Evidence for SA4.2 - A podcast about: HowTo - use iMovie to make a podcast

18 Oct 2008, 10:35

Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 18 Oct 2008, 10:59

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A podcast about: HowTo - use iMovie to make a podcast
(Or simply how to edit video simply!) - By Jose Martel Penate

http://www.switchpod.com/users/jm4298/feed.xml

Why do a HowTo use a Mac application when everyone is using pcs/Windows?
Well, I don't have a pc to hand right now, and you can get an idea of the simplicity that characterises Macs.

About the podcast

My voice is quite low in the voiceover, you may need to turn the volume up. I was trying not to wake my daughter who was sleeping in the same room. I also muttered a bit and was a bit nasally - I'm getting a cold. And the blurry image quality, it's not great, but it's good enough to see what I'm getting at.

I'm going to try to upload the 2 minute 7 second video as an MPEG4 ("mp4") .m4v file (24.9), as a QuickTime .mov file (73MB), and as a DivX .divx file (17.4MB) [nope, Switchpod won't upload divx files]. Despite the difference in file sizes, and even with a less blurred image, image quality is comparable (I think).

Notes/corrections to the voiceover (Nope, not doing that voiceover again!)

- Aspect ratio is not the "shape of the screen", it's the shape of the video's viewable area and defines the proportions of people and things in the video - "the ratio of the width to the height of the image", (my computer's Dictionary, Version 2.0.2 (51.4).

- You choose bits of video clips using the mouse to move the cursor/arrow/pointer, and left click (and hold, i.e. keep button pressed) to indicate the start of your selection and drag the cursor to the end of your selected (bit of) clip where you indicate the end by lifting your finger off the left mouse button. The yellow outline shows what you've selected. You then left click and hold anywhere within the yellow area and drag the clip to the Project area.

You may notice that while dragging the 2nd clip I dropped it before getting to the project area, and the Source Video area scrolled up. This didn't matter because all I had to do was scroll down again and grab the clip where it was waiting for me (in it's place) exactly as I had selected it.

A point to note here is that you don't actually do anything to the original video; iMovie uses metadata to remember your selections and compile your finished "movie". Your original video always stays safe - unless you choose to delete it.

- As you move the cursor over the thumbnails the Viewer (in the top right-hand corner) shows what the cursor is moving over, at the speed the cursor is moving and in the direction the cursor is moving. As this happens you can listen to the soundtrack as well or have it turned off if you prefer. This is a great feature that lets you quickly search through your video at the speed you want, in the direction you want, stopping whenever and skipping huge sections if you like, with the Viewer always showing the bit/instant of video that the cursor is over.

http://www.switchpod.com/users/jm4298/feed.xml