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More and more photographers now own DSLR cameras that are able to film High-Definition (HD) video clips. This has increased the interest in filming and editing video footage, but there are many still photographers who have never tried to do this before. So photo.net has started creating some articles and tutorials to help our members learn a little bit more about video editing.
This article is a very basic tutorial on how to take your DSLR video footage and do simple editing with Apple’s iMovie. While we use footage from a Canon 5d Mk II for our example, the process is the same for any HD camera footage. For non HD-footage, the process is virtually the same as well, you just need to make a different choice when setting up your project and for some exporting choices.
Click on thumbnail images for larger version.
First, start up iMovie and choose “Create a New Project” from the menu.
A box will pop up that asks you to choose a name and saving location for your iMovie project. Name and locate the project in whatever fashion suits you. The important part is the “video format” dropdown menu (if you do not see the “video format” dropdown menu, click the little gray triangle next to the words “video format” to expand the box). If you are using HD footage, you will need to choose one of the two HD formats or your video will not display properly when you go to export it at the end of the editing process. If you are using a camera that films in 1920Ã1080 resolution such as the Canon 5D MK II as we are using here, you should choose “HDV 1080i” (though 1920Ã1080 resolution is actually 1080p, but that is another subject). If you are using a camera that films in 1280×720 resolution such as the Nikon D90, then you should choose “HDV 720p”. Make your choice and click “Create”.
A note for non HD video editing: This article is based around the HD video that the current DSLR’s create because that is the feature that has increased interest in video on photo.net recently. But I think it’s fair to say that all of us also have point and shoot or “prosumer” cameras that will film video these days as well. If your smaller camera will film in HD, then just follow the advice above. If it only films in a lower resolution, you will need to pick a different video format from the drop down menu in order for your project to display correctly in the end. Most, but not all, other video resolutions will probably display correctly if you choose “DV” as your format.
Now you will be looking at the iMovie “dashboard” (it probably has some other real name) and a big black rectangle where the video should be. Why is there nothing there? Because you have to import your video clips first before you’ll see anything. To do that, go to the “file” menu up at the top and click on “import”.
You will be presented with the standard “choose your file” box. Find the folder where you have saved your video files and choose the file (or files) you wish to edit then click “open”.
A note about file extensions: When choosing the file you want to import, you should be looking for files with extensions such as .AVI, .MOV, & .MP4. These are all video file formats. Depending on what method you used to copy your video files to your computer, you may run into files that have the exact same name as your video files, but have the extension .THM (for example: MVI_4031.MOV & MVI_4031.THM). These are simply thumbnail images for your video files. They allow your computer to display a thumbnail image from the video as an icon when you are looking at a folder of video files. The .THM file also contains the EXIF data for the video file, camera used, shutter/aperture, and other data. The .THM file is not technically needed for the video files and it is up to you if you want to keep it or not. But in any case, you won’t be doing anything with it during the editing process.
The “importing files” status bar will pop up and the files will take some time to be imported. The time will vary with the length and size of the files being imported.
Once importing is complete, thumbnails of the imported files will appear in the “clips” area of the iMovie as thumbnails.
Now that you have your file (or files) imported, you need to put them onto the timeline. The timeline is the horizontal area at the bottom of the iMovie screen. If you have nothing on the timeline, you will see a “Drag clips here to build your project” message, and that is exactly what you need to do. Click-hold on a video clip, drag it down to the timeline, and then release the mouse button. The clip will now take up residence on the timeline.
If you have multiple clips you want to add, you just drag and drop each of them into the timeline. However, as your movie gets longer, it may be easier to switch from “timeline” view to “clip” view. To do this, look for the two buttons on the left hand side just above the timeline. One will look like a clock and the other like a frame of film. Clicking the frame of film button will put you into “clip” view and clicking the clock button will put you back into “timeline” view.
This is a comparison of the two different ways to view the clips in your movie. On top is the “timeline” view and below is the “clip” view. No matter which view you are using, you can click-hold-drag-drop to move the clips around and change their order.
Even if you are just making a movie out of a single video clip, chances are good that you’ll want to trim a little off the beginning or end. Doing this just involves a few quick steps. Place the “playhead” at the point in your movie that is right between the video footage you want to cut out and the footage you want to keep. You can click and drag the playhead across the timeline manually or you can just the video control buttons above the timeline to play and pause right where you want to cut. Then go to the “edit” menu at the top of the page and choose “split video clip at playhead”.
Now you will have two different clips. The stuff you want to get rid of and the stuff you want to keep. Click on the piece that you want to get rid of, it will now be highlighted. Now simply press the “delete” key on your keyboard and the junk footage will be gone. You will also see the timeline tighten back up automatically to get rid of the extra space.
Once you have the clip (or clips) looking the way you want it, you are ready to export to tape, dvd, or quicktime. The “export” option is in the “file” menu at the top of the page.
A note about exporting: There are a number of different ways you can export your video when you are done with it. What process you use depends on how you want your video to be viewed. The method to export a video for a DVD is different than the method to export a video that you intend to upload to a video sharing site on the internet.
In the third to last paragraph there is a typo as you wrote, "You can click and drag the playhead across the timeline manually or you can just the video control buttons above the timeline to play and pause right where you want to cut."
Something is missing around the word "just"
Thanks for the article. Unfortunately it certainly highlights the lack of BluRay support by Apple.
