Advanced
iMovie
Joe Brennan, jbtv@mac.com
Last updated on 1/24/07
If you and your students have been using iMovie (or
another entry level video editing program) for awhile, you are probably
wondering
what more you can do. Well, there are a few things you can do for yourself,
some resources on Apple’s site, a couple dozen free plug-ins and transitions
from five companies that sell hundreds of them, and several free or inexpensive
programs that can help turn you into another Ken Burns. One caveat, though,
some of the following will only work in Mac OS X. PC users, don’t
despair. Except for third party plug-ins, most of the following do-it-yourself
strategies
should work with any video editing programs. For starters, check the Apple
Learning Interchange for invaluable tips on videography: http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/exhibits/1000019/ . The
tips on lighting alone (in the box on the right, half way down) will make
a huge difference!
Step
1 - Make a storyboard and share your rubric with your students.
http://www.ncsu.edu/midlink/ho.html
Freeze!
I know it’s supposed to be a movie, but you can
do a lot with still pictures. For those who want to put titles on their own,
but are tired of checking the "over black" box, you have a number
of options.
First, remember you can make a still clip from any
video clip. Make a still from the very beginning of a video segment. Use the
effects area in iMovie to change it and then put the title over that. Then
when the video part starts, the modified background will seem to come alive
in normal color and motion.
If you've seen my presentations, you've seen a movie
about Lewis Hine that I got "conned" into making. It's basically
just a group of stills with a title text box inserted in AppleWorks over
a
copy of each picture. The slides introducing and closing the movie are also
AppleWorks PICT files. They were created by putting a text box over a 7"
x 9" black rectangle in the Draw mode. Then select all, group them,
and save as a PICT file. To build the line at a time, I went back, ungrouped
the
lot, erased a line of text, re-selected all, re-grouped, and saved again
as a PICT (with a different name, i.e. Hine01, 02, 03, etc.). Keep doing
that
until nothing is left. Now import the PICT files into iMovie, arrange them
in reverse order on the timeline, and the text slowly reveals itself. I
used
black because of the tone of the movie. You can use ANYTHING as a background
as long as it's at least 640 x 480 pixels or 7" x 9". The lesson and the
pictures that the Hine movie are based on can be found at the National Archives
and Records Administration website: http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/hine_photographs/hine_photographs.html.
NARA is a goldmine of historical treasures. Use it! If you like, you can
download the whole movie from my .Mac folder: http://homepage.mac.com/joebjr/MovieMania/FileSharing9.html.
It is over 16mb, so you may not want to try it over a conventional modem.
The text on the children's pictures is the same idea, only the textbox is
placed out of the way and the picture takes the place of the black box
background. Some of
our football players used a variation of this in their season end highlight
film. Just as something is about to happen in the video, they split the videoclip,
make a still, export it, use AppleWorks or PhotoShop to put an arrow or circle
on
the
player
to watch, and then re-insert the still into the video.
You can also export slides, text and all, from HyperStudio
and PowerPoint to be imported as colorful title screens in iMovie. Try making
your own titles or title backgrounds in AppleWorks, KidPix, etc. and then
export them as PICT files to be imported into iMovie. Take advantage of the
full palette of colors, gradients, patterns, and ready made backgrounds. Page
set up should be in landscape and the title-to-be should fill the page (7”x
9” or 720 pixels x 540 pixels) in order to fill the video frame. N.B.
keep pictures, scans, and graphics in the uncompressed PICT format for best
results.
Chicken or the Egg?
We all know (or should by now) that titles need to
be added before transitions are put in place, but that is not necessarily
the case with effects and titles. If you want a nice, clean title that is
easily read, render the effect and then add the title. However, if the title
would benefit from the effect you’re adding to the clip, add the title
first and then run the effect. Case in point: a student slowed down a clip
of her peers pretending to be drinking. She added the title, “Just One
Drink Can Effect Vision and Reaction Time,” and then added
the water ripple or blur effect to both. Strong message!
Separate but Equal, yet Advanced
You might know that sound and picture are captured
onto completely separate media for major films. That is why snapping the board
is so important when they holler, “Action!” Synching sound is a
major skill in Hollywood, but we can get some of the same benefits in our
schools. Just use the “Advanced” menu.
Got some great dialogue or music, but the video is
worthless? Highlight the clip, extract the sound, dump the video and replace
it with some good footage or still pictures. Got a great interview, but it’s
nonstop talking head? Use “Paste Over Special” to insert some graphics
without interrupting the speaker. Just make sure what you are pasting in is
shorter than the clip you are pasting it onto.
Try shooting a concert or play with two cameras. One
does just long shots and will be the foundation. Use the other one for close
ups. Silence the close up clips before pasting them over the long shot so
the two soundtracks don't conflict.
Goodies from Our Friendly Software Companies
GarageBand is loaded with great music loops, sound
effects and the opportunity to manipulate your voice. But don’t
ignore other graphic software and companies’ sites for material for
free backgrounds, sound effects, and music.
Third Party Extras - for Free and for a Price
eZedia (http://www.ezedia.com)
will give you a sample pack that let's you put a border around your movie.
For $39 you can get their ezescreen plug-in that let's you put a movie in
a movie or over it for the green screen effect you see every night when
the
weatherman seems to be standing in front of the map or satellite picture.
eZedia also has an amazing product for your finished movies. Make interactive
QuickTime movies on both Macs and PC's that can even be added to web pages:
http://www.ezedia.ca/products/eZediaQTI/index.html
GeeThree (http://www.geethree.com)
is giving away nine of their effects. Among them are Burst and Drip. They
have hundreds more in their four "Slick" packages for sale from
$29.95 to $49.95. They and Stupendous have probably the widest selection.
Check their site for animations of each.
iMovieplugins.com Buy plug-ins one at a time. Get a chromakey plug-in for $3.50!
Stupendous Software (http://www.stupendous-software.com)
is not yet on the Apple site, but they and GeeThree have the most comprehensive
collections. There are sixty for free, but they are in their sixteen $25
(check for education discount) commercial packages. The downside to that is
that you have to download an entire package and clutter up your effects and
transitions windows with two dozen or so in demo-only mode to be able to use
the few free ones that come in each individual package. One set,
"Labels & Overlays," lets you overlay arrows, circles, grids,
etc. Very handy! And they have a very generous educational discount.
Virtix (http://virtix.com/imovie/index.asp).
No iMovie station is complete without their Flame effect which is part of
the six piece sample package. They have very comprehensive commercial offerings
from $24.99 to $39.99. Their "iBubble" title set lets you put cartoon-like speech and though bubbles onto a movie.
 |
Erica Sadun is a person after my own heart. She has written a book and authored a website with tips and free plug-ins. Check her site at http://www.mindspring.com/~erica |
|
Offering a fun voyage
of discovery for learners of all ages, The Director in the
Classroom provides the "Why" for digital video in the
classroom. http://www.tech4learning.com/tdic/index.html |
Mark Standley has a free, downloadable book Teaching
Powerful Storytelling
http://www.mstandley.com/books_pubs.html
Free
Sound Effects
FreePlay Music (http://freeplaymusic.com)
has 2,100 copyright-free music clips arranged by genre. Build a collection
or just download as needed.
The Hollywood Edge (http://www.hollywoodedge.com)
98 free effects and lots for sale.
The Sound Hunter (http://www.soundhunter.com)
very nicely done, "homemade" sound effects.
Stonewashed (http://www.stonewashed.net/sfx.html)
has a number of free sounds and collections for sale.
http://www.a1freesoundeffects.com/cartoon.html
http://wavcentral.com/effects.htm
http://www.webplaces.com/html/sounds.htm
Must Haves (OS X only)
Morph X (http://www.norrkross.com).
Take two pictures (like before and after). Identify common points from one
to the other (like the eyes and mouth). Then let the program morph one into
another. Import the saved "movie" into iMovie. You can only do two
pictures at a time, but it’s easy to string a few morphed pictures together
in iMovie (i.e. A>B, B>C, C>D, etc.) Great for graduation and retirement
videos! HyperStudio 4 users (PC & Mac), remember that Morph came with the program. You may have to do a custom install to load it.
Photo to Movie (http://lqgraphics.com/software/phototomovie.html)
is a lot like Still Life, but it has a higher quality of output and also works
with a much wider array of input images. There is also an option to use resolution
optimization in order to virtually eliminate flickering on the video. Additionally,
you can use this program to pan across (like a row of faces in a class or
team photo). Choose the length of time and then let the program make a DV
stream movie that is easily inserted into iMovie. It will also make QuickTime
movies. It costs $19.95.
Still Life (http://www.grantedsw.com)
is very similar to Photo to Movie. One of the big differences to me is that
this program will handle a number of pictures at once. Like the other two
programs, it may seem to add an extra step to the iMovie process, but it is
very effective and very easy. Watch the demo's that come with the program
and you may not believe they were not "movies" to begin with. Simply
drop a picture (or a few) into the program's window, draw one box around the
starting area and another around the area you want to expand to and
end up at. Export to DV or to QuickTime. Used to be free, it is $14.95 until
April 12th - $24.95 after that.
My
other pages with video-making tips:
The Niles West A.V.
Page | Guerrilla Graphics
| The Chicagoland Television
Educators Council | http://homepage.mac.com/jbtv | http://members.iceberg.org/brennan