9.6. Importing QuickTime MoviesiMovie can import more than still images. It can also import existing digital movies, which you can then incorporate into your footage. Maybe you've created such QuickTime movies yourself, using other Macs or other software. Maybe you've grabbed a QuickTime movie from a CD-ROM or Web site. Or maybe you've used the Movie mode of your digital still camera to "film" some short scenes. In any case, here are three ways to get digital movies into an iMovie project:
It may take iMovie some time to process the incoming movie. Behind the scenes, it's converting the QuickTime movie into DV format, just like the clips that come from your camcorder. A progress bar keeps you posted. When it's complete, a new clip appears in your Clips pane, which you can manipulate just as you would any movie clip. 9.6.1. Using the Imported QuickTime ClipMost of the world's QuickTime movies aren't big enough, in terms of frame size , to fill your entire monitor. In fact, most of themlike all the ones on the Webplay in a window only a few inches square. Therefore, when you play back an imported QuickTime movie, iMovie does what it hopes is the right thing: It blows up the QuickTime movie until the footage fills the entire iMovie playback screen (640 x 480 pixels for standard definition). But enlarging any graphic on the computer usually winds up degrading its quality. The bottom line: QuickTime movies you import into iMovie may look coarse and blotchy unless they were at least 640 x 480 to begin with. Figure 9-9. Any digital movies that you've imported using iPhoto show up right here among the still photos in the Photos panel. The little camera icon lets you know which ones are movies. |