How iMovie Manages Clips

If you're casually flipping through this chapter, I'll understand it if you skip everything else except this section. It's important to understand how iMovie handles clips as you're working with them, especially when you begin deleting unused clips.

Clips can be made up of either video footage or imported still pictures. Each clip includes a thumbnail image of the clip's first frame, a timecode noting the clip's duration, and a title that you can edit (Figure 7.10).

Figure 7.10. Each clip contains a thumbnail image of the first frame in the video. If a clip has been split, iMovie adds a number to indicate it's a section from the original.

graphics/07fig10.jpg

When you import footage, iMovie creates a new clip for each scene, which then adds a new clip file to your hard disk. However, even if you rename, split, reverse, or otherwise edit a clip in iMovie, the media file stays the same (Figure 7.11). iMovie actually records only the changes made to the clip, and doesn't alter the clip's original media file.

Figure 7.11. The original clip, "Clip 02," was renamed "Hello Deer" and split into four separate clips, but the Clip 02 source file is not renamed or split on the hard disk.

graphics/07fig11.gif

This clip management style comes in handy in several ways as you use iMovie.

Advantages of iMovie's method of managing clips

  • Undo. iMovie offers 10 levels of Undo, enabling you to recombine split clips, move clips back to their original locations, and other actions.

  • Deleting clips. iMovie's Trash is something of a digital Roach Motel: clips go in, but they don't come out! This doesn't mean the clips are gone for good, though (see "Moving Clips to the Trash," later in this chapter).

  • Restoring clips. If you're not happy with your edits, or something has gone horribly wrong, you can always restore the clip to its original state, because the original data is always on file. See the next chapter to learn how to restore clips.



iMovie 3 for MAC OS X. Visual QuickStart Guide
iMovie 3 for Mac OS X (Visual QuickStart Guide)
ISBN: 0321193970
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 125
Authors: Jeff Carlson

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