EASY VIDEO EDITING WITH IMOVIE
If you’ve recently (after last October) purchased an Apple device, then you’re in luck – you get iMovie for free! This simple, yet powerful app is all you need to dive into video editing on your iPhone or iPad, but as with most things, it’s all about the small touches.
STARTS AT THE HEAD
First, pick a template and load your base video. You’ll notice a white line that splits the viewing area. That’s the playhead, and moving clips past that line brings up the corresponding video in the Viewer pane. When inserting new media, this is where they go by default.
ADDING CLIPS
In most home movies, you’ll probably have only one layer for video tracks. This is fine if you want to move from one clip straight to the next, but if you’re looking to do more, tap on the ellipses to get the option of overlaying a new clip in, placing it in a picture-in-picture window (handy for commentaries), or as a split-screen. Selecting the jiggly line with the small “plus” adds the video as a soundtrack (i.e. keeping the sound without the video.) Clips will be added at the playhead, so adjust the track in the project pane appropriately.
TRANSITIONS
When you add (or cut) a clip, a small square with two triangles appears between the clips. That’s where transitions are in iMovie. Tapping on it, gives you five options: The star gives you the default transition for the template you chose. Next is your traditional crossfade, and after that you have two options for screen wipes. Finally, you can choose to fade to white or black. The options don’t end there though, when you’ve inserted your transition, tap on it again to bring up two triangles. Tapping that allows you to adjust the duration of your transition.
PINCH-TO-CROP VIDEO
To crop video, tap the clip on the timeline, and a magnifying glass will appear in the bottom right corner of the preview window. Tap on that, and “Pinch to zoom video” will roll out. You can now pinch and spread your fingers to zoom in to the clip, or pinch and close to zoom back. You will also be able to move the clip to adjust your framing, and the entire clip will stay in that crop.
SPEED IT UP, SLOW IT DOWN
To adjust the speed of a clip on the timeline, tap “Speed” and adjust the slider appropriately. This will be adjusted to the entire clip, so remember to slice the clip into sections if you want to adjust it back later. If you want to change the speed of a video clip without affecting the audio, go to Project settings (in the bottom right) and ensure that “Speed changes pitch” is Off.
PUSHING IT OUT
When you’re done with your video, iMovie provides you with an easy way to get your masterpiece out in front of audiences. Just hit the middle icon in the project pane. You’ll get options to share your movie via AirDrop, push it out to iMovie Theater, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, CNN iReport, or send it to someone via Mail. You can also choose to export your video to your camera roll, or send it to your iTunes library as a shared video.
AUDIO OPTIONS
As mentioned above, you can use a video track as audio, use one of the preset soundtracks that comes with iMovie, or import audio files from your iTunes library to score your video. There’s also a selection of sound effects, and you can record audio direct from iMovie by tapping on the microphone icon in the bottom right corner. To fade audio tracks in and out, tap on the audio clip, and tap “Fade”. Two triangles will appear at the front and end of the clip. Moving the triangle adjusts how it fades in and out respectively. You can also adjust the speed and volume of the track.