Titles


When you're ready to try adding a title to your iMovie, you'll be working in a new area of iMovie: the Titles palette. Until now, you probably spent most of your time simply capturing video and working with clips in the Shelf, the Monitor, and the Timeline. But now you'll start switching back and forth between various windows in the Shelf. If you haven't already tried it, the way you get to the Titles palette if you're looking at clips in the Shelf is simply to click the Titles button.

When the Titles palette comes up, you'll see a number of options, including ways to adjust the size and color of the letters in your title, as well as a list from which you can select different titles (see Figure 15.1).

Figure 15.1. The Titles palette.

graphics/15fig01.jpg

But if you're new to digital video, don't worry about all the options. You can add a title to your iMovie simply by choosing one (such as Bounce In To Center) from the list, clicking on it, and dragging it into the Timeline.

Sooner or later, you'll want to take advantage of all the things you can do to spruce up and modify titles to give your productions a customized touch. To get our feet wet, let's take a look at a couple of the basic titles that are included with iMovie. Later on, we'll dive into adjusting and customizing titles.

Sample TitleBounce In To Center

Near the top of iMovie's title list is Bounce In To Center, and it's a great starting place to play around with titles. Looking at Figure 15.2, you can get a sense of how the text moves in from the top and bottom of the screen.

Figure 15.2. A sample title.

graphics/15fig02.jpg

Sample TitleCentered Multiple

At first glance, Centered Multiple might sound like an abstract algebraic principle, but after you start playing with it, its value becomes apparent.

Centered Multiple is an example of a title to which you can add multiple lines of text. In essence, iMovie makes it easy to create multiple "screens" by enabling you to add additional lines of text to some titles.

On the left in Figure 15.3, we see the first screen (imagine the text fading in, pausing, and then fading out), and on the right we see the next screen, where the same thing happens again.

Figure 15.3. A fade from left to right.

graphics/15fig03.jpg

If you're having difficulty picturing what's going on, don't be concerned . When you start playing in the program, it'll become clear, and you'll see the nice effect that this kind of title has.

iMovie makes it easy to enter text in titles like this one. As with the previous title we examined, the text you enter in the bottom of the Titles palette is what appears in the title (see Figure 15.4).

Figure 15.4. The text input area in the Titles palette.

graphics/15fig04.jpg

With a multiple line title, you can click-and-drag the blue scrollbar down (the blue scrollbar to the right of the text) to reveal more lines of text.

If you haven't tried them (although we aren't officially in the middle of a task), the + and - buttons to the right of the title text enable you to add and remove lines of text, which generates more screens. This particular title is a nice way to have introductory screens fade in and out before a movie starts.

Now that you've gotten a taste of our two basic titles, take a moment to consider all the titles you have available (see Table 15.1).

Table 15.1. Titles in iMovie

Title Type

Description

Bounce Across

Two lines of text appear from either the left or right and move like a wiggling worm towards the center of the screen.

Bounce Across Multiple

Like Bounce Across, but with multiple screens of text.

Bounce In To Center

Two lines of text appear and move towards the center of the screen.

Cartwheel

Two lines of text, each letter rotating, move diagonally toward the center of the screen.

Cartwheel Multiple

Like Cartwheel, but with multiple screens of text.

Centered Multiple

Multiple titles fade in and out in sequence, one after another. It's a nice movie-style effect.

Centered Title

A single title fades in and out.

Converge

Two lines of text with broadly spaced letters gradually move to the left to form words.

Converge Multiple

Like Converge, but with multiple screens of text.

Converge to Center

Two lines of text with broadly spaced letters gradually move to the center to form words.

Converge to Center Multiple

Like Converge to Center, but with multiple screens of text.

Cross Through Center

Two lines of text start out with letters and lines reversed and rotate until correctly positioned.

Cross Through Center Multiple

Like Cross Through Center, but with multiple screens of text.

Drifting

Multiple lines fade in from different directions.

Flying Letters

Letters of title fade into the screen to form words of title.

Flying Words

Entire lines of title fly in at one time. Nice effect.

Gravity

Two lines of text fall into place from one edge of the screen.

Gravity Multiple

Like Gravity, but with multiple screens of text.

Music Video

Enables you to put a music videostyle paragraph of text that can appear in the corner of the screen. Useful.

Rolling Centered Credits

Enter multiple lines of text to get the effect you see at the end of movies. Very nice.

Rolling Credits

Similar to centered credits; different formatting.

Scroll with Pause

Titles roll on to screen, pause, roll off; helps with being able to read individual credits.

Scrolling Block

Will scroll an entire paragraph of text by; something like the original Star Wars credits.

Spread from Center

Two lines of text appear from a pile of letters at the center of the screen.

Spread from Center Multiple

Like Spread from Center, but with multiple screens of text.

Stripe Subtitle

A nice title to put in the corner of a screen to introduce a new section of a video.

Subtitle

Gives you the ability to add text to the screen to simulate the subtitle effect of a DVD.

Subtitle Multiple

Multiple subtitles .

Twirl

Two lines of text appear at the center of the screen with each letter rotating.

Typewriter

Creates the effect of words being typed on the screen.

Unscramble

A jumble of letters separates into two lines of text.

Unscramble Multiple

Like Unscramble, but with multiple screens of text.

Zoom

Creates a zoom effect, moving close in on video.

Zoom Multiple

Multiple zooms.

Using Titles over Black

One simple way to have titles appear is against a black background so that your attention is focused on the title itself. To accomplish this, you simply click on the Over Black option in the Titles palette (refer to Figure 15.4).

Overlay (over Video) Titles

Another method you might want to try is to uncheck the Over Black option so that your title appears over a video clip, as shown in Figure 15.5. The only requirement is that you have a video clip in the project!

Figure 15.5. Clicking on a title with Over Black unchecked to see a mini-preview with the title displayed over a video clip.

graphics/15fig05.jpg

Task: Selecting a Title

To begin working with titles, you'll want to know how to find a particular title that was listed in Table 15.1.

  1. Click on the Titles button in the main iMovie window to display the Titles palette.

  2. Click the blue scrollbar for the list of titles, and drag it down so that the title you're looking for is revealed.

  3. When you find the title you want to try, click to select it, as I've done with the Typewriter title near the end of the list (see Figure 15.6).

    Figure 15.6. The selected title will be previewed in the mini-preview window in the Title palette.

    graphics/15fig06.jpg



Sams Teach Yourself Mac OS X Digital Media. All In One
Sams Teach Yourself Mac OS X Digital Media All In One
ISBN: 0672325322
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 349

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