Robin Williams Cool Mac Apps, Second Edition [Electronic resources] : A guide to iLife 05, .Mac, and more!

1.

Connect a camera, open an iMovie project window, and import the video.

2.

Edit the clips.

3.

Add clips to the Timeline.

4.

Add enhancements (transitions, titles, effects, chapter markers, etc).

5.

Save and share the movie in various formats.

A video camera FireWire cable usually is a "4-6 pin" cable with a 4-pin connector on one end and a 6-pin connector on the other end.

1.

Plug the 4-pin connector end of a FireWire cable into the camera's FireWire port and then plug the 6-pin connector end into your computer's FireWire port.

2.

Set your video camera to "VTR" (Video Tape Recorder) or "Play" mode (do not set the camera to "Record").

3.

Open iMovie, if it's not already open.

4.

Turn on the camera. After several seconds the words "Camera Connected" appear in the Monitor area, as shown below.

1.

Open iMovie. The project selection window opens. Choose "Create a New Project" (unless you want to open a project you've already been working on, in which case click "Open an Existing Project")

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If iMovie is already open, you won't see the project selection window shown above. Instead, go to the File menu and choose "New Project…" to open the "Create Project" window (shown below).

If you've already created a project, choose "Open Project…." Find and select the project you want to open. Or choose "Open Recent," then select a project you've opened recently (shown on the left).

2.

In the "Create Project" window (shown below), name your project and choose the location where you want to save it. Be sure to choose a drive or partition that has plenty of unused disk space! If you make lots of movies, consider buying an external FireWire drive to use just for movie projects. Do not click "Create" yet!

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3.

From the "Video format" pop-up menu, choose a video format to use:

DV (Digital Video) is the format most video cameras use. This standard video format, the same proportion that standard TV uses, has an "aspect ratio" (proportion) of 4:3. This is most likely the format you should choose for your movie.

DV Widescreen is the same format as DV, but it uses the widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9. Some video cameras have a setting that shoots in the 16:9 aspect ratio. If your video was shot using a widescreen setting, choose this format for your movie.

HDV 1080i is High Definition Video that uses a vertical screen resolution of 1,080 interlaced scan lines. The horizontal scan lines that make up an interlaced image are divided into even and odd scan lines. Any given instant in the video actually displays only half of the imageeither the even scan lines or the odd scan lines. Choose HDV 1080i only if your video camera shoots in this format.

HDV 720p is a competing High Definition Video format that uses a vertical screen resolution of 720 progressive scan lines. There are fewer scan lines, but any given instant in the video displays both even and odd scan lines (referred to as progressive). Choose HDV 720p only if your video camera shoots in this format.

MPEG-4 is a highly compressed video format used by many consumer video devices, such as a digital still camera. If your video footage comes from a camera that used MPEG-4 format, choose it here.

iSight is a video format compatible with the Apple iSight video camera. Choose this format if you plan to make a movie using video clips captured with an iSight camera.

4.

Click the "Create" button to open a new, empty iMovie window.

1.

In the iMovie window, click the Camera mode button.

2.

Click the "Play" button (shown on the left) to view the video from the camera in iMovie's Monitor.

At this point you are just previewing the video. iMovie does not digitize and import any video until you click the "Import" button. Use the controls below the "Import" button to control the camera. Rewind, pause, play, stop, and fast-forward to preview specific scenes.

1.

Click the "Play" button to preview the video footage in your camera.

2.

When you see the scene you want to import, click the "Import" button (shown above). The "Import" button turns blue when it is selected and importing files.

3.

To stop importing, click the "Import" button again. Each time you start and stop importing, iMovie places that segment of video, called a "clip," into one of the square slots in the Clips Pane.

If you have plenty of disk space, you can just let the camera run. iMovie will detect scene changes, import the individual scenes as separate clips, and place each one in the Clips Pane. If you need to conserve disk space, preview the entire tape and import only the scenes you definitely want to use in your movie. Of course you can always delete a clip after it's imported (see the next page).

1.

Connect the video camera to your computer with a FireWire cable.

2.

Set the video camera to "Camera" or "Record" (not "VTR" or "Play").

3.

Put iMovie in Camera Mode (shown on the left).

4.

Click the "Import" button in the iMovie window.