iMovie Tutorial

Necessary equipment:

1. Digital VideoCamera with firewire capability
   
2. Firewire capable computer
   
3. iMovie software
   
4. Digital Video Tape
   

Getting Started:

1. Using the firewire cable plug the camera, into the computer. There is only one type of port that will accept the firewire cable so it shouldn’t be any problem.
   
2. Turn the camera to the VTR setting. This is done to show the pre-recorded video.
   
3. Open iMovie.
   
4. If this is you first project iMovie will ask you to name your project. Choose the location and name of your new movie.
   *If a movie opens that is not your movie then choose FILE...New Project.
   

Capturing
If your camera is connected correctly you should see a blue screen that says “Camera Connected”

This is the window in which you will view your video tape. Notice the control in the lower left. This controls whether you are viewing your video tape or editing your video. As it is shown here you are viewing your video tape.
The buttons located in the lower middle of the screen control your camera and allow you to view, rewind, pause, etc.
The button located directly above the “play” button , is the import button. This is the button used to capture the parts of your video you wish to use in your new movie.

1. To capture a clip simply navigate the tape to the part that you want then push the or “play” button.
   
2. Next push the button. Whatever you see on the screen will be saved onto the computer.
   
3. When you reach the end of the section you wish to capture push the button again, this will stop the import.
   
4. Continue this process until you have captured all the clips you wish to use to make you movie.
   
   As you “log” the clips you should see them appear to the right side of the screen in what’s called the “bin”. All the clips that you log will show up in the bin. If you make a mistake and log a clip you don’t want then just highlight it (click on the clip) and press the delete button on the keyboard. The Bin can hold as many clips as you want.
   
   
   
   

Now you are ready for editing.



Editing
Adding to the Time-Line:

Drag the clips that you wish to use in your movie down onto the time-line. The time-line is located at the bottom of the window. You want to drag the clips in the order you want them to appear if possible. It is possible to change the order later if you need to.

There are two ways to view the timeline, by clip

or by relative time

It is easier to build the movie in the clip view because you are able to move the clips around and will be able to see them easier. However, to work with sound you must be in the relative time view.

Once you have added your clips, the time-line will look like the above pictures. With each of your clips in order along the line.
You will also notice that the control in the lower left of the window is now slid to the right. This means that you are now viewing your edited movie, not what’s on the camera.

There are several things that you can do to your movie at this time.
Each of these buttons will allow you to add these things to your video.

Transitions: (roll over the blue, underlined text to show where that is on the picture to the right)

Click on the This will bring up a window in which you can control your transitions. To add a transition to your movie you just choose the transition you want and then drag it ( you can drag the beside the words or you can drag the at the top right down) onto to timeline into the place that you want it to be. Always look for the bright turquoise line to appear to show you where to drop your transition. Hint: Before you drag a transition onto the time-line you can preview it by clicking on the “Preview” button. You may change the speed of a transition either before or after you put it into the time-line. To do this move the next to the “Speed:” command on the window. Moving it further to the right slows the transition and moving it to the left makes it faster. If you are changing a transition you have already placed in the time-line then click on it so it is highlighted (it changes a yellow color) and then change the speed and then click on the “Update” button.

If you have a clip that is not long enough for the transition to work a message will appear: You now have to either not put in a transition or shorten the duration of the transition until it works. If you wish to get rid of a transition just click on it so that it is yellow and then push the delete button on the keyboard. Hint: A red line will appear on the transition on the time-line until it has had time to render. The transition will look choppy until the red line has disappeared.

Titles: The title controls are very similar to those for transitions. The titles are placed onto the time-line in exactly the same way (drag and drop) and the speed is controlled in the same way.

In addition to all the controls available for transitions there are also controls for , , , and what t is desired. The box that is called will control whether the words for the title will appear over black or over the movie itself. The different types of titles will all allow for different amounts of text and different orientations. You may want to test a few to find the one that will match what you are doing the best. The control will control how much time elapses before the title appears or starts it’s animation. Titles can be changed once they are in the timeline by clicking on them, changing their settings and then clicking the button. You place the text you wish to add to your movie in the . If it does not fit or has too many lines then choose a different type of title. Hint: Once again remember to look for the turquoise line for placement of titles and remember that some of the titles will take some rendering that may take a few minutes

Effects:

These can be applied to the clips that are in the time-line. They are applied by choosing what you want to do and then clicking the “Apply” button. You may want to try these to achieve some different effects.

Audio: The audio controls allow you to add a preset sound, record your own voice, or add sounds, music, etc from a CD.
To get the just click on the sound you want and drag it down to one of the sound channels on the time-line If you have a microphone connected to your computer you will be able to record your voice. Just click the button and start talking. When you are finished click it again and it will stop recording. If you wish to use a sound from a just put it in the computer and this will appear., it is empty until a is put in the machine.You need to choose a track. If you think you’ll need the whole track then just drag the track you want onto one of the sound tracks of the time-line. If you only need a piece of the track then click the play and then to record the part you want. All of these sounds must be placed into the sound channels on the time-line. You can put two sounds in at the same time by placing them in two different sound channels. For example: you can have a voice-over with music playing in the background.
Sometimes it is necessary to change the volume of a sound. To do this click on the sound you wish to work with and then look for the volume button in the lower right hand corner of the time-line window By moving the slider back and forth you can control the volume. You can also have a sound Fade In or Fade Out.

Advanced Topics:

To fine tune a clip once you have captured it you should stop the movie where in the clip you want to edit and then go to “Edit” on the top menubar and choose “Split Video at Playhead” this will split the clip and allow you to get rid of the part of the video you did not want by selecting it and then pushing the delete key on the keyboard.

Hint: Be careful what is selected before you hit the delete button. The default is to highlight both of the new clips. To select just the one you want click somewhere else on the screen and then click on the part of the clip you want to delete.



To get rid of the sound in a clip there are two options. First select the clip you wish to get rid of the sound in. Then you can either turn the volume on that clip down by moving the volume slider in the lower left of the time-line window
all the way to the left.

The second option for deleting a sound is to select the clip you want to work with then go up to the “Advanced” control on the top menu bar and choose “Extract Audio”. This will put the audio from that clip in the audio channel in the time-line window. You can now select the audio part of the clip and push the delete button on the keyboard.



It is possible to create a still picture from a frame in a clip by stopping the clip at the picture you want and then choosing “Edit” control on the top menu bar and choose “Create Still Clip”. This clip will then appear in the “Bin” and you may drag it onto the time-line.

Hint: The duration of the still clip in the time-line can be controlled by selecting the still clip in the time-line and then changing the time in the control located in the top center of the time-line window.




To change the speed of a clip, for slow or fast motion effects, choose the clip you want to work with then move the slider located at the bottom left of the time-line.




To move clips around after they have been put into the timeline or to move a clip from the time-line back up to the bin click on the “Eye” to the left of the time-line window.



This will allow you to view the time line by individual clips. You can now move the clips around or move a clip from the time-line to the bin for use later.

Video Editing Screen:




 

Capture Screen:

Exporting Your Movie:

When you are satisfied with your movie you want to export it in some form that you can use. Your choices are back to the camera and then to a VHS tape or to Quicktime, for use on a CD-ROM or webpage.

Export to Camera:

Save your movie

Go to File...Export Movie.

Now look at the final screen. It’s pretty simple just choose what you want for black screen before and after the movie and then click export. This will control the camera and export the movie to the tape in the camera.

Hint: Make sure the tape is at the beginning before you do this so that you can find your edited movie easily!

Once your movie is on the tape you can take this tape and use the station that will tape from digital tape to VHS.

Export to Quicktime:

Follow the same first two steps as above

When you get the Export Movie window click on the “Camera” button

Now you are in the Quicktime screen. Click on the Formats” Email Movie, Small and choose what you are make the movie for.

Hint: The small movie are about 2” wide. The medium movie is about the size of the graphic below. Full quality will probably not fit on any kind of disk. Also, the larger the size the longer it will take to load on a webpage and the more disk space it will take.

Now click on “Export”

This process will take awhile depending on what kind of Quicktime you chose and how long your video is.

Once you are finished with this process it is important to "flatten" your movie in Media Cleaner Pro. This must be done to make sure that the movie will play in multiple formats, like on a Windows computer. Please see the Media Cleaner Pro for directions on how to do this.