Making Movies with iMovie

Noren:

Derrick, how would you compare iMovie to other video editing software programs?

Story:

Clearly it's the easiest to learn. iMovie is particularly good for "cutting" video. I can chop up 40 minutes worth of shooting in just a couple of hours.

Noren:

So iMovie is easy to use?

Story:

This technology is the picture of simplicity. You plug the camcorder directly into the Mac via a Firewire cable, then control playback with the mouse. If you see something you want to save to the hard drive, just hit the "Import" button while the camera is playing. It's that simple.

Noren:

What other equipment and software do you need to begin making movies?

Story:

Well it's important to understand that iMovie is for "digital" video. So you do need a MiniDV or a Digital8 camcorder to access all of iMovie's capabilities. You can see the recommended list on Apple's web site. iMovie seems to work particularly well with Sony and Canon DV camcorders. You'll also need one of the current Macs with Firewire, and of course, the Firewire cable itself. That's about it. You can put together an entire system for $2,500 -- including the camera.

Noren:

It seems that a desktop publishing-type of revolution is about to hit film. What do you think?

Story:

DV in general, and iMovie in particular, are bringing powerful movie-making tools within reach of just about anyone with the desire to work in this medium. Even in my case, I had stayed with still photography because I hate unedited video, and I couldn't afford to spend $50,000 to produce the quality I wanted. I didn't even own a camcorder until DV became affordable. Many others have felt the same way and are now producing great video. This is going to be big.

Noren:

You've been using imovie on a few internal O'Reilly projects. Most recently, you created A Moving Bee Story, about the transfer of a hive of bees from the side of a building that was about to be demolished. It's really professionally produced. Was it all done with iMovie?

Story:

Yes, I used iMovie exclusively to edit the piece. Another photographer captured the video on Hi8, which is an analog format. We simply transfered the footage to a Mini DV camcorder, then uploaded the sequences to the Mac via Firewire.

The original movie was 24 minutes. I cut it down to six, added opening and closing titles, spliced-in a little music, and that was it. The whole project took a couple hours. Now O'Reilly employees as far away as Europe and Asia can watch what we're up to here in California via the Web and QuickTime.

Noren:

What else have you produced with iMovie?

Story:

I use iMovie to cut and compress video for reporting on the road. A good example will be the upcoming Open Source Convention this July. I'll shoot DV footage during the day, go back to my room and edit it with iMovie on a Firewire PowerBook, then send it up to our web site as a QuickTime clip. iMovie has really helped us reduce lead time.

Noren:

Have you taken a look at David Pogue's new book, iMovie: The Missing Manual?

Story:

You bet I have. Apple produced a great piece of software, but David Pogue and O'Reilly will help us understand it better than any of the documentation that's currently available. Plus, David is a very entertaining writer. I think every iMovie fan should get their hands on this book. The software is already free. The book is only 20 bucks. By putting the two pieces together, the potential is unlimited. I keep my copy under lock and key.

Copyright © 2009 O'Reilly Media, Inc.