Importing letterboxed clips to a widescreen project

Hi all,
I have just started playing around with iMovie and have a load of my Dad's video which has been recorded on a Panasonic DV camera with "Cinema" mode enabled (It shoots in 4:3 but adds letterbox to simulate 16:9).
What I really want to do is import these clips to a widescreen DV project and have iMovie crop the letterboxing off and essentially zoom in to the widescreen picture in the middle, creating a proper widescreen movie (obviously the quality will not be perfect as you will be stretching the video in the middle but the aspect ration should be correct).
I have looked all over for a way of doing this but have yet to find anything.
Any help much appreciated.
Jon

within iMovie, what's the easiest way of saving them all separately outside of the project so that I can batch convert them all with Streamclip
No need to save them outside iMovie.
Just quit iMovie. Then with MPEG Streamclip drill into the iMovie project (select All files in the open file dialog) and choose /Cache/Timeline Movie.mov as an input. (That feature was suggested by an iMovie user (cough, cough)).

Similar Messages

Problem with importing a clip from another iMovie project

Hello
I want to import a clip from one iMovie project to another iMovie project.
Both projects are in 16:9, but when I import a clip it's no longer in 16:9.
The clip is croped and I have a black bar on the right and left side.
How can I solve this ?
Jufke

Have you tried Copying the clip in Project A and Pasting it into Project B?
When you Copy and Paste clips, try to Copy and Paste all at the same time. More here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2356757&#2356757
Karl

Importing PAL clips into an NTSC project

Hi guys,
I'm new to FCP... I'm wondering if it's possible to import a PAL clip into an NTSC project and will FCP do the render automatically and transfer it to NTSC?
If not can someone recommend the best way to convert such a clip? I've come across the JES Deinterlacer, but am wondering if there might be something better than that?
Thanks in advance. Chaim

take a look at graeme nattress' standards converter.
http://www.nattress.com/standardsConversion.htm
good luck.

I can't Import Video, Transitions & Audio From One Project To Another

I've been working on this video all day and I’m finally in the home stretch but I've encountered my biggest problem yet. This is what I want to do. I have a series of clips, transitions, and separate music track in 1 open project and I want to transfer the whole kit and caboodle to another open project. For some reason when I do it only imports the video and some audio that's in track 1. I have tried locking audio clips to the video but it doesn't seem to be working. Can anyone help me!? I'm bleary eyed already I've been at this so long. Thanks!

catspaw: Thanks for replying!!! I think I was unclear as to what my problem was. The way I work is to have one Master project open and I then import various clips from other secondary projects as I build my movie. I know . . . this might seem nutty it’s just how I work. The clips, sound and transition were from a separate project but they were only part of the main movie I was building in my Master Project. Am I making any since? Anyway, I couldn’t take it any more so I rolled up my sleeves and went 1 by 1 through the audio clips and lined them up by hand with the imported video. I know this must be almost INPOSSIBLE to understand the way I’m explaining it, sorry! Basically, though, for now, I’ve solved the problem. Thanks so much! I’ll post again when I have my next iMovie anxiety attack.

Importing 4:3 clips into widescreen project

I've set up a widescreen project (PAL DV Anamorphic) and have imported some 16:9 clips which look fine. I also want to put some 4:3 clips into the same project but these are always stretched to widescreen. How can I avoid this?
I've done this in FCP without a problem. Am I missing something obvious?
Any help much appreciated.

Hi,
Open up the clip in QT and select- show movie properties, highlight the video track and deselect 'preserve aspect ratio'. Save. Clip should appear as correct aspect ratio. Don't ask me what is going on here, it all seems back to front for me. Your comment on FCP made me think that something similar could be in effect here. I guess it's a file tag thing.
-Rob
UK

A video clip import for a new project keeps showing up as a clip from an older project.

So here's the issue, I succesfully imported and trimmed 95% of the video clips from my GoPro today. However, when I upload the piece de resistance, it shows up as a clip from an older project that I've already deleted. Despite showing me the older clip in the imported section, I can still play approximately 1/3 of the actual, new clip. Problem is it stops and doesn't allow me to work with the remaining footage. I've tried importing it straight from the SD card, copying it to the desktop first, etc. No luck. Any advice?

So, it's Photoshop CS3.
Anyway, from what I understood, you open the photo directly form the disk in Photoshop. That is, you don't use Lightroom to open the photo in Photoshop. It just doesn't work this way. As I said above, Lightroom has no way of knowing when to import a photo that has been saved in Photoshop.
If you insist on using Jpegs for derivative files, your best way to go is indeed using Synchronize.
However, I'd advice to use a lossless format, like TIFF or PSD. Why leave image quality on the table (as Jeff Schewe likes to say)? Storage is cheap and you're editing only your best photos in Photoshop anyway.
And as an additional benefit, you can automate the process of importing derivatives:
Configure what file type to use in Prefs: TIFF or PSD, bit depth, color space etc.
Select an image in Lightroom and hit Ctrl+E.
The derivative file is created in the chosen format and opened in Photoshop.
Edit and save in Photoshop.
Voila! Your edited derivative is already in Lightroom.

I have an old project with AVCHD clips and I want to import the clips again with surround sound. How can I relink the project clips to the re-imported ones without doing the project from the begining?

I have an old project with AVCHD clips and I want to import the clips again with surround sound. How can I relink the project clips to the re-imported ones without doing the project from the begining?
I have a sony handicam and I imported the clips to iMovie and they lost quality and converted the audio to stereo. I want to import the project to final cut X and import the AVCHD in 1080p and surround sound and export the movie in bluray. Can I relink the clips without editing everything again?
thanks!

Only photos taken with the iPad, copied onto it via the camera connection kit, or saved from emails/websites etc can be deleted directly on the iPad - either via the trashcan icon in the top right corner if viewing the photo in full screen, or via the icon of the box with the arrow coming out of it in thumbnail view.
Photos that were synced from a computer are deleted by moving/removing/de-selecting them from where they were synced from and then re-syncing. If you want to remove them all then normally you could just sync an empty folder (in terms of photos) to the iPad, but as you don't want to sync at the moment you can't do that.
You can reset the iPad back to factory settings and start from scratch with it : Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content And Settings

Import video clip from other project

How to get video clip from other project?
I have been saving all the clips into one huge project and I think it is time to divide them into different projects.
Also, how do I know if the project would fit into one DVD when I burn it?
Your help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Karen

You need iDVD for that.
See the iMovie tutorials (in html and QT movie form) at:
http://www.apple.com/support/imovie/
(Scroll down a bit)
See the iMovie tutorials (in pdf form) at:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iMovieAtAGlance.pdf
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iMovieHDGettingStarted.pdf
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iMovieLesson1.pdf
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iMovieLesson2.pdf
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iMovieLesson3.pdf
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iMovieLesson4.pdf
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iMovieLesson5.pdf
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iMovieLesson6.pdf
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iMovieLesson7.pdf
See the iDVD tutorial at:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iDVDAtAGlance.pdf
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iDVD5GettingStarted.pdf
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iDVDTutorial.pdf

Why is iMovie 6.0.3 vertically letterboxing clips that were created at 360x180?

I'm trying to import stock clips from istockphoto.com and some will import at that resolution, others are importing with vertical letterboxes as though they were PAL or NTSC, squashing the image vertically. I've tried starting with DV Widescreen and both HDV options that iMovie HD gives me.
Is there a workaround for this bug that I can't find after hours of scouring the web? Is there another iMovie version I can upgrade to with at 10.4.11 OS ? I realize my OS is practically ancient in computer time (4 years!!!) but I have no Intel processor. If you haven't passed out yet from my outdatedness, any helpful help would be appreciated.
Can anyone help? Please?
Thank you!

Hi, Bengt,
+I think there is a difference between 6.0.3 and 6.0.4. Had problems with 0.3 after+
+installing iLife08 that was OK after 6.0.4 up-grade. (PPC dG5)+
That's why I said 'reportedly.'
I think you are correct. I, too, am suspicious of a difference, and I also downloaded version 6.0.4. I did the download as soon as I saw it on Apple's site after getting my new iMac.
I did have the prior iM6 version that I ported over from my old iMac, too. I am sure that I transferred all my old stuff before downloading 6.0.4, but I didn't run into any problems with it not installing.
Regards,
Beverly

Combining 4:3 and 16:9 video in a single widescreen project

I am working on my first DV widescreen project in iMovie 6. The majority of the video footage I'm using was shot in 16:9 (widescreen) format and imported just fine. I then imported into the same project some additional footage from a friend's camera that was shot in standard 4:3 format, however, iMovie automatically imported all such clips as "stretched" apparently in order to fill up the full widescreen window. Is there some way I can have these 4:3 clips imported into a widescreen project without distorting their original 4:3 ratio (i.e. so that they can be incorporated in a widescreen project but with black bars on the side)?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Power Mac G4 (Digital Audio) Mac OS X (10.4.6) OWC 1.4 Ghz Processor, 17" Studio Display

Thanks Sue. I didn't think about importing the 4:3 footage into a separate "non-widescreen" and then cutting and pasting it into my widescreen project. My only concern is how the 4:3 clips will appear when pasted into the widescreen project. The article you linked states "iMovie HD will automatically convert the footage" so that it can be used in the new project. I'm wondering if this "conversion" means stretching out the 4:3 footage or simply pillerboxing it (which is what I want). I'll test it out when I get home tonight.

Importing video clips in AVCHD (Lite) into Aperture vs iMovie

I'm trying to figure out which application I should use for importing and storing video clips shot on my Panasonic DMC-ZS7 camera. This camera can shoot in AVCHD (Lite) or in Motion JPEG. I use the AVCHD (Lite) format to shoot the videos with this camera.
The two application options I currently have for importing video clips from this camera are:
a. Aperture 3.5.1 (I'm not using iPhoto since I have Aperture).
b. iMovie 10.0.1 (I'm not using Final Cut Pro)
When I first got this camera, Aperture 3 did not support the AVCHD Lite codec. Back then, iMovie could import video clips shot in AVCHD Lite, but it had to transcode the AVCHD video clips into AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec). Some time later, one of the Aperture 3 updates made it possible to import AVCHD Lite into Aperture (without having to transode into an intermediate codec), so we started importing our video clips shot in AVCHD Lite (together with our photos shot by the same camera) directly into Aperture.
iMovie 10 released in 2013 supports importing video clips shot in AVCHD Lite without having to transode them to AIC for storing these video clips in iMovie. So, now we have a dilemma that we need help with. Which application should we use going forward for importing video clips from this camera?
When I look at the metadata for the imported videos in Aperture, I see that the format of the imported video clips is listed as H.264. However, I can't seem to be able to find any information about the format in which iMovie stores imported videos. I can "Reveal in Finder" a video that I import into iMovie, and I see the size of the file and the .mov extension assigned to the file. With video files, the extension does not always determine the codec of the file, but in my non-expert opinion, the .mov extension is not H.264; I may be totally wrong here, though. What I have noticed, though, is that a video clip imported into iMovie has the file size that is about 10% larger than the same video clip imported into Aperture.
Therefore, I have three questions:
1. What format is a video clip (shot in AVCHD Lite) stored in Aperture 3.5.1 and in iMovie 10.0.1
2. Which format (the one used by Aperture or the one used in iMovie) is better suited for transoding AVCHD videos into? The balance of the quality and file size is the main consideration for us.
3. Which applications would you personally prefer using for importing video clips to and why?
I do want to use some of these video clips to make home videos in the future, utillizing iMovie. However, it seems I can still store the raw footage in Aperture and access this raw footage from iMovie to be able to create an iMovie project and a final home video. One of the concerns is that if we keep importing our video clips into Aperture, the Aperture library could grow beyond the size that Aperture can support and we may end up losing our photos due to the database corruption. Is this a real risk?
Thank you!

I had the same question recently. Go to the right of this box and a little above, into the Search Discussions window. Type in this: Is MPEG2 the answer
You will find my question, and the great answers I got. Follow those directions and you will be all set!

Can sequences be re-linked to original resources when importing another version of the same project?

When editing a large event project, I usually set it up and sync cameras/audio into multicam sequences. My current project is of a kickboxing event so 3 of us will take say 5 fights each to edit on different machines. While importing the other guys work into my project works great, I'd love it to not show duplicate resources (bins/clips/sequences etc). You can see what I mean in the below image. Any way to relink to my original file/folder hierarchy?
I know I could go into each multicam source sequence and right-click a clip and Reveal in Project, then right-click in project pane to Replace Footage but doing it that way 3 times to over 200 assets would be mind numbing haha.

Hello Mike.
I'm not aware of a way to merge mailboxes from one Mac to another but regarding the import feature, the mailboxes do appear grayed out but select Choose anyway and the mailboxes within the chosen folder will be made available for import at the next prompt.
Regarding the directories, IMO it is better to manipulate the mailboxes using the Finder with the Mail.app quit before doing so.
After using the Import Mailboxes feature and importing the selected mailboxes, quit Mail first and using the Finder go to Home > Library > Mail > Mailboxes. The Imported mailboxes (xxxxxx.mbox files) will be located within an Import folder.
For all mailboxes to appear at the first level within the mailboxes drawer, each xxxxxx.mbox file must be at the first level within the Mailboxes folder. You can nest a mailbox within a folder that does not contain any messages.
For example, you can create a folder at the first level within the Mailboxes folder named Business and place business related xxxxxx.mbox files within the Business folder.
When launching Mail, there will be a Business folder in the mailboxes drawer that is colored white and within, each mailbox that contains messages will be colored blue.
If he wants to transfer all messages from one mailbox to another and then delete the empty mailbox, transferring messages from one mailbox to another must be done from within Mail.

My current os x is 10.9.5, using final cut express vers. 4.0.1. I have imported .mov clips created with a older mac os x (lion) and converted them to import into fce. after doing this as well as putting clips on the fce timeline when playing back t.h

My current os x is 10.9.5, using final cut express vers. 4.0.1. I have imported .mov clips created on a older mac os x (lion) and when I wanted to import them into fce, a quicktime conversion window opened up and converted them (I haven't experienced this in the past). I then imported the converted quicktime clips into my fce project. After doing this I took selected clips and put those edited clips on the fce timeline. When playing the video back in the fce timeline,I noticed
1) the video wasn't playing back smoothly like the original content
2) when looking at the timecode reading of the timeline, the timecode was sputtering as well as the video and audio. I exported to quicktime just to see if that was consistent, it was.
When I play the converted quicktime content independently of fce, it plays normally (no sputtering of timecode, video and audio. Need help to resolve the sputtering playback of converted video content in the fce timeline. I've never experienced this before. Any suggestions?

When you say you converted the clips before importing them into FCE, did you convert to AIC or DV and do the converted clips match your FCE Sequence settings exactly? If not, go back and convert the original files again, using the intended Sequence settings as a guide.
-DH

Importing .dv clips from hard drive -- clips imported in random order

I use Firewire DTE drives with my camera when filming. Previously I could connect the drives to my computer via firewire and then import the clips into iMovie HD and the clips would go into the clip sorter in chronological order.
As of about two weeks ago my clips have started showing up in the clip sorter in completely random order. My projects are typically about 400 clips, so going through and getting them in order takes forever.
Any ideas?

See attached discussion:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8997363&#8997363
Instead of renaming them manually you can use a program such as namemangler: http://www.manytricks.com/namemangler/ to change the names at a batch

Whats the best way to import video clips from FCP into a personal template

Hey all, I'm doing some tests. I see some color shifting going on when I export out of FCP using QT conversion (same settings as sequence), Importing into Motion, then adding lower third graphics, then exporting out of Motion .... and finally back to FCP. I put the new graphic added layer on top and have the original on bottom. I toggle the monitor on both layers and see a slight saturation drop on the graphic layer. Has anyone noticed that ?
The reason Im doing this is because lets say I have lower thirds that I want to place throughout a hour show. I want to set-up a basic lower third template and just plug in the video clips for the areas that I need those graphics. It would be way to difficult to export out of the timeline in FCP
and rebuild those lower thirds everytime in Motion. Does anyone know of a better way or does everyone have to export out to the desktop and then into Motion every time they want to use a Motion template.
Thanks to any replies.

Try roundtripping from FCP to Motion and back using Send to Motion. In FCP, Control Click your clip>Send To>Motion Project. The clip will open in Motion with the proper project properties. Make your edits there, press Save, and then render back in FCP. No exporting necessary, although you might see a gamma shift. Much easier.
To do this with an existing Motion template, I'd try copying and pasting in that template's contents once you've sent to Motion from FCP.

Importing letterboxed clips to a widescreen project

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for