Using iMovie 4

3 Advanced techniques using the Timeline viewer

1 Getting started

1 Start the iMovie programme

Turn on the computer.

Find the iMovie icon which is in the Dock which pops up when you move the pointer to the bottom of the screen. Double-click on the icon to start the programme.

If iMovie starts with another project:

To create a new project, go to the File menu and select New Project
To open an existing project, go to File>Open and search for the project you want to open.

Tip: Making sure that iMovie>Preferences is set correctly can save a lot of trouble. The important ones to tick are:

Automatically start new clip at scene break
New clips go to Clips Pane
New projects are PAL (UK/Ireland) or NTSC (Canada/USA).
NB In the UK, you need to check this each time as the program sometimes reverts to NTSC.
If you will be connecting to a TV monitor through your camera, check Play video through to camera. Otherwise, leave this unchecked.

2 Connect the camera

You connect the camera to the computer using a 'Firewire' cable which has one large end and one small end. The large plug is flat, with one end curved and the other flat. The small end is rectangular with a notch on one side.

The small end goes in the camera and the large end goes in the computer. On the computer, look for a Y-shaped Firewire symbol. On the camera, the socket is usually hidden under a cover and labelled 'DV' or 'DV in/out'. Check the plugs carefully to make sure they're the right way up – you shouldn't force them.

Put your camera into 'VCR' mode by turning the main power button down one click from the horizontal position.

iMovie should display 'Camera connected' on the screen. If not, you may need to use the button at the bottom left-hand corner of the main window: click on the little picture of a DV camera.

Problem: There's a dialogue box telling me the camera is a different video standard from my project – but it isn't.

Answer: Save your work, then quit and relaunch iMovie: If you still have a problem, save your work then quit iMovie and restart the computer.

3 Find the material you want and import it

Use the 'fast forward' and 'rewind' buttons below the main window to go back and forward through the tapes selecting the bits you want.

If you have several clips one after the other on your camcorder tape, all of which you need, it's easiest to press the Import button and let iMovie divide the clips up automatically.

Problem: My clips appear in the movie, not in the Clips Pane.

Answer: Go to File>Preferences and change the settings under the 'Import' tab.

Problem: iMovie doesn't split the clips up automatically.

Answer: As above. If this doesn't work, check that you have installed the button battery which retains date and time information on the camera, and that you have set the date and time.

4 Start editing

When you've finished importing your clips, click on the little picture of a pair of scissors (at the bottom left of the main window) to switch from camera to editing mode.

Renaming clips

If you have a lot of clips – particularly if they look similar – it can be a good idea to give them new names. Click on the name of the clip (just below the small picture) and type the new name straight in. This is particularly useful when you're working with dialogue.

You must rename clips within iMovie. If you rename them inside the project's Media folder, you'll corrupt the project.

Putting your clips in the movie

The horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen is the Movie, where you put your clips in order, rearrange them and add effects, sound and so on. There are two ways of looking at your clips: the Clip Viewer (filmstrip symbol) where you just see the clips in order as single pictures, and the Timeline Viewer (clock symbol) where you can also see audio tracks and the relative length of clips.

To put a clip in your movie, just select it and drag it from the Clips Pane to the Movie. If you hold down the Alt or Option key as you drag, you will leave the original version of the clip on the Clips Pane – useful if you want to use it later in your film.

Trimming clips

You can crop clips either in the Movie or on the Clips Pane, though it's best to put the clips in order in the Movie first, then trim them. To crop a clip, click on the little picture to select the clip, and then put in crop marks just under the blue scrubber bar below the main window.

Here are two ways to select the section you want to keep. The first is easier, the second is faster.

Get the Playhead to the point where you want the selection to begin (either by dragging it or by using the spacebar to start and stop the clip). Put the point of the arrow on the Playhead, hold down the Shift key and click with the mouse. Crop marks will appear. Now drag the Playhead to the point where you want the clip to end and shift/click again. Your selection should now be highlighted in yellow.
Click and drag just under the scrubber bar, starting at the point you want your selection to begin and stopping at the point where you want it to end.

NB the Playhead is the inverted white triangle just above the blue Scrubber bar – don't confuse it with the play button.

Once you've inserted your crop markers (remember the yellow selection is the bit you keep) select 'Crop' from the Edit menu. Then play through your edited clip to check it.

Alternatively, you can select the part you want to remove and use 'Cut' on the Edit menu.

You can also trim clips in the Timeline:

Select the end of the clip and drag left or right.
If the end of the clip is square, you can make that edit longer or shorter; if the end is rounded, there is no more media to edit and you can only shorten it.

Dividing clips up

You can split clips up into smaller clips. This is good if you want to cut back and forth between material shot from different camera positions. To do this, put the Playhead where you want to divide the clip and go to Edit>Split Clip at Playhead.

Changing your mind

Changed your mind about an edit? If it's the last action you did, go to Edit>Undo.

If you want to restore a clip you trimmed earlier, go to Advanced>Restore Clip Media.

(You can't do either of these if you've emptied the Trash since the edit).

2 Tips

Planning and organisation

Keep projects short: it's better to put a lot into a thirty-second film than to struggle to fill ten minutes.
The more you plan in advance, the better.
Using more than one camera? Before you start filming, make sure that they are all set to the same audio format (normally 16bit) as mixing 12bit and 16bit audio in the same movie will give you unusable sound.
Allow plenty of time for projects. For high quality work, think in terms of "1:1:1" - an hour's filming and a day's editing to make a minute of film. If you're new to editing, working with ambitious perfectionists - or just disorganised - it may take much longer.
Don't import everything you've filmed: log your footage and be selective about what you capture. For longer or more complex projects, it can be better to plan the edit out on paper first before importing anything.
Save frequently, and backup your work regularly. If you don't have an external drive or removeable media to back up to, you should consider exporting important projects (such as coursework) to DV tape at the end of each session.
Save your movies in the 'Movies' folder. If you have many different projects, create subfolders within this folder. To make access easier, put an 'alias' of the 'Movies' folder on your desktop.
Give your movies logical names that you will remember.
Review edits as you go along:
- Select the clip you've just edited plus the clips before and after it
- Move the playhead back to before the clip
- Press the spacebar to play.

Go easy on the transitions and effects! Fade in, Fade out and Dissolve are the only transitions used in most films.
If iMovie tells you that you can't use a particular transition because the clips around it are too short, try using the 'Speed' slider to reduce the duration of the transition.

Sound

Try to keep sound levels consistent.
Adjust the sound levels for individual sound or video clips by clicking on each clip (in the Timeline) and then using the volume slider below the timeline.
To adjust audio levels within a clip, click on the'Edit volume' checkbox. You can then click on the volume level line to vary the volume up and down.
To edit the beginning and end of sound clips precisely, use a larger magnification on the timeline.

Voiceovers

You can record voiceovers using the computer's internal microphone, but the quality isn't very good. Instead, plug in a powered microphone (older iMac/Powerbook/eMac) or USB microphone (iBook/new iMac).
Alternatively, record the voiceover on video, import the clip and put it on the Timeline, go to Advanced>Extract audio, and delete the video clip leaving an audio clip that you can move to wherever you want it in your movie.

3 Advanced techniques using the Timeline viewer

The Timeline (clock symbol) allows you to see audio waveforms (if you have this option selected in 'Preferences), adjust audio levels, insert markers for accurate clip positioning, and edit by dragging the ends of clips.

Cutaways

A 'cutaway' is where the picture from one clip is replaced by the picture from another, while keeping the original sound. This can be useful for adding variety or to conceal obvious edits ('jump cuts'), poor camerawork etc.

Depending on your camera, you may get sound glitches when doing cutaways in iMovie. To avoid this, do the following first:

Select the 'master clip' (the one that you'll be inserting the cutaways over).
Go to Advanced>Extract Audio.
To insert a cutaway:
Crop the video clip that you want to insert, and then click on the its icon (small picture)OR select a section from a clip by using the Crop marks.
Copy the clip or the selection using Edit>Copy.
Go to the Timeline viewer and move the Playhead to where you want to insert your cutaway.
Go to Advanced>Paste over at Playhead.

Split edits

A 'split edit' (not to be confused with 'Split Clip at Playhead') is an edit where the sound and picture change at different times. It can make continuity editing flow much more smoothly, or form a 'sound bridge' between two scenes.

In this example, the picture from Clip 2 comes in over the audio from Clip 1.

Do a normal edit for the two clips. (You will only be able to do a split edit if you still have unused media in each clip – i.e. in the Timeline, the ends of both clips are square rather than rounded).
Extract the audio from both clips. In the Timeline, extract the audio from each of the clips. Move one of the audio clips down to the second audio track.
Now trim Clip 1 video by dragging the end of the video clip to the left.
Then trim the audio from Clip 2 until it lines up with the end of the audio from Clip 1.

It's slightly fiddlier to have the audio from 2 coming over the picture from Clip 1.

Do the normal edit and extract the audio as before. Now trim the video from Clip 2. Move the video from Clip 2 left to line up with the end of Clip 1.
Now check that the audio from Clip 2 lines up with the video at the right-hand end of the clip. Move the playhead to the end of Clip to, unlock and relock the playhead.
Now trim the audio from Clip 1 by dragging its end left to line up with the end of the audio from Clip 2.

To make the sound edits smoother, you could have a slight overlap between them.

You could also move all the audio clips back up to the first audio track and then add a 'wild track' (background sound) to the second audio track to cover any joins.

Editing to a soundtrack

You can easily edit to a soundtrack for a music video or title sequence. Both involve using Bookmarks to place your clips. To insert a Bookmark in the Timeline, use apple-B .

Check that your Preferences are set to Show audio waveforms and Enable Timeline snapping.

Import your soundtrack.

You can use the waveforms to identify the points in the soundtrack where you want to put your edit points.
You can use Audio scrubbing, listening as you drag the Playhead until you find the exact point to insert the Bookmark.
You can play the soundtrack and hit the 'apple-B' key combination in time to the soundtrack.

Trim the beginning of the first video clip you want then drag it to the beginning of your movie in the Timeline.

Select the end of the clip (the cursor will change to a trim arrow symbol) and move it so that it lines up with the first green Bookmark.

Trim the beginning of the second video clip and drag it to the timeline so that it buts up agains the end of the first video clip. Now trim sits right hand end so that ti lines up with the second Bookmark, and so on.

4 iMovie terms

Clips pane

The grid at the right of the screen where you keep your clips before putting them in your movie. Buttons at the bottom of this pane also let you choose Transitions (like fades and dissolves), Effects, Titles and Audio, as well as accessing still images in your iPhoto library

In a professional video editing programme this would be called the Browser or Bin.

Movie

The film you are making, which you put together on the bar at the bottom of the screen, using the Clip Viewer or the Timeline Viewer:

The Clip viewer (Filmstrip symbol) shows you the clips as icons. In the Clip viewer you can rearrange clips and drag them back to the Clips Pane.
The Timeline viewer (Clock symbol) shows you two audio tracks as well as showing the relative lengths of the video clips. In the Timeline Viewer you can edit the length of clips and adjust audio levels.

Scrubber bar

The blue bar under the main picture window, where you can use the Playhead (see below) to move through your clips and insert Crop marks.

Playhead

A little vertical line with an upside-down white triangle above it, which indicates exactly where you are in your clip or movie. There are two places that you can use Playheads in iMovie: on the Scrubber bar or on the Timeline viewer.

Crop marks

The little white triangles just below the Scrubber Bar that mark the beginning and end of the part of the clip you have selected to keep.

These are equivalent to In and Out points in tape-to-tape video editing or in professional editing programmes.

Tom Barrance

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