Transferring a Movie from a miniDV tape to the computer through iMovie

iMovie allows playback device control, meaning that you can control the digital camcorder through the iMovie software interface.

A. Setting up the hardware

Secure the digital camera, miniDV tape with content and Firewire cable.

·      Insert the smaller end of the Firewire cable into the “DV in/out” socket on the front panel of the camera, underneath the lens. Make sure the larger end of the Firewire cable is inserted into the Firewire socket on the back of the computer.

·      Turn the camera on and make sure your miniDV tape is loaded. Make sure the camera is in Play/VCR mode.

B. Setting up the software

From the Apple menu select Production and Presentation > iMovie > iMovie or use the Launcher to open iMovie.

Overview of the iMovie Interface

When iMovie opens you will see a:

Create a New Project

·  Select File > New Project

    1. Create a folder on the desk
    2. Name your project
    3. Save in your folder

·  Go to Edit > Preferences - turn off automatic scene breaks, make sure that show thumbnails is checked

Two Modes in iMovie

·      Drag the blue knob that is positioned between the DV camera and film icons on the bottom left corner of the Viewer window to the left.

·      After dragging this knob to the left, you should see a blue viewer window that displays the text “Camera Connected.” You are now in capture mode.

Capturing the desired clips

Device Control

·      Once your camera is connected, the control buttons located in the iMovie viewer window can be used to control your digital camera's playback. This is made possible by Firewire™. You will use these buttons to control the particular sections of the tape you want to import into iMovie.

·      Use the rewind or fast forward buttons to get the area of the tape you desire to import.

Let's import the first 50 seconds of footage

  1. Make sure you are at the beginning of your tape by pressing the rewind button underneath the viewer window
  2. Once at the beginning of the tape, click the play button
  3. Click the Import button immediately
  4. Press the Import button again to stop recording this clip

Note: You should rewind or fast forward a few seconds before where you actually want to start importing footage.  So if you want to import tape from 1:05 (one minute five seconds) you should rewind to 1:02 (one minute two seconds).

·      Clicking the import button is what starts and stops the recording. This process is known as "Capture on the Fly" because it requires user interaction.

Notice that as you are recording the clip appears on the shelf and is highlighted in yellow. There is also a running timecode to let you know how long the clip is.

Excercise

  1. Import footage from about 50 seconds (00:50:00) into the tape up to 2 minutes 14 seconds (02:14:00) and name the clip "Music Connections"
  2. Import 02:20:00 to 03:45:00 and name the clip "Africa Now"
  3. Import 06:25:00 to 06:58:00 "Step Show1"
  4. Connect the camera to your partners computer and review the process. By the end of the day each person should have 4 clips in a project that is saved in thier own folder on the desktop. Partners should help each other through the process.

Simple Editing with iMovie

Trimming Clips

Let's take off the first few seconds of unrelated footage

Select the clip "Music Connections" so that it appears in the viewer window

Put the mouse underneath the playback head at the beginning of the clip- white arrowheads appear

Click and drag to select the first few seconds of footage you want to delete

Select Edit > Delete from the menu

Crop Command

Edit > Crop deletes what is not selected

Splitting Clips

Drag the "Africa Now" clip from the shelf to the timeline

Position the playback head around 02: 35:00

Select Edit > Split Video Clip at Playhead

You now have to clips on the timeline. The second clip starts at the point that you split the original clip.

Adding Transitions

Select Edit > Select None or "apple button + D" to make sure that none of your clips are selected on the timeline

Click the Transitions button in the iMovie shelf

Select the Cross Dissolve transition. You can preview it and change the duration of the effect.

Drag it between the first and second clip. You will see a red line that indicates that the effect is rendering.

Add a second transition between the second and third clip.

Adding Titles

Select the Titles button on the iMovie shelf.

Select Centered Title and change the text down below to "Traditional West African Connections"

Drag the title to the timeline in front of the first clip.

Adding Credits

Select the Titles button on the iMovie shelf.

Select Rolling Credits and change the text down below to:

Drag the credits to the timeline after the last clip.

Exporting your movie

Save your project by selecting File > Save or "apple key + S"

Select File > Export Movie