Section 18.5. Creating Still Images from Footage

18.5. Creating Still Images from Footage

iMovie doesn't just take still photos; it can also dish them out. It can grab selected frames from your footage, either for use as frozen frames in your movie or for exporting as graphics files. (You might want a still frame to end a Ken Burns zoom, for example, so that the camera seems to hold still for a moment after the zoom.)

18.5.1. Creating a Still Frame

The Edit Create Still Frame command creates a still image, in the Clips pane, of the frame currently indicated by the Playhead. You can use the resulting still clip just as you would any still clip: Drag it into your Movie Track, apply effects or transitions to it, change its name or duration, and so on.

One of the most obvious uses of this feature is the freeze-frame effect, in which the movie holds on the final frame of a shot. It's a terrifically effective way to end a movie, particularly if the final shot depicts the shy, unpopular hero in a moment of triumph, arms in the air, hoisted onto the shoulders of the crowd . (Fade to black; bring up the music; roll credits.)

Here's how you do it. (These steps assume that you're creating a still frame from a clip that you've already placed in the Movie Track. It's possible, however, to create a still frame from a clip that's still in the Clips pane.)

1. Position the Playhead on the frame you want frozen .

   If it's the last shot of a clip, use the right and left arrow keys to make sure you're seeing the final frame.

2. Choose Edit Create Still Frame (Shift- -S) .

   iMovie places a new clip either in your Clips pane or at the end of the Movie Track, depending on how you've set up the iMovie Preferences dialog box.

   It's a still image, set to play for five secondsbut it's not the same kind of still photo you're used to. None of the controls in the Photos palette, for example, has any effect on a Still , as iMovie calls it. You can't apply the Ken Burns effect to it, for example.

   If you created this still clip from the final frame of a clip, proceed to the next step. If you created this clip from the middle of a clip, however, you should now choose Edit Split Clip at Playhead. Youve just chopped up the clip at the precise source of the still clip, resulting in two side-by-side clips in your Movie Track. Delete the right-hand clip.

3. Drag the still clip just to the right of the original clip (Figure 18-5) .

   If you play back the result, you'll be impressed at how smoothly and professionally iMovie joins the frozen frame onto the moving footage; there's not even a hint of a seam as the Playhead slides from clip to still.

4. Adjust the still's playback duration, if necessary .

   Fortunately, iMovie HD treats still frames the same way it treats video clips. You can change its duration just by dragging its edges in the Timeline Viewer.

   

   Figure 18-5. A creative way to end a movie: Chop up the final clip and slow down each piece, finally coming to rest on your still image.

   
   

   Or, for more precision, double-click the still frame. In the Clip Info dialog box, change the number in the Duration box, and then click OK.

Figuring out how to handle the audio in such situations is up to you, since a still frame has no sound. That's a good argument for starting your closing-credits music during the final clip and making it build to a crescendo for the final freeze-frame.

18.5.2. Exporting a Still Frame

While it's convenient to be able to grab a frame from your footage for use in the same movie (as a freeze-frame, for example), you may sometimes find it useful to export a frame to your hard drive as a graphics file. You can use such exported images in any way you use graphicsfor emailing to friends , installing on your desktop as a background picture, posting on a Web page, and so on. An exported frame also makes a neat piece of "album art" that you can print out and slip into the plastic case of a homemade DVD.

This feature is, after all, the reason that most iMovie fans don't really care about the built-in still-photo features of DV camcorders. Basically, iMovie can create still images from any frame of regular video footage.

It's worth noting, however, that the maximum resolution for a digital video framethe number of dots that compose the imageis 640 across, 480 down. (By this time in the chapter, these numbers have probably become engraved into your cerebrum.) As digital photos go, that's pretty pathetic, on a par with the photos taken by camera phones these days. That's one-third of a megapixela pretty puny number compared with the shots from today's three- to eight-megapixel cameras .

18.5.2.1. The resolution problem

The standard DV resolution is probably good enough for viewing your captured frames onscreenthat is, for use in Web pages and sending by email. But printing is a different story. You'll notice a certain coarseness to the printouts of frames you export from iMovie.

18.5.2.2. Exporting a frame

Now that your expectations have been duly lowered , here's how you capture a frame in iMovie:

Open the project from which you want to grab a still photo. Make sure that no individual clips are selected, and then locate the frame you want to capture. Drag the Playhead along the Scrubber bar, for example. Remember that you can press the left and right arrow keys to step through the movie one frame at a time, or Shift-arrow keys to jump ten frames at a time, in your quest for the precise moment you want to preserve as a still image.

When the image you want appears in the Monitor window, choose File Save Frame (or press -F). The Save As dialog box (sheet) slides down from the top of the iMovie window (Figure 18-6).

Figure 18-6. The Save Frame sheet lets you choose a graphics-file format: JPEG or PICT. When the process is over, the saved frame appears with its own icon on your desktop (or wherever you happened to save it).

Use the Format pop-up menu to specify the file format you want for your exported graphic: PICT or JPEG (the better choice if you intend to email it to someone or use it on a Web page). Navigate to the folder where you want this graphic saved (or press -D to save it onto the desktop). Click Save.