Section 15.4. Phase 2: Insert Chapter Markers


15.4. Phase 2: Insert Chapter Markers

If you've ever rented or bought a movie on DVD, you're already familiar with chapters, better known as scenes (Figure 15-4).

Figure 15-4. Most DVDs offer something called a scene menu like this one (from the movie Ronin), which lets viewers jump directly to their favorite scenes in the movie. Your DVD scene menus probably won't be quite this elaborate, but you get the idea.


DVD chapters let viewers skip to predefined starting points within a movie, or pick up where they last left off watching, by either using the scene menu or pressing the Next Chapter or Previous Chapter buttons on the remote control. Thanks to the partnership of iMovie and iDVD, you can add markers to your own movies that perfectly replicate this feature.

iMovie HD offers two ways to go about adding chapter markers. The easiest way is to press Shift- -M at each spot where you want a chapter marker, even while the movie is playing. (That's the shortcut for the Markers Add Chapter Marker command.) Although thats quick and easy, you still have to open up the iDVD chapter-marker palette to name the markers (Figure 15-5).

Figure 15-5. The iDVD palette lets you add, remove, and name chapters and then publish your iMovies to iDVD. New iMovie chapters are numbered sequentially, as they appear in your movie from left to right. Chapter references appear in your timeline as small yellow diamonds, just above the video track. Amazingly, iMovie can add up to 99 chapters per movie with the iDVD palette.


You can also create and manage chapter markers all in one tidy list, using the older iDVD panel in iMovie. Here's how that goes:

  1. In iMovie, click the iDVD button.

    You'll find it among the other palette buttons, just to the right of the Effects button, as shown in Figure 15-5. In any case, the iDVD palette now opens. If you've added any chapter markers using the Add Chapter Marker (Shift- -M) method, you'll see them listed here bearing names like Clip 12, Clip 16, and so on.

  2. In the iMovie monitor, drag the Playhead along the scrubber bar to locate the position for your new chapter.

    You may want to choose Edit Select None (Shift- -A) first, which ensures that no individual clip is selected. Now you can move the Playhead anywhere in your movie.


    Tip: Use the arrow keys for precise Playhead positioning, or press Shift-arrow to jump 10 frames at a time.
  3. Click Add Chapter.

    You'll find this button near the bottom of the iDVD palette. iMovie adds the chapter to your list, as shown in Figure 15-5.


    Tip: You can also use the keystroke Shift- -M at this point, or even choose Markers Add Chapter Marker.

    Type a chapter title into the Chapter Title box.

    Whatever you type here will wind up as the chapter name in the finished DVD menu. Select a short but meaningful name. (You don't have to delete the proposed name first; just type right over it.)

  4. Repeat steps 24

    Repeat until you've added all the chapters for your movie.

  5. Save your project.

    Choose File Save to save your iMovie project, including the chapter marks you just defined.

15.4.1. Removing Chapters

Suppose you change your mind about where a chapter should begin. Or, you may have added too many chapters to suit your taste, or even put a marker in the wrong place. In any case, you remove a marker by using one of these techniques:

  • Click its name in iMovie's iDVD palette and then click the Remove Chapter button.

  • Click the diamond-shaped marker in the Movie Track and then choose Markers Delete Chapter Marker (Option- -M).


Tip: You can also select a bunch of chapters in the iDVD panel at once, using the usual list-keyboard shortcuts -click individual markers to select them, or select a consecutive batch by clicking the first and Shift-clicking the last. Now clicking Remove Chapter nukes all of them at once.

15.4.2. Changing Chapter Names

To change the name of any chapter that appears in the iDVD Chapter Markers list, just double-click it to open the editing box, and then edit away.

When you press Return or Enter, iMovie accepts the new chapter name and automatically moves to the next chapter. When you're at the last chapter of your project, iMovie cycles back to the first one. As a result, you can edit a bunch of chapter names in sequence with a minimum of mouse clicks. To finish editing chapter names, click the mouse outside the iDVD palette.

15.4.3. Chapter Marker Pointers

Here are a few key points to keep in mind about chapters:

  • Chapter markers appear in the Timeline Viewer. They appear as small, yellow diamond shapes . (Chapter markers don't appear in the Clip Viewer.)

  • You can't move a chapter marker. If you've used the wrong start frame when creating your chapter, you have no choice but to delete the chapter marker and create a new one with the correct starting point.

  • You can't drag chapter markers in the iDVD palettes. Chapter order depends on the associated starting times, which appear chronologically in the palette.

  • When you move (and erase) clips, chapter markers go along for the ride. iMovie associates chapters with individual clips. Therefore, if you reorder your clips, the chapter markers move with them. If you delete a clip, iMovie removes the included chapters.

    Figure 15-6. Some iDVD menu themes can accommodate only six or seven buttons per screen. If you've got more than that, left and right arrows appear, so that your audience can navigate to additional screens full of buttons. iDVD automatically adds the scene numbers to your menu title for easier navigation.


  • When you copy a clip, you copy chapter markers. When you duplicate a clip, iMovie copies all of its chapters at their original positions .

  • Frames matter, not timing. When you slow down or speed up a clip, the included chapter marks slide accordingly , retaining their relative positions within the clip.

  • There's a "secret" unlisted chapter. iMovie and iDVD always create one more chapter than you see on the iDVD Chapters list. This extra chapter corresponds to the very beginning of your movie (00:00:00), and starts out with the label "Beginning." (You won't see it until you arrive in iDVD.)

  • Your finished iDVD screens can fit up to 12 buttons per screen. The actual number used depends on the theme you pick. (Themes are prebuilt designs with coordinating backgrounds, buttons, fonts, and, if you like, background audio.) When you include more chapters per screen than the theme allows (including "Beginning"), your scene-selection menus will extend to more than one screen, as shown in Figure 15-6.



iMovie HD & iDVD 5. The Missing Manual
iMovie HD & iDVD 5: The Missing Manual
ISBN: 0596100337
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 209
Authors: David Pogue

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net