Danny Gorog12 August 2007, 9:53 PM
The new version of Apple iMovie is a radical departure from previous versions. If all you do is simple editing, it's a huge improvement on the previous version. For everything else, there's Final Cut Express.
Apple's timing with the release of iMovie '08, part of the new iLife '08 suite couldn't have been better -- for me at least!
I'm in Los Angeles on a family holiday with my wife and 22 month old child. I've got my Sony HCR 7 in one hand shooting high-def video, and a Nikon D70 SLR in the other. Sometimes my wife even helps out.
But recording is always the easy part. It's coming home with 120 minutes of video and 1000 photos that need editing that is scary.
I've been using iMovie since its first release and am very comfortable with it. So I got a small shock when I loaded the new iMovie '08 onto my MacBook Pro. It's a completely new program, not just a modest upgrade with a re-jigged toolbar and support for the new AVCHD codec (now popular in Sony and Panasonic cameras).
In fact, it's so different that just in case you don't like it Apple has made the old version, iMovie '06, a free download for any buyer of iLife '08.
After spending a couple of nights creating a five minute movie I can tell you that it's a vast improvement from the old version, and as promised, lets you create movies much faster. But those comfortable with the old way are in for a bit of a shock.
 The main iMovie window |
The Good
Like in iPhoto, all video assets are now treated as part of a library, and not as individual projects. This concept is a refreshing change, but one that requires vast amounts of free hard disk space. It also means you can have multiple projects available at the same time and share footage between them.
If you're working in high definition, iMovie lets you select two different modes when importing. The first, and recommended mode is to import your movie in the 'Large' format with a resolution of 960x540. Apple suggest that this mode significantly reduces the file size with little image quality loss. In this mode, a one minute high-def video takes around 140Mb, that's about 2.3Mb per second.
The other quality option is 'Full' with a resolution of 1920x1080. I haven't tried this mode because I was more than happy with 'Large'. As the resolution is effectively quadruple 'Large' expect this mode to use around 9Mb per second. Because you can't burn high-def footage to DVD at native resolution anyway (unless you've got a Blu-ray or HD burner, which no Macs ship with yet) Apple encourages this option as the resolution is higher than DVD anyway.
 Choose an import format |
When you plug in your camera, iMovie brings up the new 'Import from Camera' window. When you select automatic mode, iMovie automatically rewinds the tape and imports all your clips and stores them as iPhoto-like events, based on the date of filming and the name you assign to them. This creates a convenient way to view and manage your footage, and also feels less daunting than viewing all your assets in a big group.
Once iMovie has finished downloading your movie it will automatically rewind your tape to the beginning. (I think a better option here would be to get iMovie to stop the tape after import so you can continue recording where you left off.) If you don't want to import all your footage there is also an option for manual import but I didn't try this.
From a data perspective, clips are now imported in a much more logical order than previously. You'll find your clips in the Movies folder of your home directory, neatly broken down into iMovie Events, Projects and Sharing. Drilling down into events will let you see the individual clips, neatly labelled according to the event title. Like iPhoto, iMovie now creates thumbnail files that it uses in the browser window for easy viewing.
Once your clips have been imported and sorted into events it's time to start building your project. One of the nicest new features is called skimming. Skimming allows you to move your mouse over a clip and get a real time preview of the clip. Instead of watching each clip in its entirety you can move through it quickly. Skimming quickly lets you work out the good from the bad.
Once you've worked out you like a clip you simply click and drag to highlight the section you like (even if it's over multiple clips), then drag-and-drop into the project. You can also use the new reject tool to get rid of footage you don't like. Once you get used to this method putting together the outline of a movie is quick and easy. In fact, it's much more logical than having to use the 'Split at Playhead' command that always confused beginners.
Adding transitions, titles and music is now also even easier. Just select them from the appropriate window and drop into your movie. When selecting photos from iMovie you can also view your images in Events as well, making it quicker to find the right ones.
I always found sound editing tricky in past version of iMovie. Clicking on the click and moving sound levels around was finicky at best. While iMovie '08 loses the ability to individually change the levels within a clip it does add a feature that makes it easier to do basic ducking.
Selecting a clip and clicking the sound button brings up a simplified Audio Adjustment HUD that lets you modify the volume of a track. There is also a nifty check-box that reduces the sound of the other audio track. So for instance if you want to hear what the person in the clip is saying and reduce the volume of the music track you simply check that box and it's done.
Sharing your finished movie is also easy with iMovie '08. You've got plenty of different choices like iTunes, YouTube or Export Movie. Selecting any of these options brings up a neat table that lets you select your output format based on the end destination. iMovie lives in the Apple universe so all your output choices relate to Apple products except for YouTube.
 Exporting is easy. Just make sure you're exporting to other Apple devices or YouTube. |
Another good change is that iMovie doesn't require you to save as you go. Apparently, like in iPhoto, any changes that are made are automatically saved. Even though iMovie crashed a few times while I was editing I didn't lose any data along the way. Now that's a nice change from past versions that did crash and burn frequently.
Lastly, cleaning up after your video is also easy thanks to the new 'Space Saver' option in the file menu. iMovie offers to Reclaim space by moving rejected clips, or clips not added to any project to the trash.
 Deleting unused footage is easy. |
The Bad
While most upgrades add features, Apple sometimes takes them away. The new iMovie, for example, has completely lost the ability to add effects to video. No sepia, no black and white, no effects period. Want to speed up or slow down your movie? Sorry, no can do. The only 'effect' you can perform is to crop video.
Like I mentioned previously, there's also no way to manually edit sound levels either. This should at least be optional and I suspect this area of the program will receive an upgrade in the next version.
Another problem is the lack of support for external storage. There is no obvious way to get iMovie to import to an external drive, however if you use the manual export mode you can export to a custom location.
While exporting to .Mac and iTunes worked flawlessly uploading to YouTube crashed every time. I'm not whether that's to do with my Internet connection or a program error. Either way, I gave up.
With these glaring issues it's obvious that iMovie '08 is squarely aimed at basic video editing. It's also obvious that it's a 1.0 release. If you need anything more sophisticated you'll want to look at iMovie '06 or move up to Final Cut Express.
Conclusion
While iMovie '08 does have some drawbacks, I've been really impressed by its performance. Admittedly, I'm using the latest MacBook Pro but it handled all the editing very smoothly. Adding titles and transitions is now a no-brainer, and exporting is even easier. I'm happy to say that I'll never go back to iMovie '06 because the new version lets me create the same movie in about a quarter of the time. It also feels like high def support was built into iMovie '08 from the start, while it was bolted on to iMovie 06 and was always a compromised solution.
If you're into basic video editing, or have one of the latest AVCHD cameras iMovie is a must-have. It's worth the $99 upgrade fee by itself. Include new versions of iPhoto, Garageband, iWeb and iDVD and its got to be the easiest upgrade decision this year.
It's free on new Macs or part of iLife 08, which is $AU99 for everyone else (available from $AU93.50 online.)