IMovie = rubbish

I've shot about 20 minutes worth of footage on my girlfriend's Nikon S1. Sure, it's not a dedicated movie camera, but with files that are just a few megabytes in size, why does iMovie freeze up after importing these clips? There is considerable lag when I click on individual clips (after importing them). Not only that, but iMovie crashes continuously when rendering cross-dissolve transitions and such. These movies were saved in .MOV directly from the Nikon camera, and work just fine in Quicktime. Why in bloody **** is it such a headache for iMovie?
I am really dissapointed here, I gotta say.
If anyone's come across a similar problem, and knows of a solution, please do let me know.

Instead of already concluding that "iMovie = rubbish", you might begin by asking what you might be doing that is causing problems for iMovie. That's usually a better place to start if you're not an iMovie expert.
To help answer that question we need more information.
1. What kind of movies does the Nikon shoot? To find out, open one of the movies in QuickTime Player, open the Movie Info window, and tell us what it says.
If it's not a DV movie — most likely it's not DV for it's not a video camera — then iMovie must convert it to DV, the format used by most iMovie projects. Depending on a variety of factors the conversion might be impossible, difficult, or easy for iMovie to do.
(Saying it is a ".MOV" is like saying you bought vegetables in a can. It doesn't tell us what kind of vegetables you bought. Like vegetables, there are many different kinds of movies that arrive in a QuickTime movie.)
2. Is the project saved on an external drive? If so, tell us what disk format the drive uses. It must use the Mac OS Extended disk format for iMovie to reliably save project information to the disk.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=4176921#4176921
3. Are there third-party QuickTime add-ons or iMovie plug-ins installed on that Mac? If so, they may be causing problems for QuickTime, the system software iMovie relies on for most functions. If QuickTime is messed up, iMovie will be messed up too.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=4030731#4030731
Karl

Similar Messages

Has anyone tried to import video into iMovie from a DSLR camera? I can't get it to work

My problem is simple.... as should be the answer!
I recently tried to import video from a dslr into iMovie but all I get is rubbish. What am I doing wrong?
HELP!

The only simple answer without more information is RTM for camera and iPad. You are in the iOS forum so you must be trying to input to an ipad. Tell us what camera, what video format and exact destination.

Burning a slideshow from imovie to idvd doesn't work...Please help

Hello,
I'm trying to burn a slideshow I created in imovie to DVD but it doesn't seem to work. Everytime I click on the burn icon in idvd it tells me to insert a blank DVD. Once i insert a blank dvd it spits it right out.
I'm getting married on July 1 and I need this slideshow to work.
Please advise.
seecat
powerbook g4 12 inch Mac OS X (10.3.9)

When you upload the site is has nothing to do with iWeb and people who work for the hosting companies and say that iWeb is the problem or is rubbish do not have a clue what they are talking about. They use it as an excuse because they don't understand what they are doing.
What folder do you have to upload your site to on the server? Is it called "public_html", or "htdocs" or something like this? If so, then in the directory/path, where some can leave it blank, you can enter public_html or htdocs or whatever file you upload to on your server. This should then work.
Your other option of course, is not to use the iWeb built in ftp, but to select publish to a local folder and then download Cyberduck - a dedicated ftp programme and use this to upload your site. If you use Cyberduck, then you can connect directly with your server and you can see exactly where all your site files are being uploaded to and exactly what folder on your server you have to upload to. If you use iWeb ftp, then you are working blind really and just hoping for the best.
Either try inserting the name of your folder in the directory/path section or publishing to a local folder and using Cyberduck to upload instead.

Why do my pics/footage look sharp in my iMovie window but when i export the quality of both turn to garbage? Help!!!

The nightmare that is my iMovie. I just proposed to my girlfriend last month and im trying to make a 7 minute movie about it in iMovie.
I shot my pics and video clips on my iPhone 4s. Unfortunately i forgot to turn HD on. Oh well, the footage looks great anyways. So i imported into iMovie and made my project.
In the iMovie window, the footage looks AMAZING and sharp. But when i export, i lose ALL QUALITY. It's unbearable. First i exported using quicktime and saved it to my desktop because i was having difficulty publishing directly to Youtube. When i watch my qucktime proposal clip, the quality is garbage.
Then i decided to buy the latest iMovie in hopes of it being something an update would resolve. Nope. However, now i was able to publish directly to Youtube. I did this and.....no improvement.
So then i got to thinking that maybe my project had a bug in it. So i slapped together a 40 second test movie. I used 3 of the same pictures and 1 video clip. Again, in the iMovie window it looks INCREDIBLE, but once it's exported it turns to rubbish.
It should be noted that when choosing my file size, the last 2 options which are HD were shaded off. I chose "Large" 720x540.
I did another test whereby I published my short 40 second test to Youtube but it allowed me to select the HD sizes. I did this. Result: still garbage resolution.
Im at my witts end. Are there any iMovie ninjas out there that know where im going wrong?
(someone suggested optimizing the video in iMovie. I tried and it tells me that my content cannot be optimized. So that's that.
Im depserate!

Please go to my website where I have posted new instructions on working with DV.
This keeps both interlaced fields from FireWire capture through to a DVD. All the lines means no lost quality when editing DV or Digital8.
It also solves the washed-out color problem.

IMovies Quality problems..

Hi All.. Looking for some help -
Started to use iMovie to create a slideshow of pics and the various effects available but seem to be having some quality issues when i play back...
when I'm chosing the titles (this is imovie '06) the examples look all crisp and of high quality, the same when I first import a picture. BUT
If i then try and run the slideshow in either the demo box on screen or by making it full screen the quality is rubbish! Straight lines on pictures are all jagged and look bad quality - not at all like the original images, and the beginning title words look rubbish, not at all crisp like they were when I picked that style etc. If I change the colour of the words then on playback there is a white halo round the colour. Basically it looks really bad and poor quality
What am I missing? The fact they come up crisp and nice to begin with then goes crap when i play back is vexing me.. I have the macbook with 2.16 processor. I have tried changing the quality in preferences up and down but no luck.
Sorry for the long message and if this is a stupid question but I can't find the info in the help section.
I had posted this in the iMovie help forum but it seems very quiet in there..
Thank you for any help!
Sam

Try exporting and seeing how it looks.
I'm no expert in iMovie, as I usually use FCP, but it seems like iMovie doesn't show full quality on it's playback window. Try an export, it may help diagnose the problem.
-benny

IOS6 facetime is terible. and when reverting back to ios5.1.1 i cant have my imovie or iphoto!!!

i talk to my mum on ipad through wifi on iOS 5.1.1 and its fine i upgraded to ios6 and its choppy she only got one for facetime now i had to revert to iOS5.11 again! but now icant use imovie or iphoto anymore it says i need ios6
im not happy beause its choppy sound and image qualityis not so goodeven thoughwe are using wifi. i reverted back to ios 5.1.1 and its fine again but now appsi paid for wont download because im not using ios6!!!!! i want my apps back imovie and iphoto and i want to be able to use ios6 but cant untill you restore facetime back to how it was! now its useless on ios6! also the micis not as good because when i was in kitchen tonight on ios5.1.1 she could hear me from anotherroom but on ios6 she couldnthear me from just across the same room.
please fix this!

Yes thats very true however with a full HD that wasimpossible to backup apps I can just redownload!
as for reverting if managed to get mymum to ditch her galaxy tab that she loved and get ipad 3rd gen so she can see the kids via reliable video which we cant get as good from anywhere else! when we both haveiOS 5.1.1 its fine!
however when i updated to iOS 6 it was useless it was poor video quality! poor audio! and i tryed this for 2 days and was the same. i called her 1 last time justto be sure and it was still bad so i reverted back to iOS 5.1.1 and it was flawless again!!!!
also i noticed these other issues with iOS 6
Touchscreen not as sensative!
Responce time is slower and not as fluid as iOS 5.1.1
Maps are not even complete in my area therfore find myphone was rubbish.
Quality of satalite images are poor.
Image quality on facebook app is degraded terribly.
in general the display is not so sharp as it was making the retina a waist of time.
Wifi dropping at times.
Battery life is badly reduced.
Siri cant find anything closer than 7 miles away!
things that arewithin walkiing distance that siri could not see neerby and told closest was 7 miles!
Morrisons - 1 mile
Tescos - 2 miles
Asda- back of my house!
all those siri can only find7 miles away.
Also siri only showed things under 7 miles as km not miles!anything after is miles.
too many bugs hence why i reverted.
so anyways apple are forcing users to update which is wrong.
imovie and iphoto all worked on iOS 5.1.1 why force people who want it to have to have iOS 6!!!!
It worked just fine on iOS 5.1.1!!!!!

Impossible to modify clip in imovie

In imovie 10.0 I can't modify the clips (slow motion, fast frw, instant rep, etc) because the fonction il grey in the menu "Modify". I had no problems with imovie 9.x.
Thanks
Demostene

I also have this issue, I would be interested to know if Slow motion 25/50% etc, FF works for anyone? Does anyone use it other than me in this world??
One of the most used tools in iMovie for me, select a clip ctrl + R should bring up the speed slider... NOPE! Clicking modify in the menu and all speed options are greyed out, unless I double click the clip then do it in the clip editor?
Sometimes... very occassionaly (for some bizzare reason) I can get it to work without going into the clip editor, Apple, please FIX THIS RUBBISH ASAP! I brought this machine to use it, not have some flaky, half-arsed software that was obviously never tested!

Stretching issues making movie in imovie 5.0 from i phone 3gs footage

Hi guys. I've got no idea what I'm doing video wise so simple answers would be great please. I've tried to research online but it got me more confused!
I've filmed some footage on my iphone 3Gs both in landscape and portrait. I'm trying to import it into imovie 5.0 (old skool I know) to edit it all together. When I do so it stretches and looks a bit rubbish unless I convert it to mpeg4 in which case the quality obviously gets a lot worse. How can I bring in clips without this happening, I've tried numerous different settings in imovie and have downloaded mpeg streamclip but with no real joy.
Many thanks
Ginny

In iMovie, SHARE/TO iTUNES using the Mobile preset.
Your Movie should be in the Movies tab of itunes.
To sync it to your phone, connect your phone via USB cable. In the iPhone section of iTunes, select the Video tab. You will see TB Shows. Under that will be Movies. Put a check mark by Sync Movies. Then put a check mark by your specific movie that you want to sync.
Then click the sync button.
Message was edited by: AppleMan1958

I want iLife 8 but not iMovie 8, can old projects open in iMovie 6?

I have seen the new iMovie 8 and the missing functions makes it totally useless to me. I am very disappointed with the dumbing down of iMovie with this new version but enough has been said by many others about that already. However, the new iPhoto link to .Mac gallery looks good, and likewise the new version of GarageBand so I would like to get iLife 8 just for those, without using iMovie 8. I want to carry on using iMovie 6 for my old and new projects. If I upgrade to iLife 8 can my old projects continue to be accessed by iMovie 6 if I go to the "previous version folder" and open the application from there? I do not want to risk anything going wrong with the old projects before I have completed them. I definitely am not interested in even starting anything in iMovie 8 as I use all of the lost functions when editing my movies.
When I bought my first Mac 4 years ago, it was the sophistication of the iLife application that came with the computer, and particularly iMovie, that most influenced my decision to switch...nothing to do with iPod halo effects or pretty white hardware. If I was making the same choice now, I would not be similarly impressed and influenced by the capabilities (or not) of iMovie 8.
I can kind of see why there might be a need for the YouTube link up and webcasting functions in iMovie 8 for some people, but I still think that the majority of people using iMovie want to make good looking and sounding movies to store on DVD's. I really hope that Apple give us a proper upgrade to iMove 6 HD and a separate application for all the other simplified stuff.

Thanks both of you. All of the earlier projects that I want to open are in iMovie 6 so it looks as if that will still work.
QuickTimeKirk, I don't think I was really ranting ( I did that a few days a go and my post was deleted, so fair game), but I was expressing an opinion that from what I have read, is shared by many on this forum, and on others. I am not saying that iMovie 8 is absolute rubbish, it will work well for lots of people and has some good functionality if you want to make quick, simple movies and upload them to the web, but I sincerely believe that it falls very short for the many of us who want to continue to be able to do what we had been able to before with the old version. Whenever Apple had previously given us an upgrade to an application it had added not taken away...at least not so drastically as with iMovie 8. To me, not being able to at least edit sound or use a timeline, or themes, just means I can't get the same quality of movie I could before, therefore it is useless to me. I am just expressing my disappointment that a product that I had previously been impressed enough with to switch from PC's because of, no longer holds the same appeal. And I am only talking about iMovie 8, not Apple products in general, or the rest of iLife. I just wanted increased functionality, not less with a new version, and V8 is probably going to work for lots of people, but not for me. And I am not alone in that.

IPhoto stills looking bad in iMovie

I've created a slide show from iPhoto in Imovie as I wanted to add titles, transitions, music etc.
When I exported the movie to iDVD I got very pixelly low-res images - rubbish! I suspect that the pictures have been downsized in the export process. How do I overcome this?

I tried all sorts of wriggles on this, but got no further. Firstly iDVD (v.4) didn't want to recognise the iMovie file (also v.4) thru importing nor thru dropping the icon into iDVD. It told me the movie was not in a recognised file format, even though it was simply a saved iMovie. I tried using the iDVD Customize drawer to select the movie, and got a movie I could preview in iDVD, but it had no start button, so couldn't be burned.
Later I wasable to get the original file recognised so it could be imported into iDVD, but after burnig the results were no better than the original.
On some attempts I got a message to say there was unrendered content, so I clicked the "Render & Proceed" button. It briefly displayed the file name of the first still image, then went straight to burn in the poor quality.
So it seems the problem is related to rendering the stills so they look nice in video.
Anyone got any ideas?

Import whole movie as one clip in imovie

Hi, not sure if I am posting this in the right place now - ah just looked down below my post and it appears it will put it in the imovie forum, good
I have never used iMovie. I've used several video editing products in past years, but haven't done much recently and now I have a deadline of Christmas eve to get this done.
A good few years ago we transferred all of my wife's family home super 8 film to DV format and then spent weeks editing them down to a very nice 20 minute video with music. Made a bunch of DVDs but over the years, they seem to have all stopped working or been lost. The master is still on DV tape and I now have my sony camera linked up to my MBP and it seems to work very well once I got the firewire to thunderbolt connector. It controls the camera perfectly, better than a lot of products that I used to use.
So my problem is ithat when I imported the video, it cut everything up into clips.... and when I put all the clips into a movie they do not play seamlessly... as I don't want to do any editing on this, I just want it all as one long clip so I can export it into suitable formats for my sister-in-law to download on Christmas day...
So I have gone back to the import process and I couldn't seem to find any settings or anything for adjusting how the video is imported from my camera.
I certainly hope this can be done... not so much video editing I want to do, but more of a conversion process I guess, any help would be urgently and greatly appreciated!

hmm, after 24 hours of searching etc I have come to the conclusion that iMovie is pretty rubbish at functionality and a way for Apple to push it's iDrive and get me to pay money for it as well... :-(
I tried putting all my clips into a movie, but the audio skips between the clips and I can't reduce the transition to 0 - so actually no way of recreating my whole movie again and no way of capturing the whole movie in one clip - granted I've only been using this for a day, but after years of video editing I cant say the interface settting or anything else is intuitive about it... seemed promising at first, but in the end I got my old version of Adobe Premier out and it did what I needed first time, no fuss. Afraid iMovies is heading for the trash.

I am trying to edit a home movie on iMovies but when I try to download the movie from a dvd a message comes up saying there are no importable files. The DVD is the last in a series of 5 and the others have downloaded without any difficulty.Help?

I am trying to edit a home movie on iMovies on a mac book air. The movie is on a dvd but when I try to import the movie onto iMovies I get a message saying there are no importable files. I've downloaded the macx converter software but I can't seem to download the movie into that either.

Chris , thanks for the prompt reply. The dvd was produced by a third party that I found on line . I had a number of old mini digital video cassettes from a Sony Handycam. I can play the DVD's on my laptop but I can't edit them on iMovies to delete a lot of the rubbish on them. I have five DVD's and three downloaded without any problem but the last two are according to iMovies non importable.

Copy iMovie Project from MBP to iMac via DropBox?

My AVCHD Camcorder records to SDHC card and has my latest holiday on it (1.6GB of it).
My iMac doesn't have an SD slot so I ordered a USB Multi-cardreader and had to wait for it to be delivered before I could import my project into iMovie '11.
Meanwhile, as it happened, my daughter went on holiday and lent me her MacBook Pro. It occured to me that I could use the MBP's built in SD reader and I successfully imported my holiday clips into iMovie'11 on her MacBook. I even got it to analyse for stablisation and persons.
This morning the anticipated USB SDHC (and other card) reader arrived. I tried to use it to import the clips into my own Desktop iMac. Unfortunately the device is rubbish. It has a small mini USB cable to power it. The cable fell out several times each time forcing the Mac to tell me off about not unmounting the device properly. When I eventually found a way to stop the power cable falling out, iMovie couldn't import the clips without errors. Using DIsk Utility to try and fix it failed because DU was unable to dismount the device for some reason.
Never mind, I thought, I will just copy the clips I imported yesterday to my daughters MacBook.
We both share a DropBox Folder and I think there is enough space on it to transfer 1.6GB. How do I do this? I mean, is it simply a case of copying a certain folder to DropBox then from DropBox to the relevant place on my iMac?
Also, I have a vague recollection of reading somewhere something about file sharing. I have an airport router, I wonder if it would be just as simple to transfer the appropriate folder this way instead?

If you copied the entire contents of the card with the file folders intact, you can try to import using iMovie. Best case scenario, iMovie will recognize the folder and import the AVCHD files. If not, you'll need a converter of some sort. There are many apps out there that will convert AVCHD but the reason I recommend ClipWrap is that the re-wrap simply changes the container of the movie so that the Mac can read it. The contents remain the same and you have no quality loss, whereas most other converters actually re-write the data.
Another user over at Vimeo has a free option that people say has worked for them. To quote:
"Alan Somers over at Apple Discussions has made an Automator script to convert native AVCHD files with sound to mpeg 4 (m4v) the files have AC3 audio and are about the same size as the original file. You will first need to install ClipGrab from here clipgrab.de/download_en.html (free) to your application folder then Perian codecs from here (free)perian.cachefly.net/Perian_1.2.1.dmg then Alan's Automator from here (free) place anywhere (desktop works) public.me.com/catservant it's called Rewrap2M4V.app if you would like to read the thread or thank Alan for his work see here discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2380085&start=0&tstart=0
Please note the quality is excellent but you will loose the "date" information from the original file."

Solution when iMovie or FCE will not import AVCHD files or MTS files

Problem: iMovie or FCE will not import your footage from SDHC camera with files in AVCHD structure, or cannot import .mts or .m2ht files (which you may have copied from AVCHD structure. When mounting camera, you can see the camera as disk but iMovie will not try to import footage. If you point Final Cut Express (FCE) to the file structure, it fails to recognize it as a valid file structure. (I have Canon HF10, but understand that this problem is common on many camera models, maybe camera has been turned off at the wrong moment?)
Cause: Faulty file structure on camera or disk
Soultion: Rebuild AVCHD file structure using an AVCHD editing tool. I found multiAVCHD (multiavchd.deanbg.com), which is not perfect, but will do the job. And it is freeware (possible to donate).
I would like comments about others experience - but at least this worked for me:
- Download and install the software (Yes, you need Windows)
- Set the right parameters: mostly default, I didn´t want any recoding. But tick off to keep the source files!
- Select the AVCHD source (or source .mts or m2ts files) and destination
- Start rebuilding: select output for Sony Playstation 3
- Put the AVCHD file structure on a USB stick
*If using iMovie:*
Start iMovie and plug the USB into the mac (virtual disk (.dmg file) or other media should work fine as well). The USB may contain other files as well, but the root of AVCHD must be named AVCHD.
iMovie recognizes the drive as a camera. All is not 100% well, as the dates for making the footage is lost, and the thumbnails are distorted if seen at all, until clicked on. But then import worked for most clips. Some clips gave an error message, but FCE was able to import these (Log&transfer).
*If using FCE:* Use Log and transfer on this file structure (need not be on external disk)
If you have a better solution - please share! I suppose there are other tools out there which may correct the file structure with less side effects and no errors.
If you go for this solution - remember the author of multiAVCHD, he will surely appreciate a donation. I guess everybody will agree that this is worth at least as much as you paid for your SDHC card.
Why a function to correct faulty file structure is not included in iMovie and FCE is beyond my understanding!
I notice many users salvage their footage by converting the .MTS files, using Handbrake etc. But I believe rebuilding the file structure is faster and with no quality reduction.

Hi everyone,
I'm hoping someone is still subscribed to this and can help.
I have a Sony HDR-SR10. Yesterday I was able to connect it to my iMac by USB and view all the footage in the import window of iMovie (08).
Last night, to save time sorting at home, I took it to work with me and using the software that came with the camera installed on a Windows PC went through to see which files were rubbish and could be deleted before importing to speed up the transfer on to my mac.
Today, my Mac won't recognise the Camera!?!?!?!
Have I inadvertently reformatted the .MTS files or the camera itself, to windows or something? CanI change it back??
I'm currently creating a new disk image of the camera on my Mac in the vain hope that it will work and be recognised by the Mac as a camera. I can see from the progress box the following text:
Creating Image "Sony Camcorder Media.dmg"
=====Progress Bar=====
Reading (WindowsFAT32 :1)...
Which is why I think I've done something seriously wrong!! .. because it mentions windows!
HELP! HELP! HELP!
I have my entire honeymoon and the first year of my son on this camera and I want to edit with iMovie! Especially as I just paid for iLife 09 upgrade!

Info, hints & impressions of iMovie '08..

In case it may be of help; here are some recent experiences with iMovie '08..
- This promises to be rather long, so I'll try to add 'bullet points' to significant items.
I took a trailer for Blade Runner as my starting point (..I think three different ones were originally issued..) and re-edited it to "tighten it up" and improve(?) the colour, etc. (It was old and faded, and much of it was almost entirely blue.)
(I'd shot it a few years ago from the (my) cinema screen, with the camera (Sony TRV 900E) on a tripod, peering thro' the projection porthole from the projection room, with the projector's pre-amplifier output connected to the camera's audio input ("external mic" socket) to get the sound straight off the film, instead of through the cinema speakers. To avoid pale-and-dark patchy video - or a blank video - I'd set the camera's shutter speed to 12 frames-per-sec so that frames of the film (running at 24 fps) would 'blend' into each other, otherwise the camera's shutter speed, mismatching the film's frame rate, might give a kind of pulsating pale and dark effect if the camera's shutter were open while the projector's shutter was closed.)
I'd shot the movie onto miniDV video in 4:3 format, even though the trailer was 'widescreen', because the TRV 900's own 'widescreen' format just chops off the top and bottom of the picture, thus giving a poorer quality when that reduced height becomes the full video frame height. But that left unwanted rubbish at the bottom of the frame, and blank space at the top ..seen here in a still from the original video:
When I imported that 'squarish' 4:3 video into iMovie '08, I specified a new 16:9 Widescreen Project for it, and when I dragged the 4:3 shaped clip from the Event window into the upper Project window iMovie '08 automatically cropped the video clip to the required 16:9 shape, thus getting rid of the unwanted rubbish at top and bottom! ..But that still reduced the quality of the video, by making the 'cropped' height, with fewer actual pixels, into the new full height of the video frame. So the result was just the same as if I'd originally used pseudo-widescreen in the camera:
★ The effect in iMovie '08 is far better than the simple "letterboxing" of previous versions: instead of having to create a mask, or having black bands at the top and bottom of the frame, the cropped video now properly fills a 16:9 frame - although, in this particular case, because it was shot as 4:3, it expands and fills the frame at a slightly reduced quality.
I imported that single 4:3 shape standard-def miniDV clip into iMovie '08, and found it easy to split the clip where I wanted to, by dragging in the ends of the clip-selector (as described in iMovie's Help files) and then choosing 'Edit' and 'Split Clip'.
★ Here's iMovie's own Help description for "split clip":
To split a clip:
➀ - In your iMovie project, drag to select the frame range from the point where you want to split it to the end of the clip.
If you select a frame range beginning and ending in the middle of the clip, the clip will split into three parts.
➁ - Choose Edit > Split Clip.
Doing that, I separated and isolated a section in the middle of the main clip, so that I could just jab the 'Backspace/Delete' key to remove that chosen section. I did that several times to remove further bits I didn't want. This is more long-winded than the simple technique in all previous iMovie versions, which is to position the Playhead's vertical line where you want to split a clip, and then just press ⌘ & T to SpliT the clip. But then, this version's easy "skimming" or "scrubbing" often makes it faster to find the position(s) where a clip should be split ..a bit of swings and roundabouts there, I suppose. There is, of course, no "Bookmarks" facility in this version of iMovie: in some previous versions marks could be left at various points in the movie, to make it easier to jump back and forth between intended edit points or other points of interest while editing.
To smooth the changes between clips I added a short Dissolve transition (dragged it to the space between clips) to some of the edits.
★ To smooth the first edit I extracted audio from part of the original clip (by dragging from the original Event clip while holding down Shift and Command (the Apple key ⌘), as described at the end of this section of Apple's helpful Tutorials).
★ I then "Ducked" the audio of the added music beneath the original dialogue in the video clip, by choosing the video clip, and then using iMovie '08's audio tool.
Getting this movie into my online video Gallery was much more awkward: the version which iMovie '08 produced when Shared to QuickTime was atrocious; full of encoding artifacts and splodges ..more like a version of QT from about 6 years ago!
So I used 'Compressor' (bundled with Final Cut Studio) to make a decent h.264 version without compression artifacts.
To publish to my Gallery page, I needed to bring that into iMovie '08 again, and then 'Share' to .Mac Gallery. However, Compressor had created a 4:3 movie, in the same format as the original video material. In QuickTime I changed the displayed shape to 1024x576 (16:9), and Saved the movie, and it then played in QuickTime in the correct shape. But importing that into iMovie '08 - just like in iMovie HD 6 - still showed it as a 4:3 movie (the original format), even though the display shape had been saved as 16:9.
To correct that misreading of the proper format, I imported that 'Compressor+QuickTime' movie into MPEG Streamclip, and re-saved it there in 1024x576 format. I imported that re-saved version into iMovie '08, and it was the correct shape!
I could then export it - correctly shaped - to my Gallery page ..see last couple of lines, below.
One of the advantages of editing on my G5 (..I don't yet have an Intel Mac ..maybe there'll be newer Mac Minis to accompany Leopard's release in a few days' time?..) is that it has several hard drives in it. (It's a G5 quad, which came with one hard drive, and I added another single internal drive, plus two more formatted together as a very fast 'raid' (Redundant Array of Independent - or Inexpensive - Discs). This means that instead of all movie editing and final rendering being done on just the single system disc ..which is being constantly read and written to.. I can edit on the 'raid' disc, and export, or write onto, one of the other internal discs. This makes disc accessing, rendering, exporting, etc, faster and smoother, and material is written from one disc to another, instead of being read off and written back onto the same single disc - doubling the work which that single disc has to do.
★ For other Macs which don't have room for adding another internal disc, editing is generally smoother, and less strain on everything, if you add an external disc via (preferably) FireWire 800, or FireWire 400.
In Summary; iMovie '08 let me..
1 - Reformat 4:3 clips to 'widescreen' (16:9), and vice versa, without leaving black edges ..better results than HD 6.
2 - Split clips and delete unwanted sections fairly easily ..not as easily as HD 6, but without much difficulty.
3 - Extract, reposition and edit audio fairly easily ..with different , often simpler, tools than HD 6.
4 - Apply effects (transitions, colour adjustments) instantly, without waiting for rendering ..unlike the slower HD 6.
5 - Work with -s-t-a-b-i-l-i-t-y- and reliability (for me) ..unlike iMovie HD 6, 5, 4 and 3.
..but it doesn't let me..
(a) Add Bookmarks, to jump instantly through the movie to particular points.
(b) Add Chapters, although these can be done - more logically - in iDVD '08 ..though I haven't yet managed to do that.
(c) Create good-looking QuickTime versions of my movie ..I had to go to Compressor for that.
This edited trailer, which runs for 2mins 21 secs, is here ..See if you can spot the edits. (It may take a while to load, so have a cup of tea..)
If I have time and inclination I might upload - for comparison - the original trailer, which runs for a far longer - and less focused - 3mins 29 secs.

Ditto white screen problem.
I am using iMovie 08 for a 23 minute photo-music slideshow for more control over placement and my music.
The final scrolling credits are 60 seconds long over a photo that is 59 seconds long. I have a wipe right and a new photo and the credits/music end. Everything plays well in imovie, but on the DVD i burn with iDVD, there is a white screen where the credits should be.
Applecare suggested changing to another photo. I did. No change, another DVD coaster. Applecare suggested changing the jpg photo to tiff. I did, no change, another DVD coaster.
I exported again in Media Browser, different name, but got the same white screen.
The 5 other titles in the project are fine in iDVD. When I play it on my TV, it looks fantastic, except for that last white screen and no credits.
Any suggestions?
2.5 Core 2 Duo MBP, 2 gB RAM, all software updates complete, iMovie 08

IMovie = rubbish

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