Apple iMovie HD User Manual download pdf (Page 20)

First Note: Dragging and “Edge Dragging”. You can only move a clip along the

Timeline by dragging in its middle, that is anywhere but on its end. If you try to grab

a clip by its end, your cursor will change shape to enable Edge Dragging, allowing

you to lengthen or shorten the amount of time for which a clip plays in the Timeline.

(IMPORTANT: Edge Dragging does not work if you have audio levels switched on,

that’s the rubber band I mentioned earlier. To switch the rubber band on/off go

VIEW > SHOW CLIP VOLUME LEVELS. For more on the rubber band see xii

below on page 31.) The shape into which the cursor turns when you attempt an Edge

Drag indicates in which direction that clip can be lengthened or shortened. For

example, if you place your cursor at the start of your voice-over audio clip, which has

no unused sound ahead of it, it becomes an arrow that points to the right, indicating

that the only way Edge Dragging could affect the clip would be to shorten it, that is,

to clip off the first words spoken—not something you want to do.

At this stage, then, Edge Dragging is not useful. Later, though, particularly when you

start working with stills and video clips, Edge Dragging will come into its own. (See

10.iii “Working with pictures in the Timeline”, pages 23-26.)

Second Note: “Ghosted” Playhead. The moment you begin dragging the audio clip,

the Playhead will jump to the start of the clip and stick there, moving along with the

clip as you drag. However, a ghost of the Playhead remains at the 6 seconds marker

to help you line-up your clip at the precise place where you want it to start playing.

Learning to use the Playhead in tandem with its ghost like this is the key to lining-up

all your clips in the Timeline whether they be still pictures, video or audio.

Okay, now set the Playhead at the beginning (l-h end) of the Timeline on 0:00:00

seconds and we can get on with making some Titles to fill the first 6 seconds of our

movie:

a) Titles Button: the “Titles” button is reached by clicking on the “Editing”

button at the bottom of the Assets Pane. The Titles button is at the top left of

the Assets Pane, click it.

1 2 ... 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ... 39 40

No comments

Apple iMovie HD User Manual Page 20