Macs All-in-One For Dummies, 4th Edition (2014)

Book IV. Your Mac as Multimedia Entertainment Center

Chapter 4. Making Movies with iMovie

In This Chapter

Discovering how iMovie works

Importing and organizing videos

Making your own iMovie project

Adding special effects to your movie

Deleting your movie

Making a movie trailer

Sharing your movie by e-mail, on YouTube, and more

Now that video capture is commonplace on both digital cameras and smartphones, making movies has descended from the realm of Super 8 aficionados to everyday use. If you have a digital video camcorder, digital camera, smartphone, or computer (like your Mac) that captures video, you can create movies with iMovie, the video-editing application that’s part of Apple’s iLife suite.

You can also use home (not commercial) video that someone gives you from a DVD, flash drive, or downloadable link. If, for example, you go river rafting or hang gliding, the company you go with may record your adventure and give or sell you the video on a DVD; you can then use the video footage (the recording) as part of your movie. Often when you make a presentation at a conference, the conference organizers record your presentation and give you a copy on DVD or flash drive, which you can then edit and incorporate into your professional curriculum or upload to your company’s website.

With iMovie, you can edit your source video and even add a voiceover or background music, transitions, still images, and a few special effects to create a movie that tells a story and is compelling to watch.

The three buttons across the top of the iMovie window say it all — Import, Create, Share — and that’s what we tell you how to do in this chapter.

Seeing How iMovie Works

To get the most out of iMovie, take a second to understand how the window is set up as well as some of the movie-making terms we use. When you first open iMovie, the library appears in a column on the left side of the window. The toolbar runs across the top, and two panes appear in the main section of the window. The lower browser pane shows clips from events, projects, or movies you import or create in iMovie (this will be empty if this is the first time you use iMovie), and the upper pane shows the preview of clips you select in the lower pane. When you’re working on a project, the top pane is divided into two parts: the project pane and the preview pane. This will all make more sense when you start working in iMovie.

The library is where you see a list of projects or events, and the iMovie browser (not like your Safari Internet browser) is where you see the parts of your video, referred to as clips. Clips are made up of frames. Video speed is measured in frames per second (fps).

The basic steps for using iMovie, which we go through in detail in the subsequent sections, are

1. Import, store, and organize video in the Event Library.

2. Create a project, which is what iMovie calls your movie.

3. Add clips from your events to your project.

4. Rearrange and resize the clips.

5. Add transitions and effects.

6. Save your video as a digital video file for viewing and sharing with others.

Working with the Event Library

The Event Library holds all your source video, acting as your personal film vault. Events comprise one or more video clips, which you then use to construct movie projects. By storing videos in the Event Library, you have a handy place where you can choose footage from old videos to use in any new projects.

To store video in the Event Library, you must import video from one of the following sources:

· A digital video camera

· A smartphone or digital (still) camera capable of capturing video; the video can be imported into iPhoto and then brought into iMovie from iPhoto or imported directly into iMovie

· Video captured directly to your Mac by using the FaceTime HD camera with an app such as Photo Booth or iMovie itself

· Video captured and edited by using QuickTime Player (see Book IV, Chapter 2)

· A digital file downloaded from a website or accessed on a remote storage site

· A project created and saved using an earlier version of iMovie

· A digital video file stored on your hard drive, flash drive, or DVD

Importing video from a device

To import (that is, copy) a video that you captured with an external USB-enabled device, such as a digital camcorder, camera, or smartphone, to your Mac, follow these steps:

1. Connect your device to your Mac with a USB cable.

The appropriate cable usually comes with the camera or smartphone and is often the one you use to charge the battery.

If iPhoto or Image Capture opens, press +Q to quit the app.

If you use a MiniDV or Digital-8 camcorder that captures video on tape, iMovie (version 10.0) may have left you, um, out of the picture. These types of camcorders use FireWire so if your Mac doesn’t have a FireWire port, you need a FireWire to Thunderbolt adapter. Even with that, many users have reported problems getting iMovie to recognize the camcorder. The troubleshooting is longer than what we can address in this book, but if you’re having problems, check out the discussions on the https://discussions.apple.com.

2. Click the iMovie icon on the Dock or from Launchpad to open iMovie.

The Import window appears, displaying the various places you can import video from.

If the Import window doesn’t appear, click the Import button on the toolbar or choose File⇒Import Media.

3. Click the camera or device you want from the source list in the column on the left.

Any video on that device appears in the browser pane at the bottom of the window, as shown in Figure 4-1.

4. (Optional) To view photos and video or only photos on a camera, open the pop-up menu in the upper-right corner and choose the type of media you want to see.

This menu doesn’t appear when you click a device such as a flash drive in the Devices section.

Figure 4-1: Choose where you want to save your video file.

5. Open the Import To pop-up menu to choose the destination in iMovie for the video clips.

You can create a new event, which is what you do if iMovie has no events yet, or choose to add the video to an existing event. This is a convenient choice if you want to import video related to the same event from several sources.

When you choose New Event, a dialog opens with a field for typing a descriptive name for the event (the date and time is the default name). Type a name, if you like, and then click OK.

6. To preview a video clip, click the thumbnail image and then drag the pointer across it. Or hover the pointer over the image in the preview pane to reveal playback controls, and then click the Play button.

An orange line — the skimming line — appears on the thumbnail, and a preview of the video plays in the preview pane.

7. Select the clips you want to import by doing the following, or go to Step 8 if you want to import all clips.

· Shift-click to select contiguous clips.

· -click to select noncontiguous clips.

8. Click the Import Selected button if you selected some of the clips, or click the Import All button to copy all the clips to iMovie.

Your video is imported, and the iMovie window opens.

After you import a video, your original video footage remains on the device you imported from, so you may want to go back and erase it.

Importing a digital video file

Because iPhoto is usually the default destination for still and motion digital images, you probably have video files stored there. You can import the digital video file by connecting your device to your Mac, as we explain previously, or you can access the digital files from iPhoto and import them to iMovie. Likewise, if you have digital video files stored in QuickTime, MPEG-4, or digital video (DV) lying around on your storage drive, you can import them into iMovie. To import a DV file, follow these steps:

1. Click the Import button or choose File⇒Import Media.

The Import window opens (refer to Figure 4-1).

If the file you want to import is on a DVD, insert the DVD into the internal or external optical disc drive of your Mac and select the disc from the source list.

2. Click the device (or a location in the Favorites section in the source list) where the video you want to import is stored.

The folders and files on that device appear in the browser at the bottom of the iMovie window.

Check the Downloads and Movies folders on your Mac for video files saved from a website, e-mail, or QuickTime. You can access video and still photos in iPhoto from the Import window or directly in the iMovie window.

3. Click and scroll through to find the DV file you want to import.

Double-click folders to view the contents.

Click the Back button in the upper-left corner to go to a previously viewed folder or drive, as indicated in Figure 4-2.

4. Open the Import To pop-up menu to choose the destination in iMovie for the video clips.

You can create a new event (which is what you do if iMovie has no events yet) or add the video to an existing event (which is convenient if you want to import video related to the same event from several sources).

When you choose New Event, a dialog opens with a field for typing a descriptive name for the event, and the date and time make up the default name. Type a name, if you like, and then click OK.

Figure 4-2: Import files from your Mac or other storage drives.

5. To preview a video clip, hover the pointer over the image in the preview pane to reveal playback controls, and then click the Play button.

6. Select the clips you want to import by doing the following:

· Shift-click to select contiguous clips.

· -click to select noncontiguous clips.

· Click a folder to import all the contents.

7. Click the Import Selected button to copy the clips to iMovie.

Your video is imported, the Import window closes, and the iMovie window is again active.

If you try to click the iMovie window while the Import window is open, it doesn’t work. You must close the Import window first to click anything on the iMovie window. If you open the Import window and then decide not to import anything, click the Close button in the upper-left corner to continue working in iMovie.

To capture video using the FaceTime HD camera on your Mac, click the Import button and then click FaceTime in the source list. The preview pane shows you (or whoever is seated in front of your Mac). Choose a destination for your soon-to-be-recorded video from the Import To pop-up menu. Click the Record button at the bottom of the preview screen, say or do the words or actions you want to capture, and then click the Record button again to stop recording. Click the Close button at the bottom right of the window, and the video is stored in the event you chose or created.

Organizing the Event Library

The more videos you store, the more crowded the Event Library becomes, and the harder it is to find what you want. When you import video to the Event Library, you choose to add the video to an existing event or create a new event.

The iMovie Library lists the titles of the video you see in the All Events browser, which contains your raw unedited video. Click the following:

· All Events: Your events appear as thumbnail images in the browser pane of the iMovie window. Double-click a thumbnail to see the clips in that event.

· iMovie Library: The events are listed singly. The items in the list match those you see in the browser when you select All Events.

You can manage, rearrange, and reorganize your events by clicking All Events and then double-clicking an event to open it, or by clicking the disclosure triangle next to iMovie Library to see a list of your events, and then doing the following:

· Rename an Event: Click All Events in the Libraries list and then click the name of an event under the thumbnail image in the Events browser. Or, in the iMovie Library events list, click the event name once to select the event, and then click again to highlight the name. Type a different name, and then press Return.

· Merge Events: Click and drag one event over another in the iMovie Library event list. The dragged event is added to the event underneath.

· Move a Clip: Click an event in the iMovie Library list to see the clips contained in the event. Click and drag across a clip to select the clip you want to split off from the main event: It will be outlined in yellow. Hover the pointer over the selected clip, and it becomes a hand icon. Click and drag the hand/pointer (which then becomes a filmstrip icon) to the event you want to move it to. The selected clip is moved from one event to another.

If you have video or still images in iPhoto that you want to move into an event, click the iPhoto Library item in the Libraries list, and then click and drag the video(s) or photo(s) to the event you want it in. You can then use the video in that event in any projects you create.

· Split an Event: Choose File⇒New Event to create a new event in the iMovie Library. Rename the event, as we explain earlier in this chapter. Double-click the event you want to split to see the clips that it contains. After you click and drag across a clip to select the clip you want to split off from the main event, it will be outlined in yellow. Hover the pointer over the selected clip, and it becomes a hand icon. Click and drag the hand/pointer, which then becomes a filmstrip icon, to the new event. The selected clip is moved from the original event to the new one.

· Delete an Event: Click the event you want to delete in the iMovie Library events list, or click All Events and then click the unwanted event in the browser pane. Choose File⇒Move to Trash or press +Delete. If you delete an event by mistake, immediately press +Z or choose Edit⇒Undo to cancel the action.

Creating an iMovie Project

Projects contain still images or video clips from source video and images accessed from your Libraries, which includes your iPhoto library. Like events, Projects can be viewed by clicking All Projects in the Libraries list; you also see them listed under iMovie Library. A clapperboard icon next to the event name lets you know it’s a project. Double-click a project or click and then click Edit Project to view the Project browser, which is where you edit your movie. To view (or hide) the Library list — so you have more room to work on your project — click the Hide button in the toolbar just above the Libraries column.

In the Project browser, you can rearrange, trim, and delete video clips to create your movie. This is where you add titles, transitions, audio, or special effects to your edited movie. If you accidentally erase or mess up a movie in the Project browser, just retrieve the original footage from the All Events Library and start over. You can copy and store the same video footage in two or more projects.

To create a project, follow these steps:

1. Click the Create button on the toolbar at the top of the iMovie window and then choose Movie from the pop-up menu, or choose File⇒New Movie.

The Themes chooser appears, as shown in Figure 4-3.

2. Hover the pointer over a theme and click the Play button that appears to see a preview of the theme.

Themes provide stylized transitions and titles for your project. You can choose a theme and then manually add or change transitions, or change the theme itself. You can also add a theme when you’re already in the middle of editing a project.

Two themes offer particularly enhanced movie possibilities: Sports and CNN iReport. Sports has a Sports Team Editor where you type in the players’ names and stats. CNN iReport prepares videos in CNN style so you can propose your stories to CNN’s iReport segment.

Figure 4-3: Choose a theme for your movie.

3. Click the theme you want to use for your movie (or choose No Theme if you want to do the work yourself) and then click the Create button.

The Project Editor workspace opens, as shown in Figure 4-4. The Libraries column is hidden, and there are three panes:

· Project pane: Where you place the clips and content of your movie

· Preview pane: Where you can see how your movie will play

· Events pane: Where you view clips to place in your movie

Choose Window⇒Swap Project and Event to invert the positions of the Project and Event panes. To take advantage of your Mac’s entire screen, click the Full Screen button in the upper-right corner of the window or choose Window⇒Enter Full Screen.

4. (Optional) To instruct iMovie to insert transitions between clips automatically, choose Window⇒Movie Properties. Click the Settings button, and then select the Automatic Content check box (refer to Figure 4-4).

iMovie will automatically insert transitions — in a style that’s part of the theme you chose — whenever it finds shifts from one piece of video to another. This is useful as a way to insert transitions quickly. You can then later deactivate this feature and manually delete or substitute transitions when you edit your video.

To change your movie’s theme, choose Window⇒Movie Properties and then click the Settings button. Click the theme name to open the Themes chooser. Select a different theme and then click the Create button.

Figure 4-4: Create your movie in the Project pane.

Selecting video clips

At its simplest, a movie is a collection of video clips. When you create a movie, you select clips in Events and place them in a project. Before you can select a video clip to store in a project, you need to see exactly what part of a video you want to use as a clip. To help you find any part of a video, iMovie displays an entire video as a series of images — frames — that appear like a filmstrip. To find a specific part of a video, you can skim through a video. When you find the part of a video to use, just click and drag it into a project.

Skimming a video

Skimming a video lets you see the video footage just by moving the mouse pointer over the video images. To view a video by skimming while working on a project, follow these steps:

1. Click All Events in the Libraries column.

If Libraries is hidden, click the Show button on the left of the toolbar.

A thumbnail image represents each of your events in the Events pane.

2. Double-click an event to see all the clips it contains.

You can click the iMovie Library item in the Libraries column to see a list of all events in your library, and then click an event name to see the clips in the Event browser.

3. Click the Clip Settings button (the filmstrip icon), and then drag the sliders to choose how many seconds each frame represents and to zoom in or out of the clips, as shown in Figure 4-5.

Figure 4-5: Preview clips before moving them to your project.

4. Move the pointer over any of the thumbnail images of a video file displayed in the Event browser.

An orange vertical line appears over the thumbnail image.

5. Move the pointer left and right to watch your video in the Preview pane of the iMovie window.

Click the “X” in the upper-left corner of the Project pane to close it and give more window space to the Preview pane (refer to Figure 4-5).

The faster you move the pointer, the faster the video plays. Moving the pointer to the left plays the video backward. Moving the pointer to the right plays the video forward.

Click anywhere in a clip to place the playhead at a starting point, and then press the spacebar. Your video will play from that point forward. Press the spacebar again to stop the video.

Placing a video clip

After you identify some clips you want to include in your movie, you can begin placing them in your project.

If you hid the Project pane, click All Projects in the Libraries column, and then click the icon related to your project in the All Projects browser.

Figure 4-6: A yellow outline defines the size of a video clip.

To place a video clip in a project, follow these steps:

1. In the Events browser, move the pointer to the beginning of the part of the video that you want to use.

2. Click and drag to the right.

A yellow outline defines the size of your clip, and an Add button appears, as shown in Figure 4-6. If you get more or less than you want, click outside the clip to start over or click and drag the left or right end to adjust the selection.

3. Release the mouse or lift your finger from the trackpad when you’re happy with the portion of the video that your clip contains.

4. Click the Add button (+) in the lower-right corner of the selected clip.

Your selected video clip appears as a thumbnail image in the Project pane of the iMovie window.

5. Repeat Steps 1–4 to add other clips to your movie project.

If you want to add clips from other events, click the All Events item in the Libraries column or click a single event in the iMovie Library. You can skim, preview, and select the clips in the Events browser.

Editing video clips in a project

After you place one or more video clips in a project, you usually want to edit those video clips to put them in the best order, trim unnecessary footage, and add titles and audio to create an entertaining or informative movie. In the following sections, we take you through movie-making basics; starting in the “Using Special Effects” section, we go a step farther and show you how to add special effects.

Rearranging the order of video clips

A project plays video clips in the sequence you specify, but you may want to change the order of your video clips. To rearrange the order of your video clips in a project, follow these steps:

1. Click All Projects in the Libraries column, and then, in the Projects browser, double-click the project with which you want to work.

2. Click and drag the clip you want to move.

As you move the clip, the other clips move to the left or right to provide a space to place the clip you’re moving. A blue outline indicates where the clip will go.

3. Release the mouse or lift your finger from the trackpad.

Your video clip appears in its new location.

If you decide you don’t want a clip, you can easily delete it from your project. Don’t worry — deleting a video clip from a project doesn’t delete the video clip from the All Events library. In the Project editor, click the video clip that you want to delete. Then choose Edit⇒Delete Selection (or press Delete).

Adjusting the size of a video clip

Sometimes a video clip contains a little too much footage that you need to trim. Other times, you may have trimmed a video clip a little too much and need to add more footage. In either case, you can fix this problem and change the size of your video clip by following these steps:

1. Open the project as explained in the previous steps.

2. Drag the Frames per Second slider to the right to see more frames of your clip, which facilitates precise clipping.

3. Move the pointer over a video clip and click the left or right edge of the clip.

To make a more precise adjustment, click the clip to select it and then double-click to open the Clip Trimmer window (or choose Window⇒Show Clip Trimmer), as shown in Figure 4-7, and then move the point to the left or right edge.

A two-headed arrow appears.

Figure 4-7: The Clip Trimmer lets you precisely shorten or lengthen a clip.

4. Click and drag the arrow left to shorten the clip or right to lengthen it.

The number of seconds that will be added or subtracted from the original clip appears above the clip. The seconds stamped on the clip indicate the total length of the clip.

When you increase the video, the original footage from before or after the clip you’re working on is added.

5. Drag the skimmer (the orange vertical line) to view your edited video clip in the Preview pane.

6. Click the Close Clip Trimmer button (or choose Window⇒Hide Clip Trimmer) to close the Clip Trimmer window.

You can also lengthen or shorten the playing time of a clip by changing the playback speed, which also adds a special effect to your movie. Select a clip and then click once in the middle of the clip to open the Speed window, as shown in Figure 4-8. Click a percentage to slow down the clip or a multiple to speed it up, or type a value in the Custom field. You can also select the Reverse check box to play the clip backward. You can change a clip’s speed by choosing Modify⇒Slow Motion⇒50%/25%/10% or Modify⇒Fast Forward⇒2x/4x/8x/20x.

Figure 4-8: Use the Speed window to adjust playback speed.

Adding and editing transitions

Normally, when you place video clips in a project, those video clips play one after another. To soften the shift from one clip to the next, add transitions between the clips. Themes come with stylized transitions that relate to the theme. You can change themed transitions if you want. To add or edit a transition, follow these steps:

1. Click All Projects in the Libraries column, and then, in the Projects browser, double-click the project with which you want to work.

The Project browser shows thumbnail images of your selected project.

As your project grows, choose Window⇒Swap Project and Event to move the Project pane to the bottom of the window, giving you more space to work.

2. Click Transitions in the Content Library.

If you don’t see the Content Library, either click the Show button to reveal the Libraries column or choose Window⇒Content Library⇒Transitions.

The Transitions window opens, as shown in Figure 4-9.

Some different types of transitions include Cube (which spins a cube on the screen where a different video clip appears on each side of the cube) and Page Curl (which peels away one video clip like a piece of paper).

3. Click and drag the desired transition style to the space between two clips.

Use the skimmer to watch the transition in the Preview pane.

Figure 4-9: Use transitions to create unique visual effects between video clips.

If you’re using a theme, the theme transitions appear in the first row of the Transitions browser.

4. (Optional) To change the style of transition, drag a different transition from the browser to the transition icon in the Project pane.

5. (Optional) To change the duration of your transition, do the following:

1. Choose Window⇒Show Adjustments Bar.

2. Click the Inspector button (i).

3. Click the transition icon within your project in the Project browser.

4. Type a new value in the Transitions text box.

6. Click another item in the Libraries, such as an event, to open the associated browser in place of the Transitions browser.

Adding still images

You don’t have to limit your movie content to video, titles, and transitions. Still images — such as photos, scanned documents, and graphics — can add depth to your subject matter. To add still images from iPhoto, follow these steps:

1. Click All Projects in the Libraries column, and then, in the Projects browser, double-click the project with which you want to work.

2. Click iPhoto Library in the Libraries column.

The iPhoto browser opens, as shown in Figure 4-10. If you use iCloud or link Facebook to iPhoto, you can access those libraries by clicking the leftmost tab (Events in Figure 4-10) to open a pop-up menu with other choices.

Figure 4-10: Insert a photo from iPhoto.

3. Scroll through your Events and Photos in the browser to find the photo you want to add to your movie.

4. Click and drag the image from the iPhoto Library browser to the Project pane.

If you drag the image over a part of a clip, a pop-up menu appears with choices of what to do with the image. The options are

· Replace: Replaces the frame with the still image

· Insert: Inserts the still image between the two frames of the clip where you placed it

5. Choose the option you want, which is probably Insert.

Your clip is divided, and the still image now rests between the two parts of the clip.

A still image is given four seconds of video time.

6. Click another item in the Libraries, such as an event, to open the associated browser in place of the iPhoto Library browser.

The photos you see in the Photos browser are in iPhoto on your Mac. If you want to use a scanned document or other image, drag the image into iPhoto so you can find it in the iPhoto Library browser in iMovie.

Adding titles

Titles tell your viewer what your movie is about. Opening titles can display the video’s name and purpose, and closing titles can list the credits of the people who appeared in the video and put it together. Transition titles can indicate a time or subject change in the movie.

Titles can appear by themselves or be superimposed over part of your video. To create titles for a project, follow these steps:

1. Click All Projects in the Libraries column, and then, in the Projects browser, double-click the project with which you want to work.

2. Click Titles in the Content Library or choose Window⇒Content Library⇒Titles.

The Titles browser opens, as shown in Figure 4-11. If you’re using a theme, the name of the theme and the titles associated with it appear at in the first row. Otherwise, you see No Theme.

Figure 4-11: The Titles browser shows title styles you can use.

3. Click and drag a title from the Titles browser to a video clip or in between two clips.

If you’re working with a theme and selected Automatic Content in the Movie Properties Settings (choose Window⇒Movie Properties and then click the Settings button), the title style will be superimposed on the theme style. Turn off Automatic Content to insert a title without the theme style. Any titles or transitions created by the theme remain in place. In a themed title, you can edit the text but not the appearance.

Titles appear in a purple balloon above the filmstrip in the Project pane.

4. Release the mouse or lift your finger from the trackpad.

If you release the mouse or lift your finger from the trackpad over a video clip, your title appears superimposed over the video image.

If you release the mouse or lift your finger from the trackpad between video clips, your title appears as a separate video clip between those two video clips. A background chooser opens where you choose the texture or color of the background that appears behind your title — or, if Automatic Content is on with a theme, the theme background will be used.

5. Click the title balloon that appears over a video clip.

Your chosen title format appears in the Preview pane.

6. In the Preview pane, double-click the text you want to edit and type new text, or use the arrow and Delete keys to edit the existing title.

7. (Optional for nontheme titles only) Use the menus to choose a different color, font size, and typeface for your text.

8. Click the Play button to preview how your titles appear.

9. (Optional) To change the duration of time your title is onscreen, click the Inspector button (i), and change the number of seconds by typing a new number in the Duration text box.

10. Click another item in the Libraries, such as an event, to open the associated browser in place of the iPhoto Library browser.

To delete a title, click the title balloon. Then press Delete or choose Edit⇒Delete.

Adding maps and backgrounds

Maps add visual interest to your movie, especially if you’re making a movie about a journey or you just want to show where the events of your movie take place. iMovie comes with several maps and globes that you can place in your movie. To add a map or globe to your movie, follow these steps:

1. Click All Projects in the Libraries column, and then, in the Projects browser, double-click the project with which you want to work.

2. Click Maps & Backgrounds in the Content Library or choose Window⇒Content Library⇒Maps & Backgrounds.

The Maps & Backgrounds browser opens. The first row shows four animated globes, the second row shows four animated maps, and the third row shows four still map images. Beneath those is a selection of background colors and styles.

3. Click and drag the map or background you want to use to the place in your movie where you want it to appear.

A blue vertical line indicates where you can insert the map or globe. Note: You have to insert it before or after a clip; it can’t replace a clip.

Drag the map or background over a title to use it as the title background.

Your map or background appears in the Preview window.

4. (Optional) To change the duration of time your map or background is onscreen, choose Window⇒Show Adjustments Bar and then click the Inspector button (i). Then change the number of seconds by typing a new number in the Duration text box.

5. (Optional for globes or maps with routes) Click the Route button (it looks like a globe) on the Adjustments bar, which appears when you choose Window⇒Show Adjustments Bar, and do the following to specify the route’s beginning and end points:

1. Click the first field next to Route to open a list of cities, as shown in Figure 4-12.

Figure 4-12: The Map Inspector opens when you insert a globe or map into your movie.

2. Click a city or type a city name or location (such as Grand Canyon) in the search field.

This first field is where the journey begins.

3. Click the Name to Display on Map field and type a different entry if you want other words to appear on the map, such as “Our Journey’s Beginning.”

4. Click Done.

5. Repeat Steps a–d for the second field.

This second field is where the journey ends.

6. Click the Style pop-up menu if you want to change the type of map or globe.

7. Click the Play button on the preview image to see how the map fits into your movie.

The Map Inspector flips over, and you can type in the city you want to use as your starting point.

8. Click the Maps and Backgrounds button to close the browser.

You may have to split a clip to insert a globe or map exactly where you want it. Double-click at the point where you want to divide the clip. Choose Clip⇒Split Clip. Your clip is now divided into two parts, and you can insert a globe or map between the two parts of the clip.

When you insert still images or moving maps, you probably want to add a transition in the spaces between your video and the still image or map.

Adding audio files

To enliven your movie, you can add audio files that play background music or sound effects to match the video that’s playing — a dog barking, say, or a telephone ringing. You can also record a voiceover directly in iMovie with your Mac’s built-in microphone or an external microphone connected to the USB or line-in port.

To add an audio file to a project, follow these steps:

1. Click All Projects in the Libraries column, and then, in the Projects browser, double-click the project with which you want to work.

2. Click iTunes, Sound Effects, or GarageBand from the Content Library, or choose Window⇒Content Library⇒iTunes/Sound Effects/GarageBand.

Choose the source of the music or sound you want to add; Sound Effects are part of iMovie.

A list of audio files appears in the browser, as shown in Figure 4-13. Note the time to the right of each audio file.

3. Click and drag an audio file to a video clip in the Project pane.

A green bubble appears below the video clip to show you where the audio file will start playing.

4. Double-click the audio file to open the Clip Trimmer.

5. Click and drag the left or right ends to shorten the audio file from the beginning (left) or the end (right).

Figure 4-13: Audio files can add music or sound effects to your videos.

6. Click the Close Clip Trimmer button to close the Clip Trimmer.

7. (Optional) To link an audio file to a specific clip — so if you move the clip the audio goes with it — click the audio file and then click a clip. Choose Edit⇒Connect.

The audio appears in a green bubble beneath the clip and linked to it.

If the audio file is longer than the clip, you may want to trim it, or it will continue to play when the movie flows to the next clip.

Adding background audio

Background audio plays throughout your movie, behind other audio. You can adjust the volume of the background audio so it doesn’t disturb other audio in your movie, and you can have more than one background audio file so different background audio plays during different moments of your movie. For example, you may begin with background music to play during the opening title of your movie, and then the music may fade, a different song plays more quietly while there is talking, and at one point you may want to add a thunderstorm as background audio.

Here’s how to add background audio:

1. Click All Projects in the Libraries column, and then, in the Projects browser, double-click the project in which you want to work.

2. Click iTunes, Sound Effects, or GarageBand in the Content Library or choose Window⇒Content Library⇒iTunes/Sound Effects/GarageBand.

3. Click and drag the audio file you want to use for background to the drop well at the very bottom of the Project pane, where you see a field outlined by a dashed line with musical notes at the left end.

4. Double-click the audio file to open the Clip Trimmer.

5. Click and drag the left or right ends to shorten the audio file from the beginning (left) or the end (right).

6. Click the Close Clip Trimmer button to close the Clip Trimmer.

7. To add more background audio, click the audio in the browser, and then choose Edit⇒Append to Background Music.

Adding a voiceover

Voiceovers can narrate the action in your movie or accompany still images, making them seem more “active.” To add a voiceover to your movie, follow these steps:

1. Click All Projects in the Libraries column, and then, in the Projects browser, double-click the project with which you want to work.

2. Choose Window⇒Record Voiceover.

The Voiceover tools appear in the Preview pane, as shown in Figure 4-14.

Figure 4-14: Use the Voiceover feature to add narration to your iMovie project.

3. Choose the device you want to use to record in the Input pop-up window and then adjust the volume.

4. Select the Mute Project check box if you want to silence the other audio while you speak.

If you deselect Mute Project, wear headphones so you hear the audio, but the microphone you’re speaking into doesn’t record it.

5. Click the clip where you want the voiceover to begin, and then click the Record button (the microphone).

The clip begins playing in the Preview pane, a few seconds before where you want to begin your voiceover, and a countdown lets you know when to begin speaking. This way, you can watch your video while you’re recording.

6. Press the Record button again to stop recording.

Adjusting audio and video clip volume

You can adjust the volume of either audio or video clips so that one is louder than the other — for example, if you have a voiceover that translates something spoken in a foreign language in the video clip. Adjust the volume on either type of clip by doing the following:

1. Click to select the audio or video clip in the Project pane.

2. Choose Window⇒Show Adjustments Bar or click the Adjust button. See Figure 4-15 for the following steps.

Figure 4-15: Adjust the volume of both audio and video clips.

3. Click the Audio button (it looks like a speaker).

4. (Optional) Click the Auto button to let iMovie automatically improve the loudness of the selected clip for you.

5. (Optional) Click the Mute button to mute, or unmute, the playback of audio in the selected clip.

6. Drag the volume slider to adjust how loudly the selected clip will play.

7. (Optional) Select the Lower Volume of Other Clips check box, and then drag the volume slider to set the volume of clips that run simultaneously with the selected clip.

This process is called ducking in video-editing language.

8. (Optional) Click the Equalizer button and do the following:

· Mitigate the background. Select the Recue Background Noise check box and then drag its slider to the percentage that you want background noise reduced.

· Enhance the clip. From the Equalizer pop-up menu, choose a style that will equalize and enhance your selected clip’s audio, such as Voice Enhance or Bass Boost.

9. (Optional) Click the Effects button, and then double-click an Audio Effect from the pop-up chooser.

Using Special Effects

With iMovie, you can make your movie unique and memorable with special effects. We explain the audio effects earlier in this chapter, telling you how to slow down or speed up the playback rate of your clips in the section about adding clips. There are some other fine-tuning adjustments you can make, which we explain here. All are accessed by clicking the clip you want to adjust and then using the Adjustment Bar tools in the Preview pane.

· Clip Adjustments: In addition to changing the speed and direction of the clip, choose preset video and audio effects, and control stabilization and motion distortion.

· Video Adjustments: Make changes to brightness, contrast, exposure, and the like.

· Cropping and Rotation: Zoom in on a frame or frames of your clip to rotate or apply the Ken Burns effect. (See the nearby sidebar, “Who is Ken Burns?”)