Lesson 10. Editing and Finishing a Professional-Looking Movie

Lesson Files	Lesson Files
	Lessons > Lesson10 > Start_Project10
	Lessons > Lesson10 > Finished_Project10.mov
Tools	iMovie
Time	Approximately 90 minutes
Goals	Handle the coverage you shot when editing
	Use basic editing skills to create dynamic scenes
	Recognize how to use interactions between characters to guide your editing
	Create a high-quality archive copy of your finished video

In Lesson 9, Christopher shot coverage of the birthday party at the ceramics studio. The party's over now; the cake is eaten, the brushes are washed, and the girls have gone home. Now it's quiet time, and Christopher has an hour or two to see if he can make an interesting video from the material he shot.

The techniques you've learned over the last nine lessons all come together when you're developing a video: incorporating music from iTunes (Lesson 1), adding moving still photos with titles and transition effects (Lesson 5), and taking advantage of the fundamental editing tools (Lesson 6). There is no way around itmaking a video incorporates all the tools, tricks, and capabilities of iLife. With basic coverage (from Lesson 9) and familiarity with the editing tools in iMovie (which starts right here), you can whip out a video in no time.

Getting to your Mac with your video material and starting to work in iMovie can be a little emotionally challenging. If your photographic skills are competent, most of the material you shot is probably good. Even so, most of the material will not end up in your project.

Keep one thing in mind (you might even want to print this out and hang it above your Mac): Editing is not about throwing out bad material. Editing is about building something interesting and watchable. Sometimes you toss bad bits of video, but mostly you have to get rid of many good parts to make the remaining parts even better.

If it makes you feel better, you're not really throwing anything away. It's all on the videotape you shot. That original tape is an archive. When you finish this lesson, you'll also learn how to archive your final project in high-quality digital videotape for any future uses that may arise.