iMovie

[David]

Hi,

I'm trying to prepare a video presentation for a memorial in Nova Scotia this summer and I was hoping to use iMovie to prepare the presentation. I was wondering if anyone on this site has experience using iMovie. Normally I try and struggle thru things on my own but time is short and I would like to pick someone's brain so I don't go thru the usual mistakes a new person makes. If you can offer any advice and answer a few questions for me I would appreciate it. Or perhaps you know of a good reference I can use? I'm already studying the Apple help for iMovie but its a little dry. I also looked a few videos people have prepared on you Tube but they're not very helpful.

Cheers, David

 

[chas_m]

It depends a bit on the nature of the video presentation, but broadly speaking the principle behind iMovie is incredibly simple:

1. Take some video (or obtain video you wish to use -- be mindful of other people's copyrights on that, however)

2. Import these video clips into a new project (choosing a theme or going without, your choice)

3. Arrange and trim the clips on a timeline, then add titles and transitions. For still photos, you may want to brush up on a tutorial about the "Ken Burns Effect" and how to NOT use it for some photos and use it for others.

4. Export the resulting movie to the format you need for presentation.

Of course, if the project involves anything more complicated than a single "track" of video, a bit of narration/voice-over and/or music, then you probably need something more like Final Cut Pro -- but most people can make highly watchable videos in iMovie. If one of our in-club consultants -- Aitan or Terry -- can't help you (and I would be surprised if they couldn't), check out Apple's own iMovie help pages:

https://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.1/

 

[David]

Thanks Chas, Sorry to be late in responding. I've spent a lot of time working with iMovie and can safely say I'm quite proficient at using it. It did take a while mostly because I was working with a very long video and it was not easy to "parse" the sections out that I wanted. That was my steepest learning curve. Also the video was shot in 1986 on Betamax and I had to find someone to change it to a DVD first! But in the end it worked very well.

This Fall I'm going to do a series of family videos tracing the history of our coming to the new world. My father's side arrived in 1642 in Port Royale, Nova Scotia which was under French rule at the time making them one of the earliest settlers in what became Canada. My mother's side arrived in 1765 to Halifax, N.S. and earned a land grant from the King for protecting Halifax from the Americans. The threatened assault on Halifax never materialized but they received 600 acres in Antigonish county, N.S. which is still in the family hands. They all turned out to be interesting folks with an interesting story.

Again, thanks for the reply.

David

 

[chas_m]

That's absolutely fascinating! I hope you'll consider making a short "highlights reel" of that history we could show at the December meeting ... I'm sure people would be very interesting to know that descendents of the early settlers are among our number!

 

[David]

That's absolutely fascinating! I hope you'll consider making a short "highlights reel" of that history we could show at the December meeting ... I'm sure people would be very interesting to know that descendents of the early settlers are among our number!

What a great suggestion. I'm not sure ti would be of interest to that many people but if as you say I keep it short it might be interesting to anyone considering a similar project.

BTW I gave your name to a friend of mine who is having some issues with his Mac and he may contact you.. His name is Bruce Debeck. Normally he's able to resolve computer issues himself but he seems to be stumped this time. He was still working on a solution but might be calling you. Cheers, Dave

 

[chas_m]

Thanks!