Here are a few more fun tips to make your movies even more professional. Split video clips at the Playhead positionIf you want to apply an effect to just part of a video clip, split the video into segments, then apply the effect to one of the segments.
You can create some interesting visual effects by splitting video clips into multiple segments, then adding transitions between the segments. Create a still frameYou can make a still frame (a static image) from any single frame of video in your movie. You might use the still frame as a title background for visual effect or to simulate a slideshow effect. One of our favorite techniques is to create a still frame of the last frame of a clip, then place the still frame after the clip, creating a freeze frame effect for the end of the clip. You can set the duration of the still frame to whatever length you want.
The default duration for a still frame is five seconds. To change the duration, double-click the still frame clip. In the "Clip Info" window that opens, type in a new duration. Or drag an edge of the clip in either direction to increase or decrease the clip duration. Save a single frame in another formatOccasionally you'll find that you need a copy of a single frame that you can email to someone or use as a photo in any number of ways.
Reverse a clip's directionTo reverse a clip's direction, select the clip, then from the Effects pane choose the "Fast/Slow/Reverse" Effect. Click the "Reverse Direction" checkbox in the Effects pane, then click "Apply." Create a color clipCreate color clips to use as transitions between scenes, as backgrounds for titles or captions, as artistic elements, or to replace black color spaces between two clips. When there's an existing blank space between two clips in the Timeline, iMovie creates a black color clip to fill the space. This clip is visible in Clip View mode. To replace the black with another color, double-click the black color clip to open the "Clip Info" window, click the Color box to choose another color, then click "Set." To create a new color clip: In the Timeline, drag two clips apart to create a blank space between them. iMovie automatically creates a color clip to fill the space. But the color clips are not visible in Timeline Viewswitch to Clip View to see and modify them. You can use color clips as placeholders in the Timeline until you get the video footage you want for a particular scene. For instance, if you're making a music video, you may have an idea for one section of music that's 15 seconds long. Place a 15-second color clip in the spot where you need video, then edit the rest of the movie. After you've had time to record the missing scene, paste the new video in place of the color clip. This prevents clips from moving around and getting out of sync with your music soundtrack. When you use color clips for a transition, add a "Cross Dissolve" or a "Fade In" and "Fade Out" transition to either side of the color clip to soften it. Extract audio in paste overYou may eventually be in an editing situation where you want to replace existing video in the Timeline, but keep the audio of the original clip. For example, the original video clip may have narration you want to use, but you want to replace the video with new shots of whatever the narrator is talking about. You can replace the original video but retain its audio with a "paste over."
To do a Paste Over of a replacement video clip including the audio, uncheck "Extract audio when using 'Paste Over at Playhead'" in iMovie's Preferences. The volume of each audio track can be adjusted so the narration in track 1 fades in as the music in track 2 fades out. See pages162163for more audio-editing information.
Lock an audio clip to a video clipYou may have an audio clip in one of the audio tracks that you want to start playing at a certain point in a video clip. But you want to experiment by moving the video clip around in the Timeline. You can lock the audio clip to the video clip so they move together.
To unlock the clip, first select it. Then from the Advanced menu, choose "Unlock Audio Clip." Yellow pins in the audio and video clips indicate the point at which the two clips are locked together. When you drag one of the clips, the other one will move with it. Use contextual menus to choose commandsMany of iMovie's menu commands are available through pop-up contextual menus, as shown above. Control-click on clips in the Clips Pane, on clips or transitions in the Timeline, on audio clips, on the Monitor, or on a blank spot in the Timeline to see what commands are available at your finger tips. Extract audio from a clipTo extract audio from a clip, select one or more video clips in the Timeline, then go to the Advanced menu and choose "Extract Audio." The extracted audio file is placed in the Timeline below the corresponding video clip. Yellow pins are automatically placed in the audio and video clips (on the left edges) to lock the extracted audio in sync with the video. To restore audio to a clip, select the clip and change the Clip volume level (circled, below-right) to 100%. Use bookmarks to mark important framesIt's often helpful to mark a certain point in the Timeline so you can find it again later. Perhaps your movie contains a clip that you want to work on later, or you've found the perfect spot to add a sound effect. iMovie includes markers called bookmarks that you can use to mark a precise point in an audio or video clip. Position the Playhead where you want to place a bookmark, then from the Markers menu choose "Add Bookmark." Or use Command B. Bookmarks appear in the Scrubber Bar of the Timeline as green diamonds. Press Command J to jump to the next bookmark in the Timeline. Or from the Markers menu, choose "Next Bookmark." Press Command [ to jump to the previous bookmark in the Timeline. Or from the Markers menu, choose "Previous Bookmark." To remove a bookmark, place the Playhead on top of it. From the Markers menu, choose "Delete Bookmark." To remove all bookmarks in the Timeline, go to the Markers menu and choose "Delete All Bookmarks…." Bookmarks stay where you put them in the Timeline, even when you move clips or change their durations. |