Adding Video Special Effects to a Movie

1. Select the clips you want to add special effects to by holding down the shift key and clicking on each one. Click on Effects at the bottom of the shelf window.

2. The Effects available to use are listed in the window below Effect In and Effect Out. Click on the one you would like to use and it will be shown in the window above the effect choices.

3. Click Preview to view the effects before they are added to your movie.

 

 
4. After determining if the effects enhance your movie, click Apply and the effect will be added to your clip. The image below shows the progress in red as the effect is being added to the clip.
Adding Transitions Between Clips
1. Transitions can help you move from one clip to the next smoothly. To add a transition between clips, click on Transitions and choose one of the transition choices. Select the clip where you want to add a transition by clicking on it with your mouse.
2. The slider controls the length of the transition and can be moved from right to left by holding down the mouse and dragging the blue ball in either direction. Once you have determined the length of the transition, click on Preview to view how the transition will work.
3. Once you have determined that the transition enhances your movie, click on the transition, hold your mouse down and drag the transition between the two clips you have selected. A transition icon will appear between the two clips that are involved in the transition.

4. To view only the transition, click on the transition icon and press down on the space bar. Only the transition will play.
Adding a Fading In Transition at the Beginning of a Movie
1. Transitions can help you move into your movie smoothly. To add a transition at the beginning of your movie, click on Transitions and choose one of the transition choices.

 

For this example, Fade In was chosen.

 
2. The slider controls the length of the transition and can be moved from right to left by holding down the mouse and dragging the blue ball in either direction. Once you have determined the length of the transition, click on Preview to view how the transition will work.

3. Once you have determined that the transition will enhance the start of your movie, click on the transition, hold your mouse down and drag the transition to the space before the beginning of the first clip. The area where the transition will be added will change color. The image to the right shows the shadow of the transition being added.

4. A transition icon will appear before the first clip.
Adding Sound Effects to Video Clips

1. To add a sound effect to a video clip, click on Audio and choose a sound effect.

Note: Make sure you extract any extra audio before you add the sound effects.

 
2. To add the sound effect, click on it, hold down the mouse key, and drag it to the area on audio track 1 or 2 where you want it to play. The image to the right shows the sound effect as a shadow before the mouse button is released.

3. Where the sound effect is added determines when it plays during the video clip.

For example, if the sound effect is added at the beginning of the video clip, it will play throughout entire video clip.

Note: To delete a sound effect, highlight it by clicking on it then click on the Delete key or choose Cut from the Edit menu.
Adding Music to Video Clips
Music can be added to your video in one of two ways. One, by importing an AIFF or MP3 files or adding music directly from an audio CD. Make sure you read up on Copyright and Fair Use before you add copyrighted music to your movie.

1. To add music from an audio CD, place your CD in the computer's CD-ROM drive. If the CD starts playing automatically, click the play button in the center of the control panel to stop it.

2. Select a Track to add to the video by clicking on it.

3. To add the entire track, click on the track, hold down the mouse button, and drag the track to the selected place on audio track 1 or 2.

The audio track is shown as a shadow before the mouse button is released.

4. A progression box will appear which will show the audio track being imported to the video.

5. Once the importing of the audio track is complete, the track will be visible below the video clip where it was placed.

6. Another way to add audio for a CD is to record the audio directly into the video.

7. Click on the track you want to record and click Record Music.

Note: By adding an audio track this way, you can control the length of the clip so it can be shorter than the video clip, the same length or longer.

8. When you want the recording to stop, click on the stop button.
9. The audio clip will be added to your movie clip.
Adding a Narrative to Video Clips
1. To add a voice narration to your video, place the arrow at the point in the video where you want to begin recording.

2. Click on Record Voice and begin speaking into the microphone.

Note: If you do not have a built-in microphone or an external microphone, you cannot record narration directly into your video.

 

3. The audio will be added to the video clip as you narrate.
4. Click the stop button when you have completed the narration.
Adding a Title to a Movie
1. Place the arrow at the beginning of your video.

2. Choose Titles from the menu bar. Pick one of the types of choices listed for how the title will appear in your video. For this example, Drifting was chosen.

3. Type in your title and name at the lower center and choose a Font Type and a Font Size. Choose a font color by clicking on the box next to color.

Note: The Font Type can be chosen by clicking on the downward arrow next to Trebuchet MS. The Font Size can be chose by moving the slide bar towards the lowercase letter a for a smaller type or towards the uppercase A for a larger type.

4. Choose Over Black if you want the title to appear on a black screen before the video begins. If you want the title to appear on the actual video, do not check this box.

5. Click the Preview button to view your title.

6. Click on File Save Project after your title page is complete.
Now that your movie is complete, go to Sharing a Movie to learn how to export your movie so others can view it!
©2001-2002 April A. Cleveland for Science Junction, NC State University.
All rights reserved.
URL: http://www.ncsu.edu/sciencejunction/route/usetech/iMovie/enhance/index.html
Last updated 07/31/02

| Digital Movies | Learning to Use Technology  | Teaching With Technology |