Help with iMovie, please?!! (New & thick user!)

[Harna]

Hi there,

I'm not sure if I am in the right place but here goes . . .

I have been using a PC for 12 years and have just made the leap to a Mac. I have got a MacMini (256mb) woth OS x v.10.4.8. . . . . I hope that means something to someone as I know NOTHING and have simply plugged it in and tried to use it. So far, it's been pretty good but then I've only been browsing the net, downloading music and emailing!

Today, I plugged my video camera in and managed to surprise myself by creating a little film in iMovie. It was all going really well until I attempted to put a title in - and I have sat here cursing at the thing for over an hour!

Can someone help, please?! I have read the tutorial, read the instructions and even looked online for further help but to no avail.

Apparently, I "simply" need to add my chosen text to the frame by dragging and dropping. IT WON'T DO IT! Everytime I drag and drop, it pings straight back to the text-type box. I have tried everything. Incidentally, the 'update' button never un-greys so I can't click on that. . . . I've tried creating a new coloured frame, tried placing the text over the first frame and also clicking the 'over black' button but it still pings back. . . .

What am I doing wrong?!

Any help would be *gratefully* appreciated!

Thanks for reading!

 

[searay345]

Hello Harna and Welcome!

I don't mess around with iMovie that much, but I may be able to still help out.

First of all, what version of iMovie do you have?

I have iMovie HD 6.0.3 (267.2). You can find your version by opening iMovie and in the upper left hand corner, clicking on iMovie and click on About iMovie.

If we have the same version, here is how I inserted a title:

Open up your iMovie project --> click on the editing tab --> click on titles --> select the title that you wish to use --> then make your additions and revisions in the provided boxes. When all is said and done, drag the title you have chosen into the large gray space and release. I know you have looked at instructions already, but I am going to copy and paste the instructions from my iMovie program here. I have followed them and it worked for me.

Adding titles or text

With iMovie HD, you can add a variety of text to your movie, including film titles, credits, subtitles, and much more. You can also select a font and color for your text and chose how you want it to move on and off screen.

Tip: When creating a title, be sure its duration isn't longer than the duration of the video clip or color clip that it appears over. You can place a short title sequence on a longer clip, but you can't place a long title sequence on a short clip.

IMPORTANT: To add titles to a clip that contains a transition, remove the transition first, and then add your text and reapply the transition.

To create a title for a clip:

Click the Editing button, and then click Titles at the top of the Editing pane.
Select a title style from the titles list.
You see a preview of the title in the iMovie monitor.

If necessary, set a direction for the title using the arrow buttons.
Type the text you want in the text fields.
Some title styles include Add (+) or Delete (-) buttons so you can add or delete lines of text.

To change the color of the text, click the Color box to select a color.
Choose a font style from the Family and TypeFace pop-up menus, and drag the size slider to change text size.
Drag the speed slider and pause slider to change the duration of the title.
The title's total duration is the sum of the speed and the pause durations, shown at the bottom of the Titles pane.

If you want the title to appear over a black background, select the "Over black" checkbox.
You can set the origination point of some title styles. If you see a position indicator in the iMovie monitor, drag it to a location in the monitor where you want the title to begin.

To add the title to your movie, do one of the following:

To have your title appear over black, make sure you selected the "Over black" checkbox in step 8 above, and drag the title from the titles list to where you want it to appear in the clip viewer or timeline viewer.

To have the title start over the beginning of a clip, make sure you did not select the "Over black" checkbox in step 8 above, and drag the title from the titles list to the left of the clip you want to play underneath the title.

To have the title start in the middle of a clip, move the playhead to where you want the title to start, and then click the Add button at the bottom of the Titles pane. (Because iMovie titles can only start at the beginning of a clip, iMovie creates a new clip at the spot where you want your title to begin by splitting the existing clip in two.)

If the title you created is shorter than the video clip you added it to, iMovie splits the clip in two, and the first of the two resulting clips contains the title. If the title is longer than the clip, the title automatically extends across the next clip or clips in your movie. If this is the case, the final clip on which the title appears will be split where the title ends.

After you add a title to your movie, you can change or remove it at any time. For more information, see Related Topics below.

I hope this helps you out. If you need anymore help, don't hesitate to ask. Have a good day!

Cheerio
Searay

 

[Harna]

Hi Searay,

Thanks *so* much for your reply.

I have version 5.0.2 - which sounds like it is an old version and I should maybe think about an upgrade! (Can you tell that I am not particularly computer savvy?!)

I *just* managed to get the titles in (and still have some hair left!) before I received your kind reply - it turns out that I was being an idiot and trying to drag & drop the text that I had typed in myself when actually I should have been dragging over the CHOICE of style I wanted my text to appear in.

Okay, so it's probably me (my talents lie in other areas of life, not computing!) but when I read (and re-read) the tutorials, I thought I had to drag over the words that I had written myself.

It's often the easiest things that confuse . . . . and teaches me to learn more about all the jargo, etc, before attempting to use such an application!

Anyway, HUGE thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my email!

My next problem is that the little film I have created is 1.83GB which I think will be too big to email and too big to stick on a disk . . . am I right?!

Doh!

Thanks again!

Harna

 

[searay345]

Hello again!

No problem...glad to hear it was sorted out. As far as upgrading, check out iLife '06. It includes iMovie HD 6.

If you go that route and purchase iLife 06 and install it (after a restart of your machine that is) then go to your apple logo in the upper left hand corner and click Software update. This will update your iLife 06 package including iMovie.

Yes, sometimes it's the easiest things that can throw us for a loop.

As for getting your movie onto a Disk...Does your MacMini have a Combo Drive or a Super Drive? If you are not sure if you have a DVD burner or not, click on the Apple logo at the upper left hand corner. Click About This Mac and then click on More Info. Under the Hardware section, go to Disk Burning. Then we can see if you have DVD burning capabilities. This is what mine looks like:

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846:

Firmware Revision: FQ3T
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW, +R DL
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media: No

If it has a Super Drive, you can burn DVDs. You can go out and buy some DVD disks and burn that home movie onto a DVD using another piece of iLife application called iDVD. You should have that on your machine as well.

Let us know what your Disk Burning display says and please don't hesitate to ask more questions!

Cheerio
Searay

 

[Harna]

Hello again, Searay!

Thanks again for your reply - you are a poppet!

Okay - this is what my 'capabilities' are:

Firmware Revision: CAD4
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw
Media: No

So I am guessing that means I can't burn a DVD (I have only ever burnt CDs). Hmm!

I shall look into all the upgrades I might need (I am starting to think that might be a few!) but in the meantime I am researching file-sharing services online as I am here in the UK and want my friend in the US to see this film somehow!!!

Tricky things, computers . . . starting to realise why I usually spend most of my time outdoors in preference!

Thanks again - you're a star!

 

[searay345]

Hello again!

No problem!! Glad to help out!

Let us know what you decide to do!

Cheerio
Searay

 

[Stanley_Beamish]

Tricky things, computers . . . starting to realise why I usually spend most of my time outdoors in preference!

It's maintaining a balance of the two that's my problem ... don't be too harsh on yourself when it comes to computer savvy'ness, there are always loads of members here only too happy to help you out!