iMovie '09 and iDVD: The Missing Manual (Paperback)

~ David Pogue (Author), Aaron Miller (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Apple's iMovie '09 is more accessible and comprehensive than iMovie '08--and impressive right out of the box. The one thing not in the box is a user's guide, and that's where this book comes in. You'll make the most out of the applications if you get help from the experts. iMovie '09 and iDVD: The Missing Manual explains everything you need to know to turn raw digital footage into high quality film.

Stabilizing Shaky Footage
By David Pogue and Aaron Miller

Not every piece of video needs fancy effects. In fact, most video is probably better without a Dream filter and Picture-in-Picture. The unadulterated stuff straight from your camera usually looks best. In fact, if your footage needs any help at all, it’s probably in the cameraman department. Don’t take this personally. Handheld shots, the most common kind of home video, are notoriously unstable, and that’s an instant giveaway that you’re an amateur. You can have the hands of a surgeon and still end up with shaky footage. This is true even with all the newfangled image stabilization technology that comes in the latest cameras. Don’t give up (and don’t resort to carrying a tripod everywhere). iMovie ’09 can stabilize your video after the fact, using one of its most amazing new features. Video Stabilization iMovie has powers that leave other “beginner” video-editing programs panting with envy. It’s filled with tools that have historically been found only in professional editing programs. iMovie’s stabilization feature, for example, is inherited from Apple’s $1,000 Final Cut Pro software. It works by analyzing every single frame in a clip, recognizing the changes in both camera position (movement up, down, left, or right) and camera rotation. Once it figures that bit out, it knows how to slide and rotate your clips to iron out the shakes. Unfortunately, this sort of analysis takes a very long time—roughly ten minutes for every minute of video (more or less depending on your Mac’s speed). The results, however, are worth it. The stabilization feature works absolute magic on most jerky, bumpy handheld footage. It works so well, in fact, that it can look positively creepy, as though you were floating along on a magic carpet. Fortunately, there’s a slider that lets you control how much stabilizing goes on. Four Ways to Trigger Stabilization Analysis Before iMovie can stabilize your video, it has to perform the above-mentioned analysis, which takes a long time. Fortunately, you have a lot of control over when the program does this processing: 1) Stabilize during import. You’re offered the opportunity to perform the analysis when you bring the footage into your Mac, as described in Chapter 1. 2) Stabilize selected clips. You can analyze certain clips at any time. Select one, or a group of them, and then choose File-->Analyze for Stabilization. 3) Stabilize an entire Event. In the list, click an Event’s name and then choose File-->Analyze for Stabilization. This option is great if the Event in question is someone jumping on a trampoline during an earthquake. 4) Stabilize a clip in the Event Browser. Double-click the clip to open the Inspector panel. Click Analyze Entire Clip as shown in Figure 7-1. 5) Stabilize a clip that’s already in the storyboard. Point to the clip, and then from the gear-icon menu, choose Clip Adjustments. On the panel that appears, turn on “Smooth clip motion.” This is a great trick when you’re looking over a project in progress and discover that one particular jerky shot is ruining the flow. It can also save you a lot of time, because iMovie stabilizes only the 20 seconds of a clip that you’ve actually used—plus an additional second on either side—rather than processing the 15-minute original (see Figure 7-2). If you later decide to lengthen the clip you stabilized (by more than a second), you’ll need to do more analyzing. The once-checked checkbox in the Inspector will require rechecking. Fortunately, iMovie analyzes only the new part you added that wasn’t already analyzed. Then go knit a sweater while you wait for your Mac to analyze your footage.

Be prepared for a wait when you decide to analyze a clip. Depending on the speed of your computer, it can take between five and twelve minutes (or longer for older Macs) for every minute of footage stabilized. If you have a lot to analyze, let the Mac do its job overnight while you get some beauty sleep.

A stabilized clip in your project displays a checkmark in the Stabilization box, plus the Maximum Zoom slider. Turn Stabilization on and off all you like; iMovie never has to analyze a clip but once.

Product Description

Bursting with new features, Apple's iMovie '09 is vastly more usable and complete than iMovie '08--amazing right out of the box. But the box doesn't include a good user's guide, so learning these applications is another matter. iMovie '09 and iDVD: The Missing Manual gets you up to speed on everything you need to turn raw digital footage into highly creative video projects.

You get crystal-clear, jargon-free explanations of iMovie's new video effects, slow & fast motion, advanced drag & drop, video stabilization, and more. Author and New York Times tech columnist David Pogue uses an objective lens to scrutinize every step of process, including how to:

Organize your videos just like your photos, and precisely edit with ease

Work on multiple iMovie projects at once and drag & drop clips among them

Integrate with other iLife programs to use songs, photos, and an original sound track

Output your creation to a blog, its own web page, or as a video podcast with iWeb

Understand basic film techniques to improve the quality of the video you bring to iMovie

From choosing and using a digital camcorder to burning the finished work onto DVDs, posting it online, or creating versions for iPod and iPhone, iMovie '09 & iDVD: The Missing Manual helps you zoom right in on the details.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 463 pages
• Publisher: Pogue Press (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596801416
• ISBN-13: 978-0596801410
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,217 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This item is part of The O'Reilly Missing Manuals Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great manual from Pogue Press, May 17, 2009

By	John A. Suda (Rochester NY) - See all my reviews

When Apple updated, or more accurately, replaced the well-regarded iMovie 6 in late 2007 with iMovie `08, many users were disappointed if not outraged. `08 was an entirely different application and eliminated many features of iMovie 6 which users had grown to depend on. Now, with the new iMovie `09, users have a good reason to be happy again. Some lost features are back, many features are improved, and a whole lot of new features have been added.

Pogue Press/O'Reilly's new book "iMovie `09 and iDVD" covers the new iMovie in a comprehensive way emphasizing the linkages of the new application to iMovie 6. The book is another of the "Missing Manual" series that follows the established brilliant template of comprehensive feature descriptions and explanations, practical guidance and tips, honest critique, and articulate and witty expression. Co-author David Pogue is known as one of the world's greatest communicators. Here he is assisted by Aaron Miller who focuses on updates from the previous edition of the book.

The book is comprised of three parts and four very useful appendices which include a full menu by menu guide, a troubleshooting guide, a master list of keyboard shortcuts, and an unusual visual client sheet describing the various components of the open iMovie project window. Part Three of the book is all about iDVD, which has not changed since the last edition of the book. That part covers the basics of the application; menus, slideshows, and mapping; designing themes; and some advanced techniques.

The opening part covers everything a user needs to know about the iMovie program from importing video and media, to constructing the visual and audio tracks, using special effects, editing with the built-in correction tools (image stabilization, color adjustments, cropping, etc.) adding titles and credits, and a short chapter on the artistic elements of editing. After your masterpiece is done, the authors explain in Part Two how to save and format it, distribute it, back it up and archive it, and adapt it to multiple formats for viewing on the web, iPhone, YouTube, and other hosts.

As usual with any "Missing Manual" book, the book is richly produced with plenty of full-color screenshots and photos, filled with Tips, Notes, FAQs, advanced material, and sidebar material. For those features of iMovie 6 not included in the new application, the authors provide more than adequate workarounds. There are also supplemental sections on Garage Band and QuickTime player applications basics. Pogue is known for including not only practical professional tips on movie making, but also purchasing recommendations and efficiency and production suggestions from his own experience.

This is a top-notch guide to iMovie `09 and iDVD.

35 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Save youself the $40 dollars, June 3, 2009

By	S. Stoessel "bugbears2000" (Niskayuna, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The information presented in the book can be readily gleaned from the tutorials provided by Apple. If you have recorded scenes from, say, "Buffy and Bill's Big Adventure in San Diego" this book and iMovie are for you. Anything more complicated or lengthy is beyond this book. Trying to make a DVD of my daughter's play convinced me that iMovie and iDVD couldn't do the job. I thought the book could help me, but alas, it's simply a repeat of Apple's literature. Troubleshooting was virtually non-existent and utterly irreverent. For example, the one-step DVD routine produced a fuzzy video on playback, although in iMovie and on the camera, the focus is fine. The only change is that the iMovie rendered the movie for DVD, but there is nothing in the book about the rendering process. Another true story -- the book never admits that iMovie can't produce a DVD with chapters that play sequentially. Instead it speaks of the freedom you have to move the clips around. The damnable movie themes seem to be a permanent feature. The only true recommendation the book presents is to upgrade to the professional version or iMovie 06 if you have problems. The whole book comes across as a quick knock-off, rather than the detailed guide to the program.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BREAK A LEG!!, June 5, 2009

By	John R. Vacca "Tech Write Independent Reviewer" (Pomeroy, Ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Do you want to know more about iMovie and iDVD? If you do, then this book is for you! Authors David Pogue and Aaron Miller, have done an outstanding job of writing a book that is designed to be used as the ultimate iMovie and iDVD manual.

Pogue and Miller, begin by showing you how to transfer your footage into iMovie; edit your clips; place them into a timeline; add crossfades and titles; work with your soundtracks; and, more. Next, the authors present step-by-step instructions on how to take your cinematic masterpiece on your screen to the world, by looking at how iMovie excels at exporting your work to- the Web; YouTube; an iPod or iPhone; an Apple TV; a QuickTime file on your hard drive; or, iDVD for burning. Finally, the authors cover the world's easiest-to-use DVD design and burning software.

This most excellent book explores each iMovie feature in depth; offers illustrated catalogs of the various title and transition effects; offers shortcuts and workarounds; and, unearths features that the online help doesn't even mention. More importantly, it provides a complete course in film editing and DVD design.