Section 15.4. Phase 2: Insert Chapter Markers


15.4. Phase 2: Insert Chapter Markers

Assuming you've ever rented or bought a movie on DVD, you're already familiar with chapters , better known as scenes (Figure 15-3).

Figure 15-3. 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 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 Chapters palette to name the markers (Figure 15-4).

To create and manage chapter markers all in one tidy list, use the Chapters palette. Here's how that goes:

  1. In iMovie, click the Chapters button .

    You'll find it among the other pane buttons, just to the right of the Editing button, as shown in Figure 15-4. When clicked, the Chapters pane opens.

  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.
    Figure 15-4. If you've added any chapter markers using the Add Chapter Marker (Shift- -M) method, you'll see them listed here, in the Chapters pane. They're named after the clip from which they originated, such as Clip 05/1 or Clip 02/7.
    The Chapters pane lets you add, remove, and name chapters. 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. iMovie can add up to 99 chapters per movie with the iDVD palette.
    Feel free to ignore the Link URL box below each chapter name. These Web links work only when you're creating video podcasts; they have no effect on your iDVD project. (Section 13.2.1 has more detail about podcast links.)
  3. Click Add Marker .

    You'll find this button near the bottom of the Chapters 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 decide you've created too many markers, or you put one in the wrong place. In any case, you can remove a marker by using one of these techniques:

  • Click its name in iMovie's Chapters palette and then click the Remove Marker 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 Chapters pane 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. Clicking Remove Marker now nukes all of them at once.

15.4.2. Changing Chapter Names

To change the name of a chapter, double-click it (in the Chapters pane) to open the editing box, and then edit away.

When you press Tab, iMovie accepts the new chapter name and automatically moves to the next chapter, so 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 Chapters pane or press Return or Enter.

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 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 Chapters pane . Chapter order depends on the associated starting times, which appear chronologically in the pane.

  • 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.

  • 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 markers slide accordingly , retaining their relative positions within the clip.

  • To move the Playhead to a marker, click its yellow diamond .

    Figure 15-5. 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.
  • 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 don't see it until you arrive in iDVD.)

  • Your finished iDVD screens can fit up to 12 buttons per screen . That's "up to," because the actual number depends on the theme you pick. (Themes are prebuilt menu-screen 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 extend to more than one screen, as shown in Figure 15-5.




iMovie 6 & iDVD
iMovie 6 & iDVD: The Missing Manual
ISBN: B003R4ZK42
EAN: N/A
Year: 2006
Pages: 203
Authors: David Pogue

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