Mastering iMovie
reviewed by Chris Marshall
macProVideo.com PO Box 93598 Vancouver, BC V6E 4L7 FAX: 778-786-1331 http://www.macprovideo.com/tutorial/iMovie Released: August, 2006 $29.50 USD, $33 CND, £15.65 GBP, 23.25€ Euro Audience: New and Intermediate Mac users with an interest in creating their own movies. Strengths: Logical layout, easy to use. Weaknesses: Requires proprietary NED to view. |
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What they say: iMovie is quickly revolutionizing the way people tell stories. Whether you're editing videos of the kids to send to Grandma, or creating engaging documentaries and short films, you're telling the story of your life, and iMovie is the perfect tool!
Produced by Media Deployment guru Francesco Schiavon, this program provides valuable tips and tricks for capturing, editing, and outputting video using Apple iMovie.
This series of videos uses macProVideo.com's proprietary video display technology, called "NED" (the Nonlinear Educating Device). A dramatic step forward in software education, NED let's you search videos using keywords, present tutorials to audiences in fullscreen mode, and even scale videos on-the-fly so you can follow along with your copy of iMovie while watching the tutorials.
More than just a basic course in video editing, you'll also learn advanced topics such as streaming video into iMovie in realtime, outputing video podcasts with embedded URLs, and round-tripping between iMovie and GarageBand to sweeten your sound.
Contents:
Chapter 1: iMovie Overview
1. Creating A New Project
2. Capturing From Tape
3. Editing Cutting Clips
4. Using Themes And Transitions
5. Editing Sound
6. Outputting a Movie
Chapter 2: Creating New Projects
7. Creating A New Empty Project
8. Magic iMovie I: Controlling The Tape
9. Magic iMovie II: Transitions, Music And iDVD
10. Magic iMovie III: Previewing In iDVD
11. Creating A Videocast
12. Tips On Creating A Videocast
Chapter 3: Capturing Video
13. Capturing From A Camera Tape
14. Capturing From A Camera Live
15. Capturing Video From A File
16. Capturing Timelapse: Creating A Project
17. Capturing Timelapse: The Capture
Chapter 4: Editing In iMovie
18. Intro To The Clip View
19. Intro To The Timeline
20. Trimming The Beginning And End Of A Clip
21. Cutting Clips Without Destroying Them
22. Adding Titles
23. Modifying Titles
24. Adding Transitions
25. Changing Transitions & Telling Stories With Them
26. Solving Transition Problems
27. Previewing Video FX
28. Applying Or Deleting Video FX
29. Making A Freeze Frame From Video
30. Adding Chapters
31. Splitting Clips Into Two Clips
32. Intro To Bookmarks
33. Pasting Over An Existing Clip
34. Adding Photos
35. Working With Themes
36. Copying Clips Between Projects
37. Crazy Pasteboard Idea
38. Viewing Your Edit On The TV
39. Colour Correcting With The TV
Chapter 5: Working With Sound
40. Intro To The Audio Pane
41. Applying Sound Clips
42. Adding Sound Clips To The Audio Pane
43. Adjusting The Sound Volume
44. Adjusting Clip Volume Levels Through Time
45. Disabling A Track's Audio
46. Locking Audio Clip At Playhead
47. Adding Voice Overs To Your Videos
48. Applying Audio EFX
49. Synchronizing Visuals To Sound
Chapter 6: Export And Share Your iMovie
50. Playing Your iMovie Fullscreen On Your Mac
51. Overview Of The Share Pane
52. Exporting To Your Video Camera
53. Exporting A QuickTime Movie
54. Sharing Your Movie With Email
55. Synchronizing iMovie To BlueTooth
56. Making An iDVD
57. Making An iPod Movie
58. Sharing On The Web
59. Sending Your iMovie To GarageBand For Mastering
60. Exporting A Still Frame From Video
Chapter 7: File Management
61. Where iMovie Saves The Media
62. How iMovie Imports Files
63. Why iMovie Transcodes Imports
64. Why The File Size And Trash Grow
65. How Much Drive Space You've Got Available
What I say: The only reason I haven’t given this 5 stars is that it left me wanting a more advanced course, and there is no indication that there will be one.
When I first bought a Mac one of the key things that I wanted to do was to make the most of the hours of video footage that I had shot. Every time I went into an Apple store the iLife demonstrations looked so easy and professional that I was a little frustrated when I found that my own abilities didn’t match my own aspirations L
I had mastered importing the raw footage, and had got pretty good with iDVD creating small clips for use on my blogs and web sites, but my initial attempts at creating movies with music, pictures and text had ended somewhat prematurely and amidst a not insignificant amount of frustration.
At 150 minutes you could settle down and watch it all in one go, but with each section running at between 2-5 minutes I actually found it more useful to use it as a support/help tool rather than as an educational tool. But then again, I am the type of guy that only really looks at the manual when he has already messed up. I would actually advise that you go through each chapter in sequence and in full before putting into practice what that chapter covers.
In summary: A solid performer that does what it says it will very efficiently and effectively. I would certainly recommend it for anyone that is not already familiar with iMovie.
