How To Edit Video In IMovie

This guide covers iMovie HD 6, but up-to date information and help about other versions can be found at www.apple.com/support/imovie/

All the footage you have imported from your camera or dragged from your desktop will be in the clips palette on the right of the screen. You can drag them individually or as a group onto the timeline at the bottom of the screen.

For the initial arrangement of the clips, use the "clips" view of the timeline and drag them into your desired order. Once you are happy with the arrangement, use these buttons to change to the "timeline" view. Here you can drag the start and end point of your clips to a point that you are happy with. The best technique is to drag the play-head (the line that runs over the timeline) to you desired in or out point, then drag the edge of the clip onto the play-head. If your clip is a great deal longer than you want, it's advisable to crop out the majority of the extra footage to make it easier to handle. Click on the clip on the clips palette and drag these two arrows to the start and end of the part of the clip you want. You can make fine adjustments to the position or the arrows using the arrow keys on your keyboard. Once you are happy with your selection, go to the "edit" menu and select "crop".

You can add effects to your clips by pressing the "Editing" button and choosing "Video FX". Clicking each effect will show you a preview of what it will look like if applied to your preferred clip. Each effect has a series of options below it which are worth playing around with, but if you want your effect to last for the whole clip, make sure the "Effect In" and Effect Out" sliders both set to zero.

You can also add titles and captions to your project. Click the "Editing" button, and select "Titles". The list shows the various kinds of titles you can choose and the controls below are for things like font, speed and colour. You have the titles run over black or over a clip you have selected on the timeline. If you choose "Over Black", iMovie will render a clip of the duration you selected and place it on the timeline.

Save regularly, and don't forget that you can duplicate clips by copying and pasting them back into the clips window. You can undo any edits and effects by right or control clicking on a clip when it's in the clips window, and selecting "Revert clip to original". If you are unhappy with a few of the changes you've made or iMovie starts acting strangely, the best technique is to quit iMovie if necessary and revert back to a earlier saved version of your project.

Once you are happy with the order and size of your clips, you can add transitions between them. Click the "Editing" button, and then the "Transitions" option at the top. Clicking on each transition will trigger a preview of what each effect would look like if it was applied to your currently selected clip. You can change the length of the transition and certain other settings in the panel below the list. Transitions should be added last of all, as they will be removed if you add further effects to a clip on either side of the transition.