iMovie 08 review

Tue, 28 August 2007

With quite a few reviewers giving iMovie 08 bad notes, I was really curious to figure out if Apple really stuffed it up so badly this time. I decided to spend some time with my new best friend - iMovie 08, and here is the review. OK, not really a review, rather notes from the bucket of my thoughts, but you’ll get the picture.

I have to admit that I am the laziest person when it comes to video editing. I have quite a few DV tapes but I never came around to download them to the computer and do something with it. I guess the home DVR has something to do with it, maybe it’s just too easy to be bothered, or it’s just a convenient excuse for not doing more.

I’m not a big fan of video editing, it takes time, it takes forever to do things properly and it’s just something that I don’t have the nerve for. But that’s about to change.

I think the philosophy behind iMovie 08 is that it should be as easy as possible, for someone who never used video editing software, to create a short movie. And this where I (nearly) fall in.

My typical task would be something like this: Take kids out, take camera with me, shoot some footage and download it later to the computer. The video editing part then consists of cutting the rubbish out of scenes, adding titles, some transitions, exporting it to a .mov file to keep on the computer, and making a DVD with iDVD.

iMovie 08 does exactly this and it does it brilliantly. I think this is what most of Mac users want - a simple, fast and elegant way of doing movies.

I know power users will feel disappointed and I understand why. I think Apple has decided to focus more on the novice user, and let the power user shed some cash for Final Cut, Express or Pro.

Things I like about iMovie 08

File management - it’s great that Apple has introduced video library. When you open iMovie 08 you have all your events and projects in one place. It’s very easy to move the things around.

Skimming - once you try it you can’t live without it. It’s an excellent way to preview what you are doing in real time, not only video but also audio.

YouTube export - I loooove it. When you finish editing your movie, you just click on Share | YouTube… and off it goes. A few minutes later it’s there for world to see it.

Interface - it looks great and it’s very intuitive and easy to use. I am yet to see a tutorial or open the help file, it just feels natural whatever I do.

Things I don’t like

Audio controls - this is where timeline in iMovie HD (06) was brilliant, you could edit audio properties as you go, with iMovie 08 it’s a bit of a pain. If you want to gradually decrease volume of the video and add some audio track, you need to cut the scene in small chunks and then change volume for every single one. There are no audio transitions at all.

Transitions - a small thing, but I’d still love to see this changed in some way. The transitions are represented by thumbnails and while this is OK, I miss the option to have them in a list view. It’s just me, I guess.

Things that I miss

Counter - I’d like to have the counter for the entire movie. When I’m editing something I like to preview the movie and then make the note to myself to go back and change something. I find this easiest when I write something like “4:22:16 - cut the cops out of the scene”. There is the counter for individual scenes, and only when trimming, which in itself is not enough.

Video effects - There is only one VFX that I am crazy about and that’s slow motion, it’s a shame that play speed can not be adjusted.

Hidden gems

When you add transition, say ‘Fade through black’, the transition default time is 0.4 seconds, which is way to fast for my liking. Fortunately you can adjust this. Right-click anywhere in the project window and select ‘Project properties’. This is where you can select the transition and adjust the length.

You can also go to the file in Finder. Select the scene, right-click and choose ‘Reveal in Finder’ and go directly to the source file.

Did you know…

When you click in the event browser, iMovie automatically selects 3 seconds of the current clip. You can adjust this length in iMovie properties, or you can change it to select entire clip. Either way has its good and its bad sides, but one way to have them both is to leave the default value of 3 seconds, but when moving clips around press Option key and then click the clip - it will select the entire clip. Great when adding clips to the project.

You can also change the size of the preview window, simply press Command-5, Command-6 or Command-7 to select small, medium or large preview. Very handy if you have a small resolution screen.

Conclusion

If you are serious about video editing then you should maybe think of going Final Cut Express way. Yes, I know, it costs $299, and Apple has probably had you in mind when doing all of this, but that’s one of a very few options you have. The other is, of course, to continue using iMovie HD (06) which users of iLife 08 can download for free from Apple’s website. Keep in mind that project files are not compatible between the two versions.

If you are professional, then you’d be using Final Cut Pro anyway, and your comment on any version of iMovie would be “Yeah, whatever...”

And if you are someone who just wants to put together a few scenes from your life - you will love the oh-eight. It’s easy, elegant, and it’s really really fast.

Stumble it!

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