iMovie needs multi-movie features

News Type: Other — Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:18 PM EDT

technology, apple, software, dvd, macintosh, applications, ilife, imovie, idvd

In 2003 I recorded a going-away party that lasted several hours and had multiple parts to it. I had recorded it on DV-tape, imported it onto my external hard drive, and not touched it for a few years.

The going-away party was for some friends who went to Peru to do some missionary work and this past month they visited the area. Being that they wanted a copy of the video I got to work in iMovie cutting up the hours of footage to prepare it for DVD.

iMovie is extremely simple to use and definitely built for the home-user in mind, yet I find it lacking when you want to split up a long video into separate parts for use on DVD.

I had nearly 19GB worth of video and the only way I could figure out how to compile the video into two separate sections was to create a copy of the project file and have it only contain the clips of the respective sections within each project. So a 19GB project immediately became a 40GB project and me having to open each project file separately. Very annoying.

I think iMovie needs a way to separate a long video into sections, each section having its own timeline.

Secondly, iMovie needs some help in the "synergy with iDVD department". The "send to iDVD" feature, while neat, doesn't work as expected in a multi-movie project. Each time that you use this feature in iMovie - iDVD asks to open a new project file. So the only way to import multiple iMovie-edited videos into iDVD is to open iDVD and import them manually. My irritations with iDVD will be written up at a later date.

I look forward to the next release of iMovie where hopefully this problem, and many others that I plan on writing up, will be addressed.

Also posted here.

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4.2

2.5

{"commentId":333579,"authorDomain":"mstickel"}

Mike Stickel

I have a feeling this is partly why they released Final Cut Express but I can't be certain without further investigation into FCE.

{"commentId":333579,"threadId":"48315","contentId":"404035","authorDomain":"mstickel"}

1 vote

#1 - Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:28 PM EDT

{"commentId":333707,"authorDomain":"cdevroe"}

Colin D. Devroe

Still, most people that delve into using iDVD will end up wanting this functionality "out of th box" with iLife. If Apple provides the ability, they should provide the best usage of it.

{"commentId":333707,"threadId":"48315","contentId":"404035","authorDomain":"cdevroe"}

1 vote

#1.1 - Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:46 PM EDT

{"commentId":333722,"authorDomain":"mstickel"}

Mike Stickel

I think the people wanting the "out of the box" functionality will be content with the fact they can make a movie and put it on a DVD. They won't want to make a fully functional, multi-movie DVD when they're starting out. And the people that do want multiple movie DVD's will save their movies, as they make them in iMovie, and import those movies into iDVD. Apple has probably done enough research to know that.

When these users get to the point that they want to get more involved then the suggestion is, since their skill and knowledge of the equipment/tools is higher, they should get better tools, aka, FCE and maybe, just maybe, DVD Studio Pro (for the more daring).

{"commentId":333722,"threadId":"48315","contentId":"404035","authorDomain":"mstickel"}

2 votes

#1.2 - Tue Oct 17, 2006 2:01 PM EDT

{"commentId":333867,"authorDomain":"braytek"}

Bwana

Sounds like you just leveled up to FCE/FCP. It does what you described very well. I agree with Mike in that Apple may obsolete their own products if they iMovie too powerful. As an owner of iMovie, I share your frustrations, but at the same time we have to be realistic.

{"commentId":333867,"threadId":"48315","contentId":"404035","authorDomain":"braytek"}

2 votes

#1.3 - Tue Oct 17, 2006 3:38 PM EDT

{"commentId":334261,"authorDomain":"Paradox460"}

Paradox460

Tabs...

{"commentId":334261,"threadId":"48315","contentId":"404035","authorDomain":"Paradox460"}

#2 - Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:45 PM EDT

{"commentId":334868,"authorDomain":"masternav"}

MasterNav

From Apple Support:

Splitting a video or audio clip

You can divide or "split" a video clip so that you can insert other clips or images, or reorder the sequence of clips. You can split clips that are in the Clips pane, clip viewer, or timeline viewer. You can also split audio clips in the timeline viewer.

To split a video or audio clip:
1. Select a clip and position the playhead where you want to divide the clip.
2. Choose Edit > "Split Video Clip at Playhead" or "Split Selected Audio Clip at Playhead."

If the command is not available in the Edit menu, make sure that you've selected a clip and that the playhead is located within the clip.

This should give you what you need to create the chaptering in iDVD you apparently want to do.

{"commentId":334868,"threadId":"48315","contentId":"404035","authorDomain":"masternav"}

1 vote

#3 - Wed Oct 18, 2006 8:41 AM EDT

{"commentId":334871,"authorDomain":"masternav"}

MasterNav

Also which version of iMovie are you using??

{"commentId":334871,"threadId":"48315","contentId":"404035","authorDomain":"masternav"}

1 vote

#3.1 - Wed Oct 18, 2006 8:43 AM EDT

{"commentId":334874,"authorDomain":"masternav"}

MasterNav

Otherwise what you are looking to do works better in Final Cut as noted above.

{"commentId":334874,"threadId":"48315","contentId":"404035","authorDomain":"masternav"}

1 vote

#3.2 - Wed Oct 18, 2006 8:44 AM EDT

{"commentId":334905,"authorDomain":"cdevroe"}

Colin D. Devroe

#479 Daily Source Code for Monday October 16th 200626:3710/16/06#479 Daily Source Code for Monday October 16th 2006 From Manhattan, New York Were on a two day trip to NY to meet with advertisers and their agencies. Of course Im still sick as a dog, and the mobile equipment combined with natural congestion doesnt ma

{"commentId":334905,"threadId":"48315","contentId":"404035","authorDomain":"cdevroe"}

#3.3 - Wed Oct 18, 2006 8:59 AM EDT

{"commentId":334906,"authorDomain":"cdevroe"}

Colin D. Devroe

Ok I don't know what happened with my last comment, but suffice to say that the feature that you mention "Splitting the video at the playhead" is good for chopping up clips but has nothing to do with multiple movies in iMovie.

{"commentId":334906,"threadId":"48315","contentId":"404035","authorDomain":"cdevroe"}

1 vote

#3.4 - Wed Oct 18, 2006 9:01 AM EDT

{"commentId":335867,"authorDomain":"Paradox460"}

Paradox460

Ahh, Final Cut. Best video editor i ever have used. I have used every version, and many other types. Final cut has been leagues ahead of Avid and others since V1

{"commentId":335867,"threadId":"48315","contentId":"404035","authorDomain":"Paradox460"}

1 vote

#3.5 - Wed Oct 18, 2006 6:09 PM EDT

{"canLink":false,"threadId":"48315","isPrivate":false}

COLIN D. DEVROE

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iMovie needs multi-movie features

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