iMovie basics What is the purpose of iMovie? iMovie is an Apple program that allows you to edit movies from imported video clips and still images. iMovie lets you add titles (words), music, sound effects, and video effects to your movie. You can share (save) your movie out of iMovie as an mp4 to view on a large screen, or for email, iphone, youtube, facebook, or vimeo.

How to Start Opening the iMovie application Look on your dock for the icon that looks like a purple star. This is the iMovie application. Click on it once, and it will open iMovie. It may take a little while the first time you open the application.

Create a new movie. Your opening screen will look something like this except it won’t have movies in it yet. Click on the one with the + sign that says “create new.”

Create a new movie. Another window will pop up asking you if you want to create a movie or a trailer. Choose movie.

Opening screen Your opening screen will look like this.

The iMovie interface is broken up into 3 distinct parts. Audio & Video Adjustments & Effects: adjust your clips and photos, and find special audio and video effects Built in Media: Find iMovie’s built in audio, titles, backgrounds and transitions to use in your movie Playback Window: Play and view your movie (can also hit the spacebar to start and stop your movie), or click on the double arrow to view full screen Media Browser: Import your own photos and events (video clips) from your computer Timeline: This is where you build your movie from your media. Everything in iMovie is drag and drop, click, highlight and move – easy!!

Select, Drag & Drop Files Select the type of media you want: audio, titles, backgrounds,or transitions. Drag and drop them into the timeline. You can choose from your iTunes, sound effects (these are built in to iMovie), or beats you make in GarageBand. Audio files are green and go under photos and video in the timeline.

Select, Drag & Drop Files Click on Titles and choose the one you want. Drag and drop the title in front of, above or between photos or clips. You then highlight and double click the title to change the words to what you want.

Shortening, lengthening and rearranging photos and clips To shorten or lengthen a photo or clip, click on it to highlight it until you see a yellow outline, and then drag on the right side to make it shorter or longer. To rearrange your photos or clips, click on it to highlight it and then drag it into the position you want.

transitions Transitions are a way to make a smooth and easy change between clips. Hold your mouse over the various transitions to see what they look like. Then choose the one you like and drag and drop it in between your clips or photos to soften the change between one clip and another.

Sharing (saving) your movie When you’re ready to share your movie with the world, you go to the share button in the upper right hand corner of your screen and choose from one of the ways you can save. For our class you will share your movie as an MP4 file which can be viewed on a large screen. Select the ”File” button. From there, another window will open where you can name your movie, tell iMovie where to save it, and check your settings. As for saving your changes, iMovie does that automatically for you.

iMovie Tutorials For more help with iMovie, click on the links below or copy/paste them into your browser and check out the tutorials on iMovie basics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF2mUJ0P3xU https://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.1/