PE1_iMovie

This week I'm getting acquainted with iMovie, a Mac application that  I'll use to create several videos over the next couple of weeks and into the remainder of the program. I'm excited to learn this program because I've had an interest in movie editing for a long time. When I design training programs I like to incorporate a movie to demonstrate the information that's being taught in the class. So many of us are visual learners and movies, when properly scripted, directed and edited can have a huge impact on the learning that is achieved in the classroom.

My movie is going to be about my 10 month old puppy Khaki. I've got a few videos of her on my iPhone that I'll import and I hope to show you what a fun and energetic girl she is and how she has grown into a well mannered pup. I named my movie "My Menopause Baby" with tongue in cheek, as they say, because I never had children and having her around is the closest I have come to being a Mom.

I am working through an online tutorial to learn the functions of iMovie as I create this biographical piece. I'll be putting some screen shots of the course content menu so you can see exactly what is covered in the tutorial and shots of my activities as I create my movie. When I'm finished I'll post the video for you to see.

The first 57 minutes of the tutorial goes over how to import content from various image and video capture equipment, navigating the software's interface and organizing the video clips and pictures so they can easily be located for use in the movies you create.

Here's what it looks like when you're importing video from your source equipment. In my case, it's coming from my iPhone but you can import from almost any source. iMovie doesn't recognize window .wmf or .avi videos so those will need to be converted to a .mov, .mp4 or .dv file format that iMovie can read. QuickTime 7 Pro converts files to the .mov format.

The top window is the Project Window and that's where you put together the pieces of your video. Each piece, or clip, is called an Event. All Events appear in the Event Window in the lower half of the Project Window on the left side. It's like a directory listing based on the date the clip was shot. Rename the Events in so you know what each one contains. You'll move events to the Project Window at the top of the screen to build the content of your iMovie. Choosing events is as easy as click, drag and drop to the Project Window.

As with most files, you must organize them to be efficient in your work. iMovie lets you organize your events first by giving them a Rating; they're either a Favorite or a Reject. Rejects get discarded to a temporary file that you can go back to and retrieve from if necessary.

Another way of organizing the content is by giving them Tags with keywords that put them into something similar to a category. Keywords are customizable and allow you to search based on the criteria you define. So, if you have footage from your vacation you'll tag it so you can easily located that footage in the future. Just select the clip then click the key icon in the toolbar. A Keywords dialogue box appears and select one or more keyword that describes your clip.

Next post I'll cover the editing features of iMovie.