Editing a Video in iMovie

by Kim Bennett, Summer 2019

Before we can start, make a short video using your iPhone camera app and make sure you have the iMovie app on your phone - it should be a default app. If not there, go to the App Store and download. iMovie is a battery killer, so start charged!

Step 1 - Creating a New Project

- Open iMovie and choose “+”

- Select “Movie”

- select the video from your phone photo log

- Hit “Create Movie” at the bottom of the screen

- Experiment how the video moves as you slide your finger across (beware of lengthening and shortening video)

- Test UNDO button

Step 2 - Deleting Sound

- Touch the video to select it (highlight in yellow)

- Click the speaker icon at the bottom of the screen

- Click on the speaker on the far left to silence the video

Step 3 - Splitting the video and adding a photo

- Touch the video to select it (highlight in yellow)

- Slide the video through until the white line down the middle is about 1/3 through the video length

- Select the Scissors from the bottom menu

- Select “Split”

- Notice the little box between the 2 parts and select it. Play around with the different effects

- Select the 1st part of the video and then hit the + sign under the screen to the left

- Select a photo from your collection - it will automatically pop into your project after the first part of the video

- Play with time of the photo

- Ken Burns Effect - This effect adds motion to a still photo. Select the photo, so outlined in yellow. You’ll see |< and >| in the video above. Use the 2 finger motion you use to zoom in and out to “pinch to position” for the start of the motion ( |< ) and the end of the motion ( >| ). Or you can disable the Ken Burns Effect for a still photo by clicking on the square next to Kens Burns Enabled. Play around with this. It can be tricky and temperamental.

Step 3 - Splitting the video and altering speed

- Select the 2nd part of the video and move thru until the white line is about 1/2 way

- Click on the scissors and select “Split”

- Set your break to the desired effect

- Choose the piece of video right after the photo

- Click on the Timer Icon at the bottom of the screen

- slide the time adjuster to the far right (2x)

Step 4 - Adding Text

- Select the first part of the video

- Click on the T at the bottom of the screen

- Choose Standard (for now)

- Chose “Lower”

- Click on the text blocks and add your name and title

- Tricky here because you can’t move the text around on the video. You can add spaces tho, to center (remember Instagram likes square videos)

Step 5 - Adding Music

- Click on the Gear in the lower right corner

- Turn Theme Music to ON (Blue)

- Select one of the 7 free tunes shown under “Theme” (there are tons of license free music online)

- Click DONE in upper right

- Select music (green line)

- Click the Speaker Icon and adjust volume (note volume of music will automatically be quieter if the video itself has sound)

Step 6 - Review and Name Video

- Click the Play symbol and watch

- Make necessary edits

- Select DONE in the upper left corner (saving)

- Click on My Movie and rename

Step 7 - Moving Forward

- Create more movies! Show demos, an exhibit, anything about yourself and your work

- Once you’re more comfortable here, experiment in Trailers - FUN!

- Keep movies under 1 minute for Instagram. FB can be longer.