First Look: iMovie ‘09
iMovie ‘08 was not considered one of Apple’s best releases — to put it mildly. In fact, the outcry of disappointment was so high, that Apple responded by re-issuing iMovie HD 6 (v6.0.4 to be exact) for those who were unwilling to embark on the new movie creation paradigms in iMovie ‘08.
Well, fast forward 16 months and we now have iMovie ‘09, newly updated in the iLife ‘09 suite. As a humble yet reasonably confident videographer (I shoot with a Sony HDR-SR11), and having only real experience with iMovie ‘08, I have been waiting impatiently for this new release.
At the Macworld Expo, I was honored to receive an in-person demo of iMovie ‘09 from the iMovie Project Manager himself (names spared to protect the innocent). The demo was amazing, as I was able to see first hand all of the goodness that is iMovie ‘09.
Because I am impatient, I went to my local Apple Store as soon as they opened yesterday morning (Bay Street over in Emeryville, CA) and picked up a copy of iLife ‘09 just so I could begin playing with the new iMovie. After a few hours of playtime, here is what I have discovered…
What’s New
Apple touts these four features as tantamount to the release:
- Precision Editor – Exact editing for audio and video clips.
- Video Stabilization – A major, professional-level feature from Final Cut Studio. Thankfully, Apple realized that even regular videographers have shaky hands too. If you want a good example, head over to Macworld where Jason Snell shows an example of before and after.
- Travel maps – Tell iMovie all the places you visited in the movie and you get a fancy, animated travel map a la Indiana Jones.
- Themes – Yes, you now get to choose from a half-dozen themes to auto-create an end-to-end experience for your movie.
There are also these other really nice features:
- Improved user experience – The UI for the Project editor
- Chapter creation – Yes, you can now export to iDVD with chapters. This means no more roundabout trip through GarageBand and then to iDVD.
- Picture-in-picture + Green Screen – In the iMovie preferences, check the Show the Advanced Tools option and you get these additional features. Just drag clips onto another clip in your project and you can begin having even more fun.
- Video effects - The ability to create different visual effects on a per frame basis.
- Speed – You can now speed up, slow down or put the particular set of frames in reverse. No more export to QuickTime in order to enable this feature.
What’s Still Missing
Well, Apple did hit a triple with the release of iMovie ‘09, but not a home-run. Here is what’s still missing:
- 5.1 Audio support – Consumer application or not, it’s pretty shocking that iMovie ‘09 doesn’t support 5.1 audio, seeing how pretty much all mainstream consumer videocams support it.
- No plug-in support - I spoke with the Project Manager at Macworld Expo and he explained that because everything in iMovie is in real-time, designing a model to support plugins is technically challenging (this is nonsense — it just takes time, resources and prioritization).
- A limited set of Themes – Here was an opportunity for Apple to extend iMovie the way they extended GarageBand with its new Lessons and Lessons Store. Apple could have made it so third parties build additional themes and users paid a nominal fee ($1.99 or less) per item.
What Does It Look Like?
iMovie 09 main screen with updated Project editor
You now get a much more detailed view of your projects compared to iMovie ‘08. Further, you can quickly edit the project by clicking the button in the top left corner of the screen.
iMovie 09 Precision Editor
The precision editor is what everyone was clamoring for since the release of iMovie ‘08. You can now define exactly where you want to edit your clips, frame by frame. It’s super easy to use as well as you can now even fine tune the audio.
Choose Your Theme
This is a feature that many a user from the iMovie ‘06 HD days has missed. Essentially, Apple provides pre-packaged themes that include an opening, transitions and end credits (plus some cool animations along the way).
Maps & Backgrounds
Another one of the big features is defining a map of your video travels. This is really a fun feature and adds pizazz to your video. You can easily use existing map points or re-label them for your own purposes.
Picture-in-Picture
Using picture-in-picture was a breeze. Just drag-and-drop one clip onto another. When you do, a small menu prompts you to add the clip as a picture-in-picture (as well as other choices, like green screen). Then, you can drag the PIP clip where you want on the main clip. In this example, I applied a video effect as well.
Inspector
The inspector has been improved to enable adjustments to speed (including reverse), applying video effects and to enable video stabilization.
Video Effects
In this window, you can choose from 20 different video effects for the clip(s) you have selected. Some of these are really fun, and help you create your masterpiece the way you want it.
Concluding Thoughts
This is a monumental release given the short development cycle. Apple clearly delivered a product that sets a new bar for simple movie making. One of the best features of iMovie, whether it is ‘08 or now ‘09, is that it takes just minutes to create a movie and publish it. Now, with ‘09, your video is even richer.
Some folks will still complain that iMovie ‘09 lacks the timeline/non-linear editor (NLE) that made iMovie ‘06 HD the “best.” That might be true, although I believe that the new wave of movie editing has hit us and iMovie ‘08 was the beginning of that wave. With iMovie ‘09, get ready, because the big Kahuna just hit and you have the right surfboard to ride it.
Lastly, if you want some quick tutorials on some of the new features in iMovie 09, head on over to the Apple Tutorial site. And, if you want to see if you video camera is compatible with iMovie 09, click here.
Gazoobee on January 28th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Great article, but one tiny point (might) be off a bit …
RE: 5.1 sound:
I don’t do professional video or anything, but I’m pretty sure that the majority of video cameras in use today use mono recording for sound. I’m not up with the very latest gear but this has been the case even for most professional video equipment since the 70’s AFAIK, so even if the latest cameras record in 5.1 it could be this traditional history of mono recording that’s to blame for it’s lack in iMovie.
The reason is that to record in 5.1 (or any kind of stereo) you really need paired external microphones with some physical separation whilst in most cases people will be using the single built-in mike in the camera. So even if you have a camera that records 5.1 sound, it’s not ever going to be the same 5.1 sound you find in a DVD or commercial production.
Again, not a pro and I could be wrong, but that’s one possible explanation.
Staff Comment Matthew Bookspan, TheAppleBlog on January 28th, 2009 at 9:15 am
@Gazobee – most of the current consumer cams support 5.1. Whether they are HD or non-HD, they support it. A good example is using a placed mic on the subject for the center channel and then the rest of the audio provides a more surround experience.
I do agree that you need paired external microphones as well to create a more discrete aural experience. Nevertheless, I just don’t want my audio “dumbed-down” to stereo from 5.1. Even consumer apps on Windows (Pinnacle Studio) have supported 5.1 for the last five years. I would expect Apple to get on board with 5.1 as well.
totesbomb on January 28th, 2009 at 9:50 am
I’m glad to here that 09′ has more advanced features such as precision editing. As Imovie 08′ was shocking in it’s complete lack of precision. Though the new features such as image stabilization sound exciting I still fail to see why Apple did away with the time line based editing in a video application. Call me old fashioned but in my mind video remains a linear medium best edited in a linear fashion. Despite the apparent improvements in 09′ I still can’t understand why Apple would take a decent product like Imovie 06 and destroy what was largely a functional and intuitive UI for video. Despite the new features I think that apple has tried to cater it’s new apps to what it thinks is a less computer savvy audience, and the power of the applications has suffered greatly.
Wooway on January 28th, 2009 at 9:56 am
I love that under the heading “What does it look like?” there is a screen-cap of a Cow’s arse :D
Great article nonetheless. I used to hate iMovie ‘08 with a passion until I gave it a fair chance. Now I love it, a few nitpicks here and there (no slow-motion?) but this release seems to have added a lot of cool/much-needed features which I cannot wait to try.
Staff Comment Matthew Bookspan, TheAppleBlog on January 28th, 2009 at 10:02 am
@totesbomb. Your reply is probably the most fair about the iMovie 06 HD NLE vs. the new non-linear editing of iMovie 08/09. Honestly, I think you can easily create a visual timeline with iMovie 09. It’s just a matter of perspective, as you can think about the events in the timeline, rather than the timeline itself.
I am also an owner of Premiere Pro CS4 which is a fantastic and very rich NLE app. Thankfully both iMovie 09 and Premiere Pro CS4 support my AVCHD camera. I think I even have a copy of iMovie 06 HD, but I don’t use it as it doesn’t support my Sony HDR-SR11 natively.
One of the key reasons Apple built iMovie 08 was because the code quality of iMovie 06 HD was extremely brittle. They could not figure out a way to enhance the feature set without generating another bug farm. Further, the new non-linear model of making movies was the a motivator to start fresh.
With iMovie 09, I would say there is pretty close parity with the old iMovie 06 HD as well as some new functionality. This was done in two releases over a period of three years. I applaud Apple for delivering a ground-up rewrite. It takes serious development effort and cost to do that. And in my mind, the outcome is fantastic.
Staff Comment Matthew Bookspan, TheAppleBlog on January 28th, 2009 at 10:03 am
@Wooway – LOL. I didn’t think about that when capturing the screenshot. Hilarious.
Macaholic on January 28th, 2009 at 10:43 am
I believe that, in the case of iMovie or other software-based video editing applications, “NLE” stands for “non-linear editor” ( http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/NLE ), not “natural language editor”. All such programs or hardware systems from the CMX-600 way back in 1971 all the way up to iMovie 09, where you are not editing the actual videotape in a LINEAR fashion (having to physically rewind or fast-forward tape), are NON-linear editors because one can access any part of a video without having to shuttle metre after metre of tape to get there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NLE
As for themes, the only 3rd party I know making them is http://www.ilearnfast.com/ Unfortunately, they only work with iMovie HD (version 6). They — and the popular Gee Three line of transitions (and several others) — don’t work with the new iMovie redesign. It’s a little worrisome, given that these two companies (especially Gee Three) have yet to attain compatibility with the redesigned, one-year old iMovie generation.
Staff Comment Matthew Bookspan, TheAppleBlog on January 28th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
@Macaholic – thanks for the catch – just fixed it to Non-linear from Natural Language. In terms of the plugins, the folks at Apple told me don’t expect them anytime soon. I think they have built a market for the FCE/FCP users, but they don’t see the market for iMovie anymore.
Tom Reestman on January 28th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
First off, I really liked iMovie 08 , and felt it was wise for Apple to move in that simpler direction. I also believe skimming should be in every video editor.
Further, keep in mind that Apple made frame by frame editing possible in an iMovie 08 update shortly after its release.
That said, I wished for more titles, effects, and better audio control as much as anything else, and we have that in iMovie 09. Further, the precision editor is a better interface for exact cuts than what was added in the 08 update (though the latter’s ability is still available in 09).
Harvey on January 28th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
In your “What’s Still Missing” section you didn’t mention the “Share (or export) to camera” feature that was included on every iMovie version up until iMovie HD. Is that still missing in action in ‘09 as I’ve read in other early reviews? If so it would be a deal breaker in me. For us tape shooters it’s still the best way to look at our finished projects on our HDTV’s and also archive the projects.
Macaholic on January 28th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Well, I’m not sure that Apple co-operated much in enabling 3rd party plug-ins. Certainly those 3rd party animated themes were probably reverse engineered into iMovie HD’s calls into its Themes folder.
By the way, Apple has yanked the downloader page they maintained for iMovie 06. Check out this forum thread if anybody still wants the installer for posterity:
http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/73565-whither-imovie-06-apple-yanks-dl-page-but.html
chiadi on January 28th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
“I don’t do professional video or anything, but I’m pretty sure that the majority of video cameras in use today use mono recording for sound.”
- I’m pretty sure every single camcorder sold in the last 8 or 9 years records stereo audio @ 16 Bit…
Paul V on January 28th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
What is still missing. What about native avchd support? I movie forces you to go through an intermediate codec which means when your project is done you will have encoded it at least twice, resulting in loss of quality.
Most all the low end PC apps have supported avchd natively for some time now, like Pinnacle, Ulead, and even Nero.
Staff Comment Matthew Bookspan, TheAppleBlog on January 28th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
@Tom – you are right about the frame-by-frame – this was in the 7.1 update – I believe. And, I agree, Apple could have done more. However, in that short of time, they did do quite a bit.
@Harvey – this is still true. You can’t share back to your camera. I guess this isn’t really an issue for me, although I can see some users complaining. Why not just export to YouTube/MobileMe/etc.? That is the direction iMovie 09 sets for users. Do you use your camcorder as a player too?
@Paul – yes, the translation for AVCHD is still through the Apple Intermediary Codec (AIC). There is no loss in fidelity. The issue is the time it takes to import. I also wish Apple would have a native codec. Premiere Pro has one. For the record, neither Final Cut Express (AIC) or Final Cut Pro (ProRes) have native AVCHD import either.
Pakitt on January 28th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
I have only one comment on iMovie 09, which has probably inherited from 08 – the extremely narrow choice of what video files can be imported in the application. In iMovie 6 you could import for editing any video file that could be viewed with Quicktime. Now iMovie 08 (and 09?) import only MPEG4 movies and sometimes it is picky also on these ones. Unless you have a supported camera.
Then, how do I make a mix of a series of .avi files? how do I trim a movie? with iMovie 6 you could, in iMovie 08/09 you more out of luck.
This is possibly the main reason why I still use iMovie 6 although I own also the ‘08 version.
Harvey on January 28th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
“@Harvey – this is still true. You can’t share back to your camera. I guess this isn’t really an issue for me, although I can see some users complaining. Why not just export to YouTube/MobileMe/etc.? That is the direction iMovie 09 sets for users. Do you use your camcorder as a player too?”
Yeah Matthew I do use my camcorder as a player to view my completed HD projects on my HDTV. They lose too much quality they when get get reduced to 480i via iDVD. YouTube is not practical for me, projects are too long and YouTube’s quality frankly sucks from what I’ve seen, not familiar with MobileMe. I would also like to have a back up copy on mini-dv in case my DVDs ever fail (and from what I hear they just might!). I don’t trust hard drive archiving all that much either. It would also be nice to have that tape copy if you ever wanted to do further editing on your project. Oh well, I’ll pass on ‘09 and just keep using iMovie HD where you can still share. Thanks for your answer!
G. Sassoverde on January 28th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
I don’t think you’re clear on what “tantamount” means.
Barrie Phillips on January 29th, 2009 at 7:07 am
My main use of iMovie through the years has been creation of slideshows of our extended family’s activities through a given year. I preferred it to iPhoto or iDVD because it gave me more control, of titles, transitions, Ken Burns effects, chapters, and background music. For that reason I stuck with iMovie ‘06 through the last update of the suite.
The initial coverage of iMovie ‘09 gave me no hope that this would change, but the Apple tutorial of the app (thanks for the link) made it clear that it can do everything I wanted (although I’m still not clear about background music). At first glance, however, it appears that it may be much more time consuming (perhaps prohibitively so) to accomplish this in ‘09 than in ‘06′.
Josh Sunshine on January 29th, 2009 at 9:27 am
I have one very minor complaint with iMovie ‘09 – If you go to the Clip Inspector, under Speed, there is a line of text on some video clips which says “This clip must be converted before it’s speed can be changed”. This is a grammatical error and should read “before its speed can be changed”.
Staff Comment Matthew Bookspan, TheAppleBlog on January 29th, 2009 at 10:16 am
@ G. Sassoverde. Good point. This should say Paramount.
Adam Blaiss on January 29th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
@Barrie Phillips – I used iMovie 08 for several “slideshows” that included background music, transitions, Ken Burns, titles, and throwing in some movie clips as well. They were as easy as could be to create (never used 06 so no comparison) and I spent maybe an 1 hour on each 6-7 minute slide show. The “hard” part was setting Ken Burns for each photo. The only thing I couldn’t do is slow down some of the video, but 09 will give that to me. Just an FYI.
Barrie Phillips on January 29th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Thanks Adam. I was hoping someone would have the experience I was looking for. On the basis of the tutorial the Ken Burns setup looks a lot like that in Photo-to-Movie and I have some experience with that. I usually do two projects a year, virtually all slides, 45-60 minutes each so that translates into a lot of slides to incorporate, but at first blush it looks feasible. My copy of iLife ‘09 should be here early next week and then I’ll find out for sure.
Jeff Wells on July 22nd, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Hello Barrie,
I was interested in finding out about your expierences with iMovie ‘09. I was reading through the appleblog and noticed your comments from back in January.
I am attempting to do something very similar as you using iMovie rather than iphoto or idvd for my slideshows.
I have been working in iMovie ‘08 but am seriously contemplating going to iMovie ‘09 with its Chapters feature and Theme’s among other things.
Your invovlement/insight and assessment in having already used iMovie ‘06HD and now iMovie ‘09 would be greatly appreciated.
Thankyou in advance,
Baycrew on January 29th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
There is an issue exporting video using Qucktime 1280×720 format – the minimum HD requirement for YouTube and Vimeo. For a detailed overview of the issue click on this thread at the Apple forums.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1884912&tstart=0
A sample of the videos can be viewed here:
http://www.media408.com/apple
If you too are experiencing this issue, please advise.
Thanks!
Nick Ross on January 30th, 2009 at 10:52 am
I am soon to be getting a apple laptop. All their features are great!
Nick Ross
Jvo on January 30th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
@Pakitt: I’m not sure what formats you’re trying to import, but I am able to import AVI-format files containing both DV (rendered on a Windows XP PC) and M-JPEG (from my Canon digital still camera’s movie mode) into iMovie ‘08 without any problems. iMovie finds the clips from my digital camera when it looks at the iPhoto library, and I used the “Import Movies” command to select the DV AVI file. Likewise, I can import DV video over firewire from my Panasonic MiniDV camcorder directly in iMovie. It’s important that people remember that AVI is not a codec; it’s simply a container format like Quicktime MOV files. It’s possible that iMovie will not accept more exotically encoded content from AVIs.
KKCA on February 3rd, 2009 at 11:50 pm
I too am having a GREAT deal of difficulty importing an Mpeg4 (MP4), Avi or Mov files. I was sent by my friend on a PC her 60sec video clip in an MP4 format and could not import it to iMovie. Funny thing iMovie acts like it is importing it and never says its not, it just poof! doesn’t appear! where did it go?
So I broke out my trusty dusty HandBrake and tried changing the file. No luck on using any new conversion of the file. WHY? Will I ever be able to import a file clip?
huhuhu on February 10th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
I don’t understand the missing camera share back complaint. If you need it, or you do hd recordings, you probably need final cut pro or Premiere and not Imovie. Imovie is for family vacation editing and not for editing artistic projects. 5.1 problem is ridiculous, because a camera can’t record 5.1 channel sound – you would need 6 microphones in one tiny camera!
Greg McMahan on February 10th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
I used imovie ‘08 to make a lot of videos. Most of them have logos, text, etc dropped in as images from iphoto. I saved them as tiff files with transparency, so the video showed thru behind the image. It worked great, and allowed me much more control compared to the title feature.
After switching to imovie ‘09, now every one of those images no longer has the transparency. It is just a rectangular block, sometime covering the screen completely. After spending 30 minutes or so on the phone with Apple, it turns out that transparency (in TIFF or PNG files) is not supported. ARGH!!! I now have 29 videos which need to be redone.
Audio hobbio on February 11th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Stereo audio has been standard on better consumer and pro-sumer video cameras since sometime in the Video 8 days (20 years ago), and I have never seen a digital camcorder without stereo. True professional portable video cameras usually do stereo as well, although the soundtracks we hear in the theater are likely to be recorded externally.
I have to argue with Matthew’s comments on 5.1 audio. While many camcorders claim to have 5.1 compliant audio, they still carry single point stereo microphones, which means that they can’t even record decent stereo. If they accept external microphones, they only accept two microphones, which means recording stereo.
Matthew says he doesn’t want his 5.1 dumbed down to stereo. I say that any 5.1 he is getting out of a camcorder has been “tarted up” from marginal stereo. In my view, the market has been dumbed down to the point that it accepts absurd techno-babble and hype on many fronts, especially audio. Good stereo is the best we can capture on a camcorder, and that requires two external mics. Good stereo can be used to synthesize 5.1 audio in the computer (and that is how it is usually done). I would prefer to work with good, clean stereo over any in-camera kludges that pretend to produce 5.1.
I agree that it would be nice if iMovie helped us synthesize 5.1 audio.
JacobusT. on February 14th, 2009 at 1:38 am
L.S.
Is there a stabilization problem im iMovie09 and/or FinalCut Express 4 with video taking with AVCHD camera’s (CMOS) and specialy the Canon HF100.
thank from Jacobus
Kevin on February 27th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
I too have the new Sony HDR SR11, and my iMovie 09 doesn’t recognize the HD clips.
It showed some of the SD clips but no HD clips. The camera is new so I have some SD and some HD clips. I read that the software will not recognize the HD clips when you have SD clips saved on the same harddrive. I deleted the SD clips on the camera, returned the camera to HD mode, then re-activated the USB Connect. Still cannot see the HD file. Help?
What format are you saving to on your Song HD SR11 camera? How do you get iMovie to see the clips for import?
Rob Davidson on February 28th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Kevin, do you have a PPC Mac? HD will only import directly to iMovie 09 on Intel Macs. There is a file converter utility called Voltaic, with which you can convert your AVCHD file to allow it to be compatible with iMovie 09 on PPC Macs.
Deborah Gallegos on March 31st, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Haven’t ever tried it yet, but I really understand the desire to be able to export to mini DV tape (to play from your camcorder to an HDMI TV, archiving & storage purposes, etc.)
What I’m wondering is… can you create your movie in iMovie 09, export it to the highest quality format (?) and then import into iMovie HD 6 where you would export to mini DV tape?
Really roundabout way, I know, but maybe it would be worth it?
Ideas? Experiences with this?
Deborah
Ken on April 10th, 2009 at 8:41 am
What I miss is the ability to view on an external monitor. What you see on the computer is NOT what you see on a TV.
Robert on May 18th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
I just upgraded to a new mac, was checking out imovie, and found this thread..
My thoughts:
I somewhat agree with the thought that Apple is focusing new apps towards basic users.
In the case of iMovie, it would be a dumb business decision to add to many higher end features. Better to get those, who need the features, to pay extra for one of their FCP products.
I do think they dropped the ball on the plugin front.
Selling additional themes would be perfect for example.
While themes are pointless and bushleague for high end FCP users, the average “make a vid of our holiday” user (which iMovie is meant for) would likely love to be able to buy more templates.
Some additional effects would fall into area too.
“HuHuHu” and “audio hobbio” have got it right.
Our news crews commonly have 2 mono mics.. one mounted on the camera and one handheld for the reporter. This provides a redundant backup, and better voice audio quality. Each mic was recorded on one of the 2 audio tracks on the video.
For large video productions you have an audio crew with external gear.
We would then sync up the audio and video when editing.
A handy way to do this is to use a cheap camera mounted mic so you can match it’s audio with the good quality version from the multiple mics that the audio crew uses.
Ever wonder why they have a film slate clapper in the film industry ? It’s so you can sync the film to the audio tracks.
So… The onboard mic is truly useless for good quality audio.
5.1 on the camera ? You gonna have 6 mic input plugs (or 6 crappy mics) on your tiny consumer camcorder ?
5.1 in iMovie ? I don’t see the point. if you have the gear to record real 5.1, then you sure won’t be using iMovie..
@ Macaholic
“…where you are not editing the actual videotape in a LINEAR fashion (having to physically rewind or fast-forward tape), are NON-linear editors because one can access any part of a video without having to shuttle metre after metre of tape to get there.”
Nope… that’s not exactly correct.
“Linear” in this case, has nothing to do with rewinding the tape… it’s to do with how the edit process was done.
Editing direct to video had to be done in a linear fashion.
Linear as in… clip 1,2,3,4… in order… until the end of the show.
You edit the opening of the show, and then edit each clip in the order in which it appears in the show, until you add the end credits.
Once that show was assembled, you could overwrite existing portions of the audio or video.
BUT.. you couldn’t easily put a new clip BETWEEN existing clips.
If you HAD to do that.. you would then have to add the new clip and then RE-EDIT all the clips that were after it… until you got to the end.
Linear.. one clip after the other…
For this reason you had to plan the “edit” before you even sat down to actually do it.
Basically sit with a pen and paper, and write down…
Opening: 1 minute
clip 1 30 secs
clip 2 20 secs
commercial break 2 mins 2 secs
etc etc
You basically created a paper based “edit decision list” EDL
If you calculated wrong, you would have a LOT of work to fix it once you edited it.
“OH OH the show is too short !!!” (or too long)
(we used to joke that we could just fix it with our imaginary “tape stretcher”)
Hardware based systems that supported electronic EDLs, were developed.
They helped speed up the process.
A system like the old CMX could remember the edits you did and fairly quickly (for that era) redo them, by operating the tape machines for you.
This let you add additional content in the middle of the show easier.
This required a bunch of very expensive videotape machines (and other gear). That’s why editing was very very expensive. You would pay hundreds of dollars/hour to rent time in a high end editing suite.
But it was still better than re-editing manually.
Eventually you had computer based NLEs from companies like Quantel (if you were a large rich production company) or AVID.
You could stick clips on a timeline in any order, and adjust them until everything fit your show length, and the producer’s whims.
Hope that enlightens a bit :)
Cheers,
Robert
(P.S. I worked in TV for a long time with the pre NLE gear)
Barrie Phillips on July 23rd, 2009 at 7:28 am
Hi Jeff,
I can tell you that I am now a big fan of iMovie ‘09. It does everything I wanted and is much better than ‘06. It is fast, and the Ken Burns effect is much better – very little pixelation and the moire effects seem to have diminished. See my website (www.barrieandbev.com) for an example of a six minute movie shared to iWeb (at Movies click on 2008 The Short Version). You can compare it with similar movies prepared with earlier versions and I think you will agree that ‘09 is a big improvement.
In this short version I did not include some of the features, such as Map view. In the full movie I used Map view for some travel sequences and I liked that too. Chapters work well, but in my opinion that has worked well for several versions. I have not tried the themes myself.
In summary, I haven’t found anything in iMovie ‘09 that I really disliked.
Jeff Wells on July 23rd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Hi Barrie,
Thankyou for your time (I was not expecting such a quick response) and knowledge. Your insights with regards to ‘09 are informative and greatly appreciated. I believe you have sold me completely on an upgrade to iLife ‘09 and specifically iMovie ‘09 if for nothing else. I will check your web site and the six minute example.
Again, thankyou for all your help.
David on August 3rd, 2009 at 9:54 am
Can an AVI movie file be used with iMovie 09?
iPhone app reviews on October 7th, 2009 at 8:44 am
Great review. I think that the additions to iMove 09 are really nice. Its hard trying to figure out what would be the easiest way for consumers to edit videos without removing all the quality features. I think iMove 09 was able to bridge that gap between quality and ease of use.
Andy on October 19th, 2009 at 2:26 am
I found iMovie ‘09 to be confusing at first, but then it grew to me, and now I use it all the time. To check out a full review please read here: http://applecandyuk.blogspot.com/2009/10/imovie-hd-06-vs-imovie-09.html