger than the green box it will zoom out. If it’s smaller it will zoom out. You can click on either box and it will select that box so you can make adjustments. You can click and hold on the corners of the box to make it larger or smaller. Click and hold in the middle of a box to change the center point. When you’re satisfied click “Done”.
Adding Text:
1) The first step is to select the “Text” button in the bottom right of the browser.
2) Now you will see a list of themes. Click and hold then drag any theme of your choice on to your image or video. Depending where you hold your text it will highlight an area of the video or the whole video. This means when you place the text there it will fill that much space. You can also click and hold on the edges of your text layer later to make it larger or shorter. Note that it will automatically put a fade in and out on your text. You can change that by clicking on your text layer and clicking on the inspector.
3) Click in the text wireframes and begin typing to change the text. When you have finished typing in your desired text we will then make adjustments. Click on the “Show Fonts” box.
4) Making text adjustments is a little tricky. We are going to ignore the box below and click on “System Font Panel”.
You will now see the box below. Before we make adjustments however we are going to click “Done”.
You will now see the box below. Before we make adjustments however we are going to click “Done”.
Now click on “Show Fonts” again. First we are going to change the color. Click on the colored square. A color palette will pop up. Click on any color you desire. Then click on the red “X” in the top left corner when you’re done.
5) Now under the “Family” box you will find all the fonts to choose from. Just click on the font you want. In the bottom right of that box is an up and down triangle. Click on those to browse more fonts. In the “Typeface” box is the adjustments to that font. Bold, ect. You can type in your desired font size in the “Size” box. Then hit enter. Also by default there will be an outline around your text. I highlighted the “Outline” button below so you can uncheck it if you wish. Finally when you have made all these changes click “Done”.
6) Finally if you try and add text after or before a video or in a place where there is no image it will prompt you to select a background. Just click on the background you desire.
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Adding Video:1) To add video click on “File” near the top of the screen. A menu will come down. Then hold your mouse over import. Another menu will pop out. Then click on “Movies”.
2) This will open up an import box. On the left will be a list of locations to import your file from. My file was on the desktop. Just click on any location to look somewhere else. On the right is the list of file names. Click on the file you want to import. Click on the box to the right of the word “Optimize Video”. This will bring down a menu of video options. Click on “Full”. Also make sure “Copy Files” is checked, if the circle isn’t checked then click in it. Finally when you have gone through all these steps click “Import”.
Now you will get an import box showing you how long the import will take.
Below is an image of the video tab I explained above. Choose “Full”.
3) Now you will see your video in the bottom middle box. To add this video to your project click and hold on an area of the video and this will make a yellow selection box appear. You can keep adjusting by holding your mouse near the edges of the box. You will see two triangles facing away from each other connected by a horizontal line with a vertical line between them. Now you can click and hold and pull the selection box out or in. Note that while your adjusting the selection box it will also tell you how long the clip is. When your done click and hold in the yellow box and drag your video up the project manager.
Creating A New Project:
1) First click on “File” near the top left corner of the screen. A menu will come down. Then click on “New Project”.
2) Next a new project box will pop up. At the top to the right of “Project Name” you can type in your desired project name. Below that is the “Aspect Ratio”. If you click on the blue square to the right you can change the aspect ratio from wide screen to NTSC, or for the iphone. For this tutorial we are going to set the theme to none. However feel free to click on other themes and explore their features. When you have completed these steps click on the “Create” button. Below is a picture of the aspect ratios that are available when you click on that box.
3) After you have created your project click on the “Project Library” tab to view your projects.
You can also create multiple projects. Below is the project we just created. Once your ready to get back to edit mode click on the “Edit Project” tab.
4) If you want to delete a project right click on it and a menu will pop up. Then click on “Move Project To Trash”.
Export Using QuickTime:
1) First select the video clip that you wish to export in the project library. It should have a yellow border around it.
2) Next click on “Share” at the top of the screen. A menu will come down. Then click on “Export Movie”.
3) Then an Export menu will appear. To the left will be a list of locations to export your movie to. I choose the desktop. Note: If you don’t see these locations click on the blue box to the right of “Export As”. Make sure the triangle is facing up. Next to “Export As” you can type in the desired name of your export. Near the bottom there is a list of project sizes. I choose HD for my project. Then when you’re done click on the “Export” button.
Then the export will begin. You will see a box like in the picture below. It will tell you the estimated finish time.
Music and Sound Effects:
1) Click on the music icon located at the far right middle of the browser.
2) Now you can search for music files. On the top part are the locations where your music could be located. Under the word “Name” are all the audio files you have available. Finally in the bottom is a search bar if you know the name of your file you can type it in. You can also hit the play button to preview the song.
3) Once you find your desired audio click and hold on it then drag it on top of your clip and let go. The audio will start depending where you let go on your clip. However you can also move your audio after its been placed. Click and hold on your audio and move right and left with your mouse.
4) You can also stretch your audio out if it does not exceed the length of the video. Hold your mouse over the end of the audio and your mouse will change to an icon that looks like two triangles facing opposite directions connected with a line horizontally and a line through the middle vertically. Then you can click and hold on the audio puling it to the right or left to make it longer or shorter. Let go of the mouse when you’re satisfied with the audios length.
5) Next we will adjust the audio settings. First click on the cog icon on the left side of your audio clip.
6) A menu will pop out. Then click on “Audio Adjustments”.
7) First we will adjust our audio levels. Next to the word “Volume” is a line with a button in the middle. Click and hold on that button and drag it to the right or left to make the audio louder or quieter. 100% is your starting audio. Be careful not to raise your audio to high or you increase the chance of clipping or audio distortion. Let go of the mouse when you’re satisfied with your audio levels. Next we will adjust our fade levels. Your audio will automatically be set to fade in at the beginning and fade out at the end at a speed of 0.5 seconds. To adjust this click on the circle next to the word manual then click and hold on the button on the fade line. The higher the number the longer the fade, the lower the number the shorter the fade. Or you can set it to 0 and do away with the fade altogether. When you’re done with the adjustments click on the “Done” button.
8) You can also make the same adjustments to the audio on your video clip. Click on the cog icon on the video clip and select “Audio Adjustments”.
The adjustments for the audio will look exactly the same as before. Finally it’s also important to note that you can use multiple audio files as shown below.
Trimming:
1) In the bottom area will be all your raw footage. Click and hold on any spot on the footage. Now pull your mouse to the right and you will see a yellow box expanding. This will be your selection. Also note that while you make your selection bigger it will tell you the time duration of the clip.
2) Now hold your mouse in the middle of that yellow box. You will see a hand icon. Click and hold on the clip. And drag it up to your project. There are a few things you can do from here. You can put it at the end or the beginning of another clip were you will see a vertical green line showing you were you can place the clip. You can also put it between two clips. You will see the green line again. Finally if you try and let go on top of a clip a menu will pop up and give you the option to insert the clip. This will cause your old clip to split in half and insert your new clip between those halves. Below is the picture of the insert menu.
3) Next we are going to trim clips in our project timeline. To do this we will highlight a selection of the clip again.
3) Next we are going to trim clips in our project timeline. To do this we will highlight a selection of the clip again.
Note: After deletion this will split your clip in half if the deletion was made in the middle.