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Tips for Using iMovie without a Digital Video Camera

A lot of email was also generated by my use of iMovie without having Digital Video. I thought I'd pass along some tips and answer some questions.

I captured all my video from an 8mm analog camcorder using the iRez PCMCIA card and my Pismo Powerbook. To get the highest frame rates, disable virtual memory, turn off Appletalk, use Peek-a-boo or ProcessInfo to see what hidden apps are running and decide if you want to disable them too.

My iMovie Project. Click for larger.

BTW, I couldn't get iMovie to launch unless I had the Control Strip extension enabled. Go figure.

As you record your video clips, clean them up by editing them in the Quicktime Player to keep their size down, your hard disk will start filling up quick! If you load a clip, and don't need the audio, use the QT Player to delete the audio track. This will also save disk space, make your final movie smaller, and the sound mix will be cleaner.

Once you have your video clip prepared in the Quicktime Player, export it as a DV file (digital video). This is the required format to import into iMovie. Place the DV clips in your projects Media folder, and will be placed in the tray when you launch iMovie.

I thought I could save some hard disk space by recording my video clips with mono audio, but this turned out to be a mistake because the sound for that clip will only come out of the left speaker. The good news is that the audio fade in/out and volume controls not only work on the music tracks, but also on the audio attached to a video clip. This gives you a surprising amount of control over the audio mix (and I'm finicky about my audio mixes!).

I recommend you create a solid black PICT in a graphics program and import it into iMovie to provide several seconds of black video at the front and back of your movie.

Once you have all your DV clips, still pictures, and audio music collected, roughly build the entire project before you start adding titles and visual effects. It makes it much easier to move items around in the progect when you don't have to concern yourself with the visual effects.

When it's time to print your movie to video tape, there are two ways in the analog domain. My Powerbook has a video out that I connected to the VCR. For the best looking title text, I rendered the project in iMovie, and played the resulting movie using the Quicktime Player in Full Screen presentation mode. Unfortuanately, the frame rate occasionally suffered.

To get a better frame rate, but fuzzier title text, play the project in the full screen preview mode of iMovie (this is where the 10 seconds of black at the front and back come in handy). Record the project right out of iMovie into the VCR.

Don't let these limitations discourage you. Even without a digital video camera, you can create some amazing movies, even if you're using only still photos.