Video Editing Tool for Mac: Apple iMovie '09
Apple's iMovie is part of the iLife suite of products that
ships with all new Macintosh computers running OS-X Leopard. iMovie '09
makes viewing and working with video as intuitive as enjoying your
photos. A built-in library automatically organizes your video, so all
the clips you've captured and movies you've created are just a click
away. With its revolutionary interface, iMovie makes it quick and easy
to browse your library and create new movies. And iMovie is built for
sharing.
In just a few steps, you can add movies to your
website, publish them on YouTube/RDIconnect, and create versions for
iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV. It does not allow you to create DVDs
directly, but you can export your movies and integrate them into a
chapter DVD by using iDVD. iMovie is fun and easy to use. It may not
have all the features that you are used to in a video editing program,
but it is more than adequate for most of us. iMovie will also allow you
to import the following file formats: 3GP, AVI, DAT, MOV, MP4,MPG. I
will cover the basics of using iMovie to create your own short videos.
Instructions on how to use iMovie video editing software
Import your clips into iMovie-- You can import directly from a camera or from files that exist on your computer. Simply select the import feature from the FILE menu and use the browser to select your clips. Use SHIFT and mouse select to add multiple files.
New Project-- Your first import will take some time if you have a lot of clips, since iMovie will generate new thumbnails for each clip. Once you have imported all the clips, select NEW PROJECT from the file menu to create a new project. In this case, I will call the project "Dave Mason" and select all the video I have from the Milford Music Festival.
Select Videos-- Your project is empty, so you need to SELECT all the clips you want in your project and drag them to the timeline window on the top. Once you have the clips in the timeline, you should reorder the clips in the proper sequence by dragging and dropping them in the correct order.
Add Transitions(Optional) You may want to use TRANSITIONS between scenes to fade one scene to another or use another transition effect. To access them, select TRANSITIONS from the WINDOW menu. Simply select the transition you desire and drag it and place it between the two scenes.
Crop your Image --To crop a scene, simply select the scene and then click on the CROP button. The crop window will open up and you can adjust the window to crop the video clip. This will crop the whole clip you selected so you need to preview the clip to make sure the crop fits the entire scene.
Edit Video-- You may want to edit the video itself. To do so, simply select a single clip or multiple clips using the SHIFT button and mouse click. Click on the VIDEO ADJUST button to bring up the control panel. You can adjust exposure, saturation and each channel independently. You can even adjust the white point by simply dragging it and moving it to a new location.
Titles(Optional)-- Titles are added just like transitions. Select TITLES from the WINDOW menu. Drag the title from the inspector and place it into the movie. You can then completely edit the text. As with most Macintosh applications, all the fonts that are available on your system may be used. You can also easily change color, spacing and even kerning of the text.
Sound(Optional) -- You can also easily edit the sound of any clip and add sound and music to your movies. From the FILE menu choose Music and Sound Effects to gain complete access to your iTunes library. Here you can add a music track or sound effect to a single scene or to the whole movie. Selecting the SOUND icon from the toolbar will allow you to edit a sound, adjust the volume and fade the sound in or out.
Export --The final step is to export your movie. You can export directly to a number of devices including your computer. Exporting to your computer will create an MP4 movie of high quality . I recommend you Select “Export using quick time” and Enter a name to save your video file.
Click on the drop down menu of “Export” and select “ Movie to Quick time movie” from the list.
Click on the drop down menu of “Use” to select broadband medium and hit the save button. You are done!