Archive for the ‘Tips’ Category
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
I have started to re evaluate iMovie 8 (part of iLife 09) as a tool for digital storytelling. I was beginning to warm to it until I began some tests to nail down it’s behaviour with still images.
Now it’s driving me to distraction – it’s so inconsistent. So my write up will take a bit longer than I’d hoped. On the whole, at this stage, I’m disappointed with iMovie 8. Transitions make a mess of timings, fine editing is tedious and too many numbers have to be typed into boxes when dragging a clip edge should do the job. More later – hopefully with fewer grumbles …… or perhaps I just need to lock myself away in a darkened room to calm down and wish for a bug fix in Snow Leopard for iMovie HD.
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Thursday, November 26th, 2009
I’ve been evaluating Photo to Movie from LQ Graphics as a tool for digital storytelling. My favourite application is iMovie HD. It’s not perfect but better the devil you know – and I know iMovie pretty well now and still discover tricks that make me think “how clever”.
When Apple rewrote iMovie for iLife 08 it presented a host of problems for digital storytellers. The most obvious one is the total lack of a timeline in the conventional video editing style. It can be pressed into use for digital storytelling but for a new user there is a serious lack mouse functions for stills. Almost all of the digital stories told in my workshops are told by beginners using still images. Things improved in iLife 09 but not enough for me to start using it over the HD version.
Building Affected for Life? in Photo to Movie
Last month someone alerted me to Photo to Movie. A package written specifically for still images. It has a timeline and is capable of creating something more sophisticated than a simple slideshow by the use of highly configurable zoom and pan functions. It integrates quite well with iTunes and iPhoto, and so things looked hopeful as I read the help files and absorbed the basic functions. There are also Mac and Windows versions. But would it live up to my hopes? (more…)
Tags: "photo to movie", application, digitalstorytelling, editing, evaluate, iLife, images, iMovie, keyframes, movie, photo, review, Software, timeline, transitions, workshop, zoom
Posted in Opinion, Resources, Software, Tips, Tutorial | 1 Comment »
Friday, November 6th, 2009
LQ Graphics Photo to Movie.
I’m testing this software for use in my workshops. It’s available in Mac and Windows versions. There’s a timeline and it works under Snow Leopard. With no sign of a fix for iMovie 6 under Snow Leopard and the download no longer available on the Apple website, I have to do something. So what are the choices?
iMovie ‘09 – limited still image functions
Final Cut Express 4 – complicated for first time users
Photo to Movie – under test
If you have any experience of using this software or suggestions of other software I would value hearing about it.
Posted in Opinion, Resources, Software, Tips | No Comments »
Friday, April 24th, 2009
10 Things Every Final Cut Pro User Should Know | Mac|Life.
A really useful basic user guide presented in a series of video tutorials.
Tags: aplle, editing, finalcut, Tutorial, video
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Monday, April 20th, 2009
It’s time to enrol for the Digital Storytelling Festival in Aberystwyth. The date for this year is 17th June 2009 at the Arts Centre on the campus of the University of Wales. It’s always good value and if you’re travelling you can stay overnight on the campus for a very reasonable rate.
There’s more information here
Sadly I can’t be there this year as I’m running a workshop in Dorset on that date.
Tags: festival, Wales
Posted in Event, News, Resources, Tips | 1 Comment »
Monday, April 20th, 2009
Final Cutters
A useful site for editors and storytellers using Apple’s Final Cut and to tempt you to visit there’s a software prize on offer too.
Tags: Apple, finalcut
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Friday, April 3rd, 2009
If you’re a Final Cut user (Express or Pro) this plugin is free and very handy.
It produces a result like this:
Lower thirds captioning
Tags: edit, finalcut, video
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Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
This a rather techy article from Macworld but it is very useful. The quality of exported video from iMovie is often disappointing for a number of reasons. This article tackles only one format, 720 line HD, but the principles can be applied to others too. It’s well worth a read. If you understand it, fine. If not you may need a more elementary lesson in video formats.
Tags: formats, iMovie, video
Posted in Software, Tips, Tutorial | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
The new iMovie ‘09 appears to have the same serious limitation on using stills as the previous version. Drag a still into the project and it’s duration is set by default to 4 seconds. In any other video editing software changing the duration is just a matter of dragging the end of the clip to the right place on the timeline. In the new iMovie you have to click on a tiny icon and enter the duration from the keyboard in seconds (no frames as in iMovie 6 HD). A matter of trial and error in equal quantities.
I found out about this from the Apple iMovie ‘09 tutorial so I have posted a question on the iMovie ‘09 discussion on the Apple Site to see if anyone had discovered a workaround. In the meantime I’ll be using version 6 HD, which I am assured does work after iLife ‘09 has been installed.
Tags: Apple, iMovie
Posted in Opinion, Software, Tips, Tutorial | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
iLife ‘09 was released today. It was also the day that the free download page for iMovie HD 6 was removed.
Apple allowed users to download the earlier version because iMovie 08 was such a radical change that many users were left without some essential functions – timeline editing to name just one.
I can only assume that because iMovie ‘09 has more functions Apple thinks that the old application is no longer needed. What they will have failed to take into account is the way that Digital Storytellers use iMovie using a narrated voice track and still images compiled on a timeline. Even if ‘09 is capable it will take time for workshop leaders like myself to devise new workflows and update their user manuals.
It seems that iMovie HD is still on the Apple Support servers and can be downloaded by following this link. iMovie HD So get your copy now and keep it somewhere safe. You may still need it for a while yet – you may even prefer it.
Story first seen on MacRumours.com
Tags: Apple, iMovie, Software
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