Part 3 - Importing, Editing, and Distribution Tips

By: James Reynolds - Revised: 2014-01-27 richard

Download Slides – PDF-File, 2.0 MB

Introduction

This class will teach participants advanced features of iMovie 3, in particular importing other file formats, cool editing tips, exporting options, and more publication options.

Hands on.

Importing Tips

Importing from a camera
If you have an hour of DV camera footage, 13 gig of free hard disk space, you want to import the entire tape with out interruption. Do something else while the import happens. If you have a fast enough computer, you can still use your computer while the import takes place. Just don't click on the iMovie icon in the dock or else the import will stop.

The reason why you want to do this is because it is much faster to import the tape all at once, then trim footage that is garbage in the iMovie interface. The alternative is to fast forward the camera through unwanted footage and import only what you want. This will waste a lot of your time.

After you have the "good" footage, you can do yourself a favor by dumping all of the clips onto the movie viewer and then export it right then and there without any transitions or anything. Export it to tape. Save the tape as a master. Then, if you ever want the raw footage again, you can go get it. If you do this often, you will need to keep a catalog of your clips, and where they are.

Importing files
You can import many file formats. To import a file, select "File" -> "Import" or drag the file to the Clips pane.

Use iPhoto and the Pictures pane to import images. You can import them using "File" -> "Import" and drag and drop also. The same is true with audio files. Use iTunes and the Audio pane or import them using "File" -> "Import" and drag and drop.

The real beauty of Importing files is video files. You can import files that end with:

.dv
.mov
.mpg (MPEG-1)
.mpeg (MPEG-1)
.mp4 (MPEG-4)

With additional software, you can also import .avi files (common file format used by Windows). The 3vix software will allow your computer to play avi files and import them into iMovie. Some avi files need to be modified first. Use Divx Doctor II or others to do this. Or you could just convert the avi to a mov file.

Also, you can convert MPEG-2 to mov files using utilities like Diva.

MPEG is a pretty common file format. Here is some information that will hopefully keep things straight:

MPEG-1

1992
VHS quality
Used on Video CD's (VCD) and CD-ROM's
.mpg, .mpeg, and .mp3 format files are MPEG-1 (mp3 is the audio layer, or third layer, of MPEG-1)

MPEG-2

1996
DVD quality
Used on Digital TV's and DVD's
.mpg .vob, and many other extensions are used for MPEG-2 formatted files. I don't know how to tell if a .mpg file is MPEG-1 or MPEG-2--I guess if it plays it is MPEG-1!

MPEG-4

1999
This format is very good, but isn't in widespread use yet
Scalable quality
Can be used in many different devices (well, when they support MPEG-4)
.mp4 is the MPEG-4 file format.

Importing files with non 4:3 aspect ratios
The aspect ratio is the ratio of the width and the height. iMovie edits using a 4:3 aspect ratio. Movie trailers are not this ratio. If you want to edit a movie with this ratio there are two things you can do.

Method #1

Import the file into iMovie. Just ignore the fact that it is stretched
Edit it
Export the file using expert settings and give it a custom size that returns it back to the non 4:3 aspect ratio

Method #2

Create a 720x480 image
Using QuickTime Pro (an upgrade to QuickTime Player from Apple), open the image file and the movie
Select all of the image (Command - A)
Copy (Command - C)
Change to the movie window and paste at the beginning (Command - V)
Get properties of the Video Track 1
Change the size and placement of the movie to fit the window
Save as a self contained movie
Import into iMovie

Editing Tips

Recommended editing process:

Import

Dump entire DV tape to computer

Trim clips
Dump back to tape
Arrange clips
Add transitions, titles, effects, audio

Clip flow

Try to get them to "flow" by having them maintain idea continuity (just like what they say in writing class)
Keep clips a similar length

Arrange clips

Don't place clips from similar angles and subjects next to each other
If you must do this, like in an interview, insert a shot of the anything else and make the cut, or you can use a really quick crossfade

Transitions

Always fade in at the beginning
Always fade out at the ending
No transition is the most common cut
Crossfade is the second most common cut
Pay attention to TV/Movies to get ideas how to do this well

Titles

Don't put titles over fast moving or distracting video
Use the same font and size throughout a project
QuickTime exports need big and bold fonts to compensate for the shrinkage
QT margins use the full movie width
TV-safe margins keep a border where no text will tread
Use still images for special titles

Effects

Don't use unless they make sense, such as a memory or dream might be "Sepia" or "Soft Focus"

Audio

Built in editing/duping audio

Add an echo
Create reverb
Reuse audio
Get rid of unwanted sounds

Voice over

Add exaggerated sounds (footsteps, fist fight)

Crunching onion skins is a fire
Break celery to get crunching bones

Importing graphics

Use as title pages to get fonts/graphics that iMovie normally can't do
Use with crossfades or other transitions to get limitless possibilities

DV time to file size

1 frame - 120 K
1 min - 228 M
15 min - 3.5 G
30 min - 7 G
60 min - 13 G
2 hrs - 28 G
4 hrs - 53 G

Other info

Monitor resolution MUST be at least 800 x 600
Use external firewire drive? Yes, if it and the Mac are fast
Max video clip time: 9:28:17, or 2 gig

Exporting Tips

Movies are rarely saved without compressing it. Two easy ways to compress a movie file is to make the size smaller, so that there are less pixels in a frame. The other way is to change the number of frames per second.

The other way to compress a movie is to use a compression decompression algorithm, also known as "codec". A codec compresses the movie when it is saved and decompresses it when it is viewed.

There are two compression methods: spacial and temporal. Spacial compression is when a row of similarly colored dots are reduced to a color and the number of dots. For example, an english version of the raw data would look like this:

pixel 1 = red, pixel 2 = red, pixel 3 = blue, pixel 4 = red, pixel 5 = red, pixel 6 = red

The compressed version of the above line would be:

pixels 1-2 = red, pixel 3 = blue, pixels 4-6 = red

The compressed version will take much less space.

Temporal compression is similar, except the compression is between frames and not pixels. Here is another english example:

FRAME 1: pixels 1-2 = red, pixel 3 = blue, pixels 4-6 = red
FRAME 2: pixels 1-2 = red, pixel 3 = blue, pixels 4-6 = red

The compressed version of the above line would be:

FRAMES 1-2: pixels 1-2 = red, pixel 3 = blue, pixels 4-6 = red

This compressed can make a movie file very small.

When dealing with compression, you will see the words "Key Frame". When using key frames, there are 2 types of frames. The key frames contain the full image. The frames between key frames do not contain the full image, but only the portion of the image that has changed since the last frame.

The exact way that a codec compresses a movie depends on the codec and the values you give it. However, compression will always be a trade movie quality for file size. The smaller the file, the worse the quality. The best codecs create tiny files that have high quality.

Most codecs have preset compression values geared for a particular medium. When you export QuickTime movie in iMovie, you will see 5 preset compression values: "Email", "Web", "Web Streaming", "CD-ROM", and "Full Quality DV". These presets will probably serve you just fine.

However, the sixth iMovie export option is "Expert Settings". Use this if you want to customize your export. After you click the Export button, a dialog box will appear titled "Save exported file as...". There are 2 pop up menus in that dialog box that deal with compression: "Export" and "Use". Export lets you export the movie into many different formats. The formats include:

Movie
Movie, self-contained
Movie to AVI

Windows standard

Movie to BMP
Movie to DV Stream

NO compression: Full quality, HUGE file sizes.
Use to convert to PAL.

Movie to FLC
Movie to Hinted Movie
Movie to Image Sequence

Use this if you want to edit the frame images in a graphic program like Photoshop or GraphicConverter. You can import the frames back to a QuickTime movie using QuickTime Pro.
If you have Adobe ImageReady, you don't need this option because ImageReady will edit movie file frames.
The Image Sequence will not have audio, of course. ImageReady drops the audio track as well.

Movie to Kinoma Movie for Palm OS
Movie to MPEG Audio Layer-3 (MP3)
Movie to MPEG-4

A new standard
Requires QuickTime 6 to view
Best compression

Movie to Picture
Movie to QuickTime Media Link
Movie to QuickTime Movie

Macintosh standard
You can change the movie size to anything you want.
You can change the codec with this export.
Click "Prepare for Internet Streaming" if you are going to put it on a server.

Movie to Toast Video CD

Must have Roxio Toast to export a Video CD (VCD)
Use this option if you want to burn a VCD

Sound to AIFF
Sound to System 7 Sound
Sound to Wave
Sound to uLaw

You do not need to know what all of these do. More options will be added to this list as new technologies are released. For example, "MPEG-4" and "Kinoma Movie for Palm OS" are both new export options (as of 2003).

The second dialog box in the "Save exported file as..." dialog contains more presets such as:

Modem - Audio Only
Modem
DSL/Cable - Low
DSL/Cable - Medium
DSL/Cable - High
LAN

If you don't want to use these presets, you can click the "Options" button to configure the export you have selected. Each export has different options. For example, MPEG-4 has presets that don't look like any other exports. Mostly, they can be left at the defaults. DV Stream allows you to set NTSC or PAL and just a few other options. QuickTime Movie and AVI both let you change the codec settings.

If you export a QuickTime Movie or AVI, and you change the Video or Audio settings, you will have to set the codec settings and the motion settings. Each codec has different options, but most will have the following:

Depth: the number of colors in the movie. The higher the crisper the movie will appear.
Quality: how much effort the codec will try. The higher the setting the longer the codec will take to compress the movie, the larger the file size will be(generally), and the better the quality.

The motion settings are as follows:

Frames per second

8, 10 - jerky
12, 15 - OK
24 - Hollywood movies
29.97 - TV

Keyframe

1 key frame every 4+ seconds is ok for a talking head.
Few key frames will have a slow seek time.
2+ frame values a second are required for fast moving movie or when the scenes change often.

Limit data rate
When compressing a movie, the data transfer will vary. Fast moving scenes will always take more data, and can max out the transfer rate. You will notice this when you watch a movie over the web and it is just fine until the car chase scene. Then it will drop frames like crazy because it can't transfer the data fast enough. To prevent this, limit the data rate. Here are some examples:

Web, 240 x 180 movie, 150 K/sec
2x CD-ROM, 150-200 K/sec
4x CD-ROM, 350-500 K/sec
12x CD-ROM, 1.8 M/sec
24x CD-ROM, 3-3.6 M/sec

Video Codecs of value

Sorenson Video 3 - just plain the best, takes a long time to compress.
H.263 - good for footage where not much is happening, good for internet; designed for video conferencing.
Animation - maintains all quality of DV and it even compresses the data a little.
Video - compresses fast, but not good; use to test the movie.

QuickTime and AVI exports also allow you to change the audio compression settings. You have a few options. You can set the rate, the size, and mono or stereo. As a comparison, 44.1 kHz is the CD audio rate. 48.0 kHz is the DV Stream rate. 8 bit is lower quality than 16 bit. For web distribution, you want to use Mono.

Audio Codecs of value

MPEG-4 - the "new" best, requires QuickTime 6
QDesign Music 2 - the "old" best, requires at least QuickTime 6
Qualcomm PureVoice - good compression, quality not as good as a phone

Web distribution
HTTP server: put on any webpage and any web server (Apache, WebSTAR, etc.,.), but use special html. In the following, you need to change "sample.mov" to the path and name of your movie:

If this seems like a lot of HTML, you are right. Microsoft made it this complicated when they added a "feature" to Internet Explorer that requires all this code. So if you don't want to support Windows, use this code:

ADDITIONAL READING
For more information on the OBJECT element, see:
The W3C Web site
Apple's Internet development webpage.
Apple's QuickTime Compatibility webpage (the source of this information).

RTSP server: QTSS (QuickTime Streaming Server) just select "Streaming Web Movie"; RealPlayer and Windows Media Player distribution would require more work

Ideas

How to create time-lapse video

Speed clip up (5x is the max)
Export to camcorder
Import back to computer
Repeat

Why reverse clip direction?

Comic
To reverse a pan direction
To reverse a zoom
Create subtle behavior/emotional implications

Free stuff

Public Domain movies: Archive.org
Free music: FreePlay Music
Effects, audio, from www.apple.com/imovie