Making a single continuous movie in imovie 08 from 5 imovie projects

Question

how can i do this. how can i take my 5 imovie projects and put them in a new project that will play them one after another and burn into dvd that will play as one continuous movie without going through menu. thanx

Answer 1

Could you please explain how I can merge the files sequentially into quicktime pro?
If the files are located on the desktop, they can be merged using either QUICKTIME PRO or MPEG STREAMCLIP. (Click appropriate name to see a "quickie" tutorial.)
Do I have to convert them from the project first?
If the individual clips are already in an iMovie '08 "Project" window, and already butted together, then any export would automatically merge the files together without further external processing. If you have four separate iMovie '08 projects you wish to merge together, then yes, they would each have to be "shared" or exported first and merged together externally. If you are referring to individual clips in the same or different "Event" windows, then no, these files can be merger together independently at the finder level without disturbing any iMovie '08 project underway if they are moved or their names changed in any way by the "Finder."
I would really appreciate step by step as I am a slow learner.
Had hoped that the prepared "visual" tutorials might more instructive than any written instructions.
Will this process degrade the quality in comparison to a the normal process of going once from imovie 08 Project to media shared to iDVD?
Not in the same way that "exporting" a file or collection of files might be degraded by decompressing and then re-compressing since the original audio and video content is merged together in a single container without any changes. However, there are other potential problems. Some compression formats use "Key" frames which contain all "picture information" following by frames that only contain "difference information" and it is possible to use this approach with such files. In this case, it is then it is possible to merge "difference" frames at the end of one clip with "difference" frames from the beginning of another clip which means the joint transition may not be as "smooth" as it could be if you were to join the "differences" frames from the first clip to a "key" frame beginning the added clip. (I.e., it is always best to "split" these clips so as all clips begin with a "key" frame. In addition, since this approach also allows you to join clips using different compression formats with widely varying data rates, a sharp change in data rate can cause the file to "hiccup" at his joint point. Luckily, re-compression as in converting a merged file to another format (as when converting to MPEG2) can usually remedy or at least reduce such problems. Files imported to iMovie '08 should already be all "I-frames," so I would not normally expect such problems -- especially where transitions are used which act as a kind of "buffer." But if you are joining files from several different sources, you should be aware of the potential for such problems.