Opening iMovie projects

I have a question about iMovie HD 6. When I launch it, I want the screen to come up that asks if I want to create a new project, open an existing project, or make a magic movie. Is there a way to make this the default screen when I open iMovie HD6.

Is there a way to make this the default screen when I open iMovie HD6.
Nope. There was a way to force the default startup screen in iMovie 5, but not in iMovie 6.
Usually that's not a big problem, unless the project that opens by default takes a long time to load. Then you might prefer launching iMovie another way.
One workaround is to create an empty iMovie project and place that project's icon in the Dock. Place the iMovie application icon in the Dock too.
To launch iMovie to an empty project, click on the project icon in the Dock. To launch iMovie to the project you were last working on when you quit iMovie, click on the iMovie icon in the Dock.
Or, of course, you can launch iMovie by double-clicking on any iMovie project in a Finder window.
Karl

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Unable to open iMovie project?

I made a simple iMovie 09 project and burned it to a DVD via iDVD.
Then, to save space on my HD, I moved the project to an external HD.
Now I want to go back to the project to make some edits.   But when took it out of the external HD and placed it on my desktop, I am unable to open it in iMovie.   I've tried simply clicking on the project icon as well as doing File>Import>Movie. I also tried clicking and dragging the movie icon from the desktop to iMovie with no luck. iMovie just doesn't see to want to recognize it.
Can someone help?   Thanks?

Hi
There are so many things to this.
A. Flash drive - I even don't know if they would ever work - very doubtful
B. External hard disks - MUST be Mac OS Extended (hfs) formatted -
UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange works for most other things BUT NOT FOR VIDEO no matter if iMovie, iDVD or FinalCut is used.
C. In the folder iMovie Projects - There are NO MOVIES - but text-documents related to the projects and this document points to the Raw material in iMovie Events folder and how it is supposed to be Played/Viewed in this particular project. e.g. play Clip A from 00:00:01:13 to 00:03:45:02 and so on. So there are no movies in the project folder.
D. So if both iMovie Events and iMovie Projects folder are copied over to an external hard disk - Then the iMovie in the second Mac has no links to this and will not find it.
SO to be able to work with one project on two Macs - all moving's of Events and Projects should be done within the iMovie Application - Not on DeskTop/Finder - do not alter or move any folder named
• iMovie Events
• iMovie Projects
on DeskTop/Finder - as they can mess-up and be very hard to impossible to mend.
Yours Bengt W

Opening imovie project from external hard drive

I get this message: The project “last duly noted” was saved with an older version of iMovie. Opening it in this version will cause it to be upgraded, which will make it unreadable by older versions. Are you sure you want to open it?
How can I edit this item?

Hi Harmless - I do not think that your problem has anything to do with the external drive. Your project must have been crreated on an earlier version of iMovie - iMovie 4 perhaps, and contained in a standard folder. It can be upgraded to an HD project - best to use a copy for this, just in case....!
When you upgrade, it will firstly be converted only partially into the new version, so you have to take another step to fully convert>
Here's a comment about what should happen:
"A project created by iMovie 5 is a special kind of folder called a package. It looks and acts like a file. The package contains all the files and folders you see, but they are all hidden inside the package. To open the project in iMovie you double-click on the package.
If your project looks like an iMovie 4 folder instead of a package — so you can easily see inside — my guess is it's probably a project you've converted from iMovie 4 to iMovie 5. Converted projects do not look or act like true iMovie 5 projects. They contain the same files/folders but are stored in a conventional folder, just like iMovie 4.
That's not necessarily a good thing, for a user can get inside too easily, and open the project by double-clicking on that tilde file. If you do that, iMovie opens the PREVIOUSLY-saved version of the project. And when you next save, iMovie creates a second tilde file. Then a third, then a fourth. It's all too easy for the user to get confused, open the wrong project file and create quite a mess.
So it's a good idea, after converting a project from iMovie 4 to iMovie 5, to do a Save As to save the project into a new project. Then iMovie 5 builds a true iMovie 5 project that looks and acts like a real iMovie 5 project. Lots safer, and it works better." (as described by Karl Petersen)
So, you should experience no problems if you follow that advice - go ahead and convert!

How to open iMovie project

I created a project then moved the iMovie folder to external hard drive. Now iMovie does not recognize the project. The folder that has the project shows up in gray and unable to open.

Move your project back to the Movies/iMovie Projects folder on your internal drive.
In iMovie 08 it is possible to move Events to an external drive if you do it from within iMovie. However, projects must stay on the internal drive.
If you upgrade to iMovie 09 or 11, projects can also be moved to an external drive, but the move needs to be done in iMovie.

Problems Opening iMovie Project in Final Cut Pro

We created a 12 minute Video in iMovie for a client last year (basically starting Video editing as an experiment). However because they now want a multilingual DVD version we've decided to take the plunge and invest in FC Studio, thinking it will be able to open the project and allow us to add the additional audio tracks.
However, on opening the iMovie project in FCP, a lot of the clips along the timeline are missing, and the few clips that have transferred successfully seem to have spread themselves over 5 or 6 hours with huge gaps between them.
Are we doing something wrong? Final Cut Express seems to have a seamless upgrade path, does Final Cut Pro not have this ?
We don't really want to remake the whole video in FCP if there is a way of just importing the iMovie project.
iMac 20" G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8) Using latest FCP and iMovie

Thanks everyone for your help.
I've just finished the project. As Steve mentioned I didn't actually need to add the audio tracks in FCP, in fact after adding them to Sound Track Pro and adjusting the volume I then realised they needed to be exported from there and added as separate tracks to DVD Pro. (everything has a timeline)
I used FCP to superimpose a new sequence and a logo to the top corner, I'm getting more comfortable with the programs now.
I think I've got my head around what application does what now, and have established a better work flow.
Once again thanks for your help.
PS. I get the feeling FCP is a slightly older program than iMovie or any of the other applications. The lack of live scrolling and audio wave forms (in the timeline) gives me that impression. But the whole FC studio an amazing piece of software, don't think I'll ever look back.

Cannot open imovie projects

Hello,
I've spent the afternoon looking for answers and I've tried everything but still no luck.
I've been working at a project for the past week. This afternoon, imovie crashed when i was editing my project. When I opened imovie, the project was gone from the "project library." I navigated to the imovie project folder, and sure enough, the file was there. Problem is, imovie can't open it. I've clicked, dragged but nothing works.
I've even deleted the "com.apple.imovie8.plist" file but it doesn't help. Finally, i checked the console message and here's what i got:
6/19/10 6:42:20 6/19/10 iMovie[246] Skipping loading of project "South America" due to error: Unable to load project
6/19/10 6:42:20 6/19/10 iMovie[246] CoreText: Bad Glyph Found In 'kern' Subtable Of CTFont <name: Futura-Medium, size: 19.330000, matrix: 0x0>
CTFontDescriptor <attributes: <CFBasicHash 0x9bc870 [0xa0028ee0]>{type = mutable dict, count = 1,
entries =>
1 : <CFString 0xa006cd78 [0xa0028ee0]>{contents = "NSFontNameAttribute"} = <CFString 0xa0025fa8 [0xa0028ee0]>{contents = "Futura-Medium"}
Any ideas on how to fix this?
Thanks!!!!

This means that your original media files were not in your events folder but only links to them, with the originals stored somewhere else. If you look in the events folders inside your iMovie Events folder you will probably see aliases to the clips rather than the clips themselves. If you get info on the alieases they may identify where the original was stored (or they may say the original can't be found).
You must have moved your events folder at some point which broke the links so iMovie now doesn't know where to find them. You can still see the thumbnails in the timeline because these are small low resolution files which are in your project file. Unless you can move your folders back to exactly how they were when you created the project (and on the same computer) you will have to re-import the originals and re-insert them into the timeline.
You could as an alternative try putting one of the clips manually into your events folder in place of the broken alias to it and see if it appears in the timeline when you relaunch iMovie. If this works (I'm not sure if it will) you can do it with the rest and not have to touch the project timeline.
Geoff

Yellowish filter when opening iMovie projects created by the iMovie 4 or 5

I open the old iMovie project created by version 4 (maybe 5), in iMovieHD. There is a warning telling me that "The project was saved with an older version of iMovie. Opening it in this version will cause it to be upgraded, which will make it unreadable by older versions. Are you sure you want to open it?" I click OK and open and the clips/timeline come up, BUT - in the main window the clips look (and play) as if covered by a yellow filter. The projects are fairly recent (2005), created with the same camera I am using now - there was no problem at all last year. The only thing that has changed is that I have upgraded to iLife 6. Could anyon please help/explain what's going on?
Thank you very much!!!!!!

I had the same exact problem, only my "filter" color was purple! It was easily solved though.
This was the answer that worked for me...
"It was pointed out in another thread that this has something to do with the playback setting in iMovieHD.
Go to Preferences->Playback
and change from the "Highest" setting, which seems to be set by default, to one of the others ("High" works for me). The purple cast goes away."
Please post back and let us know if this worked for you.
Adam

Can Final Cut Pro Open iMovie projects?

I am just curious because I have a lot of clips into a project of imovie that I wanted to use in final cut pro but I could just copy all the clips but I wanted to check in advance to see if that was possible.

You used to be able to just open iMovie 06 projects in Final Cut but Apple made it a bit more complex.
In iMovie 08, select the SHARE menu and then click on "Export Final Cut Pro XML"
Save the XMl someplace fun.
Then exit iMovie if you're finished.
Back in FCP, right-click in the Browser window and select IMPORT and then click on XML.
Navigate to find the XML you just exported from iMovie, click on it, and open it.
A new sequence is created and you simply need to load that sequence (By double-clicking).
Everything is wonderful.
Warning, do NOT use the File | Open menu sequence which can locate and open the XML because this will cause the new COLOR program to load the iMovie Project and that wasn't so much fun.

Cant open iMovie projects

Help!! everytime i try to open an iMovie project it doesn't work. After i try to create an DVD , exporting to iDVD the following message appears: "The project could not be opened, because the folder is locked, or the folder permissions are incorrect". I checked the folder's permission and they are not locked. I cant figure out , what´s the problem. Does anyone know the solution to this? Thank you and forgive my english.

It's not clear to me whether the iMovie project has trouble opening or the iDVD project.
If iMovie complains about a permissions problem when you try to open the iMovie project, the problem can be fixed by re-building the project folders.
This workaround is for this error message in iMovie 4: "The project could not be opened, because the folder is locked, or the folder permission are incorrect. If the project is on a CD-ROM, network server, or locked disk, then copy it to your hard drive before opening it. If the project is already on your hard disk, then you may not have permission to modify that folder. Correct the folder permissions and try again."
Here's how to replace the current project folder with a new one in iMovie 4:
1. In Finder, create a new folder anywhere OTHER THAN inside the old project folder. Name the new folder "Replacement" or something.
2. Create a new folder inside the Replacement folder. Name it "Media".
3. Open the Media folder of the iMovie project, then choose Edit>Select All.
4. Drag all the selected files to the new Media folder.
5. Drag the files inside the iMovie project folder to the Replacement folder.
6. Repeat #2 through #4 for any other folders in the project folder.
You now have a new project folder named Replacement that contains all the files from the original project. Double-click the project file inside Replacement. If the project opens successfully, quit iMovie, rename Replacement to give it the name of your project, and you're done.
If it doesn't open successfully, move the project.mov file that's inside Replacement to some other folder and try again.
Karl

Open imovie project in garage band

Hi,
I am trying to do mulitiple tracks in imovie, with music, voice-over, etc. and I want to hear my voice-over at the same time as the music, to match timing.This is not possibe via imovie, as one's voice-over obscures everything else, so the timing with the music is out.
I thought that I could export the imovie project to garage band, synch the music and voice-over and send it back.
I "shared" the imovie project to the media browser,
now what? Where did it go?
Can I in fact use garage band in the manner I have described above?
Can't get any joy from the garage band help.
Any ideas welcome.
Thanks.

Can I in fact use garage band in the manner I have described above?
Sure, you can!
To use the movie in GarageBand, click the MediaBrowser icon in the lower right corner of the GaragBand window. Click the "Movies" tab and click disclosure triangle beside the iMovie icon. Now you should see your project.
Select it. Inthe lower part of the Media Browser you see the different sizes of your movie. Select on of them and drag them to the time line.
If your movie has an Audio track you will here it when you play your song and you should be able to play or sing along with the Movie-audio track and record your vocals. Then I would export the vocal track and import it to iMovie and mix the two tracks in iMovie.
Regards
Léonie

Unable to open IMovie Project in IDVD

I have created a 40 minute movie in IMovie 08 (my first). I am unable to open the movie in IDVD 08 and Garage Band. The project name is visible in the media browser but is not available for selection.
I have published the movie to the media browser and it still is not available to IDVD.
I am new to apple computers and have been unable to get help with this problem.

Here's two things to try:
This frequently helps solve some problems. Search for the file named com.apple.iDVD.plist and trash it. (A new one will be created next launch of iDVD.) Or look in: User/Library/Preferences. This may solve project loading errors too. Restart and use Disk Utility to Repair Permissions.
You'll need to reset some Preferences.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306290

Opening imovie projects in other applications

I have created a 40 minute movie in IMovie 08 (my first). I am unable to open the movie in IDVD 08 and Garage Band. The project name is visible in the media browser but is not available for selection.
I have been through the IMovie rendering process for making the movie available to the media browser.
I am new to apple computers and have been unable to get help with this problem.

Thanks.
I never thought to actually click on the little arrow to expand the menu.
That comes from me going straight from Windows XP to ILife without really having learned my way around a Mac. I have only had the Mac for a couple of weeks. Amazing that something that small help me up for two days.
I rendered the movie as a medium file because large was not available for selection. My source video was a combination of old VCR footage converted to digital on a Panasonic DVD/VCR/Hard Drive player. I then had to convert that footage from DVD to DV using DVXDVDpro downloaded of the internet. Those clips are mixed with footage shot on a Sony Handy Cam HDR-SR1 (shot in standard definition High Quality to avoid compatibility issues). It's been a steep learning curve since I have never shot or edited digital video before.
Do you think that the large option was not available because of the source video? Or am I missing something again? I would prefer the higher quality if I can get it. I sure will be glad when a few I Life 08 books hit the shelf.
My project is moving forward now. I was a litte disappointed to find that my audio tracks were not kept separate for editing in garage band. The audio from the video clips and the music tracks I added in IMovie were all blended into one in the rendering process. I was hoping to fade the music in and out.
I would be willing to go through the editing in garage band again if I can change my file to a large size.
Thanks again.
David Rozas

Archiving iMovie Projects to DVD

I'm trying to archive my iMovie projects onto DL DVD+R's. Each project is about 12.5 GB, so they won't fit onto a single DL DVD+R. I've tried using Retrospect, but it fails after spending an hour "configuring" my DVD drive. The only thing I can think of is that it doesn't like non-rewritable media.
This is what I'm really trying to do. I have several tapes I've taken with two camcorders over the last ten years. One is a Sony 8mm analog camcorder and the other is a newer JVC GR-DVL520U MiniDV with FireWire connecter. I want to backup all the movies so that none of my footage is lost in case one of the camcorders fails. The 8mm one is already a bit flakey so I want to be able to get it off of 8mm while I still can.
I was planning on creating a viewable copy of each tape, record it onto DVD and then put that DVD in my safe deposit box. I would like to retain as much of the original quality/information as I can (I'm anal that way), so I figured that saving the iMovie project itself, in addition to a regular DVD burn, would be the best bet. Most posts mention storing projects on an external harddrive, but since I'm trying to keep my original footage safe, DVD seems like the best way.
I guess I really have two questions. The first is, do I gain anything by keeping the original iMovie project? My understanding is that iMovie will compress the imported video, resulting in some detail loss from what was on tape. (With the advent of HD TV this may be a bigger deal than it is now).
My second question is, how do I backup 12.5 GB iMovie projects? As I mentioned earlier, it doesn't seem to like my drive, or at least the non-rewritable media I'm using (Memorex DL DVD+R). I also tried using a CD-R, but it gave the same error while trying to "configure" the DVD drive.
Thank you advance and sorry about the long-winded post.
Cheers,
Rey
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2GB, Core 2 Duo 17"

A waste of time and blank DVD's.
Export to "tape" (back to the camera with a blank tape inserted). Cheap, real time and easy to do.
"Copy" your iMovie Project to external Firewire HD. Cheap (comparatively), reliable and drag and drop easy.
A simple scratch on one of your backed up DVD's could render it useless. Hard to store "large" Project files onto DVD media.
No difference in the data on a DVD and the same data on a hard drive. Saving the entire iMovie Project as "data" would allow you to "Open iMovie Project" in iMovie and continue editing as if you left it yesterday.
Better to concentrate on saving the original "capture" in .dv format. Export entire movies back to tape. Export "clips" as QuickTime (Full Quality). These .dv files can be burned to DVD as "data". Just try and keep the file size under the size of the media. DV Stream is 13 GB per hour so you would need 3 DVD's to burn it.
Backup (.Mac members get it) can be used on "large" files and is smart enough to allow "spanning" multiple discs so your large project could fit in your safety deposit box.

In iMovie: I open a project that has been finalized. source fragment is missing. I see a yellow triangle with exclamation mark. Why is that and how do I solve the problem?

in iMovie:
I open a project that has been finalized. source fragment is missing. I see a yellow triangle with exclamation mark. Why is that and how do I solve the problem?
please help.
J. Aalbers

Shouldn't really be the MPE at fault here ... what is the codec of the footage/sequence/project?
Second, can you create a new project in PrPro, then in the media browser, import that sequence from the other project?

Imovie won't open my imovie project

Hello,
I was working on an imovie project when imovie kept crashing. So i backed up deleted imovie and reinstalled. Now it won't open up my .rcproject file. Nothing happens. is all my work lost? Also, when it was crashing some of my viedo clips were grayed out. Now in my event library some of the clips are grayed out. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

Update - I've managed to restore the file from my backup but now imovie crashes everytime i try to play it, just like before.
Thanks

Opening iMovie projects

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