What is it?
iMovie is a Free Video Editing Software Application which is only available on Apple Products such as Mac and iOS (Macbook Pro, Air, iPhone, iPad). If you are more comfortable creating your movie on a PC, refer to our WeVideo tutorial. For this tutorial, I used the 10.0.6 version, but all versions are similar. Anyone who wants to create something that has audio, video, special effects, and/or background music can use iMovie. Students who need to create a Digital Story use iMovie. You do not need to make an account, and you canimport audio, pictures, and mp3 files from your hard drive. The best part about iMovie, is that it Autosaves every time you make a change, so if your computer crashes, you don't need to worry about losing your work. When you are finished with your movie you can export it onto your hard drive, and upload it onto Youtube or Google Drive. Use iMovie to tell the story of a life changing experience, or for a school project.
Creating with iMovie Trailers is an easy and fun way for students to learn important media literacy lessons simply by using images and videos. 'iAm' iMovie Trailer projects are the first project our Broadcast Technology students produce to introduce them. A beginner-friendly tutorial for iMovie, showing many of the features needed to get started in editing video in iMovie.Buy Macbook For Dummies: http://amzn.t.
How do I start?
After you have drafted your movie with a Storyboard (where you plan what pictures are going to represent certain parts of your audio), and recorded and edited your audio, (if not refer to the tutorial on how to use Audacity. Start by clicking the magnifying glass in the top right corner of your Macbook screen, I recommend using iMovie on a Macbook, because it is easier to edit the audio and duration of the images with a keyboard, instead of just a touch screen. Type in iMovie in the search bar, and click on the iMovie application. Which looks like this:
Once iMovie has been opened, you will be asked to choose from a variety of Themes, whether you want no theme, (which is what I always choose when creating a digital story), a photo gallery theme, or a news report theme. After you choose it, title your movie, and then you can start adding images, audio, music etc. If you are working on a Macbook that is shared with many people, make sure your movie is Highlighted in Yellow. Where you can construct your movie says yourtitle, before adding your media. Also, make sure you are working on your movie in Library, and not Theater. (To view the screenshots better just click on them!)
Where do I put what?
The audio goes into the Bottom Dotted Frame, where there is a musical note. The Pictures and videos go into the Square Frames above the audio, pictures that overlap go above the square frames. The background music goes into the space In-between the audio and visuals.
How do I import Audio?
Go to file, then import media, then click on desktop or your flash drive, and click on the audio file. It should be in WAV format then click import selected, and the audio file should appear in your library underneath all the iMovie files. Double Click on the audio, a yellow Ffame will surround it, then Drag and Drop the whole thing into the audio section.
To give yourselfmore room to work with the audio and visuals maximize it here:
It will not affect the audio or the visuals, it will just make them 'look' longer so it is easier to edit your content.
How do I import Visuals?
Once you have all your pictures and videos you want to use for your movie either on a flash drive or the desktop, go to file, import media, select the picture or video you want to import, and click import selected. Do this Repeatedly for however many videos and/or pictures you have. It will appear in the same place as the audio file, then drag and drop it into the square frames. To make a certain picture Longer or Shorter in Duration, Hover over the right side of the photo line until you see the cursor look like Two Arrows pointing in opposite directions to the Left and Right.
Before,
After!
Now it is a few seconds longer, when you drag the cursor to make the visual longer or shorter it will tell you how many seconds it lasts.
Tip: Always listen to parts of your movie to make sure the audio Matches up with your visuals.
What about Background Music:
If you have music from your iPod you want to use, Connect it to your macbook open it up and you can import it from there. If you want to use music from YouTube, then you need to Convert it into mp3, which you can do with this site here just copy and paste the YouTube link into here:
Click start! Then download where it will appear in iTunes and you move it to your desktop and import it from there.
Tip: Make sure when looking for background music on YouTube to choose one that is not an hour long, unless you are making an hour long video, because it is going to take forever cutting it down. Also stay away from music with Vocals and stick with just Instrumental since vocals might distract your audience from your main audio.
If your background music is Overpowering your audio, hover over the spikes the audio makes. The cursor looks like Two Arrows pointing in opposite directions, up and down.
Before..
After!
If you need to Trim the Audio use your cursor to make a Yellow Box around the part you do not want and press backspace to delete it. Remember to always review your movie after a few changes to make sure it looks, and sounds the way you want it.
Before..
After!
You can have more than one background music track, just do the same steps above and make sure they match up with your visuals and audio. To move your background music to specific parts of your movie just click on the audio and drag it. Now you are done with the big important parts! Next are Titles, Transitions, End Credits, and Sound Effects.
For titles, transitions, end credits, and sound effects they are at the Bottom left hand corner of iMovie, just click on what you want to use.
Titles can be used at the beginning of your movie, when you want to change subjects, and to create end credits. To preview what it would look like on your movie click on the format you want, when it is surrounded with Yellow run your cursor across it and it will play in the Preview Window to the right.
Drag and drop the title you want into your movie and then you can edit and type what you want it to say.
For Transitions, start by clicking on transitions, the steps are similar to titles, scroll through, click on one you like to surround it in yellow, and run your cursor through it to preview it. Then drag and drop it in between the visuals you want a transition for. It should look like this in your movie.
For Sound Effects, click on sound effects, and drag And drop the sound effect you want during a visual, or between visuals. iMovie has sitcom laughter, bells, rain, etc.
I'm Finished with my movie, how do I publish it?
Go to Share, which is above the preview window and choose where or how you would like to share it. I recommend publishing it on to YouTube, and you can post the link onto social media and email it to people. After you click on YouTube type in your Account Name and Password, and make whatever changes you need, like the title, description whether it is public or private. Then click on Next and Publish, it might take a few minutes for it to upload.
Once you have all your pictures and videos you want to use for your movie either on a flash drive or the desktop, go to file, import media, select the picture or video you want to import, and click import selected. Do this Repeatedly for however many videos and/or pictures you have. It will appear in the same place as the audio file, then drag and drop it into the square frames. To make a certain picture Longer or Shorter in Duration, Hover over the right side of the photo line until you see the cursor look like Two Arrows pointing in opposite directions to the Left and Right.
Before,
After!
Now it is a few seconds longer, when you drag the cursor to make the visual longer or shorter it will tell you how many seconds it lasts.
Tip: Always listen to parts of your movie to make sure the audio Matches up with your visuals.
What about Background Music:
If you have music from your iPod you want to use, Connect it to your macbook open it up and you can import it from there. If you want to use music from YouTube, then you need to Convert it into mp3, which you can do with this site here just copy and paste the YouTube link into here:
Click start! Then download where it will appear in iTunes and you move it to your desktop and import it from there.
Tip: Make sure when looking for background music on YouTube to choose one that is not an hour long, unless you are making an hour long video, because it is going to take forever cutting it down. Also stay away from music with Vocals and stick with just Instrumental since vocals might distract your audience from your main audio.
If your background music is Overpowering your audio, hover over the spikes the audio makes. The cursor looks like Two Arrows pointing in opposite directions, up and down.
Before..
After!
If you need to Trim the Audio use your cursor to make a Yellow Box around the part you do not want and press backspace to delete it. Remember to always review your movie after a few changes to make sure it looks, and sounds the way you want it.
Before..
After!
You can have more than one background music track, just do the same steps above and make sure they match up with your visuals and audio. To move your background music to specific parts of your movie just click on the audio and drag it. Now you are done with the big important parts! Next are Titles, Transitions, End Credits, and Sound Effects.
For titles, transitions, end credits, and sound effects they are at the Bottom left hand corner of iMovie, just click on what you want to use.
Titles can be used at the beginning of your movie, when you want to change subjects, and to create end credits. To preview what it would look like on your movie click on the format you want, when it is surrounded with Yellow run your cursor across it and it will play in the Preview Window to the right.
Drag and drop the title you want into your movie and then you can edit and type what you want it to say.
For Transitions, start by clicking on transitions, the steps are similar to titles, scroll through, click on one you like to surround it in yellow, and run your cursor through it to preview it. Then drag and drop it in between the visuals you want a transition for. It should look like this in your movie.
For Sound Effects, click on sound effects, and drag And drop the sound effect you want during a visual, or between visuals. iMovie has sitcom laughter, bells, rain, etc.
I'm Finished with my movie, how do I publish it?
Go to Share, which is above the preview window and choose where or how you would like to share it. I recommend publishing it on to YouTube, and you can post the link onto social media and email it to people. After you click on YouTube type in your Account Name and Password, and make whatever changes you need, like the title, description whether it is public or private. Then click on Next and Publish, it might take a few minutes for it to upload.
You are done! If you have any more questions about iMovie don't hesitate to make an appointment with a Student Tech Liaison!
by Justina Chock
iMovie is a built-in video editor for Mac users. It is preinstalled on Mac machine and there are many features in video edition on Mac iMovie. It is known that iMovie interface is complicated and it is not easy for beginners to edit video with iMovie. So after your computers include iMovie for Mac bundled with recent versions of Mac operating system, then, all you need to do next is to learn iMovie tutorial on how to use iMovie to create movie from start to finish.
Best iMovie Alternative on Mac (macOS 10.13 High Sierra included)
Filmora Video Editor for Mac is one of the best iMovie alternative for Mac (macOS 10.13 High Sierra included) and Windows with all the basic editing tools, special effects and more advanced features. It has a more user-friendly interface than iMovie for you to edit video, make movie, adjust audio track, etc.
Key Features of Filmora Video Editor:
- Options to record voiceovers or PC sreen for the videos.
- More than 200 types of overlays and filters are meant to make editing more sophisticated.
- Allows you to drag and drop all kind of media files to combine & create a final video.
- Export the result video into any video format that you like, burn it into a DVD, and even share it to YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo.
Tutorial on How to use iMovie on Mac OS X
In a Mac World, iMovie has become the standard program for video edition thanks to several features that may put it some steps ahead of the competition, for instance the iCloud compatibility, that will allow you to instantly share your videos with your iPhone, iPad or others, no cables needed or iMovie for iPhone/iPad/iPod, that will allow you to edit your video even on-the-go.
But let's get at it. If you want to truly get to taste how powerful iMovie can be, the best you can do is grab it and start using it yourself, allow us to walk you through:
Step 1. Creating a new project
A project is what you work on in iMovie. You select videos from a device and import them into Events for your projects and start from there: organizing, editing, adding effects, etc. Even if you are just using one video to edit, you have to create and import it into a project.
This however is very simple: at the top of the application you will find three icons and the one in the middle is for Create, as you click on it a new window will appear. From here you will be able to select a Theme to apply to your project or just start from scratch, then name your project, and it will be ready for you to work on.
Step 2. Importing your videos to iMovie
At the top of the application you will find three icons, and the one to the left side reads Import as you click on it, a new window will show up and you will be able to browse through your files for the videos you want to use, devices like camcorders will be automatically shown as well.
Remember you can also do this by simply dragging files from a Finder window in your computer into the iMovie window, or by going to the menu File > Import from camera/Import.... Either case, keep in mind that when importing video files, they are added to an Event, which is basically a collection of videos that can be used as sources for video projects. You can select or create the Event you want to import your videos into by clicking on the Import to: menu at the top of this window.
Step 3. Using the timelines
Now that you have imported video into iMovie, you can drag it to the lower section in the application. These are the timelines, where you will be able to move things around, trim your video, add effects and transitions between scenes and much more. The timelines are not only for video, you can also add audio easily to mix it up in the background of your video, and even image files to use as stills in the footage.
From this point onward it is up to you and your creativity to make the best out of your movie. Anytime you feel lost, remember that most of the options available for video edition will be located under the video preview to your right, or by right-clicking the part of the video scene that you want to edit.
Step 4. Exporting your videos from iMovie
Once you are done with so much video edition, you will be able to export your creation in different formats (remember that you can also share previews of your work while still at it ). To do this, all you have to do is clicking on the Share button, located once again at the top of the application or by going to the menu File > Export in both cases you will find. You can select the video format that you find better by clicking on Export using QuickTime or just naming in in the Save As field after you click on Export Movie...
Youtube Imovie Tutorial 2017
These are the basics for video edition on iMovie, but possibilities go as far as your curiosity allows you to. Still, anytime that you feel curious about something or can not seem to find a specific option, remember to check on the support sites for iMovie.
Youtube Imovie Tutorial 2017
