By
Recreating your favourite movies with your own home videos is one of the most fun things you can do when getting creative on your Mac. Thankfully, Apple know this, and there are a few features that it has included in the software to make it a very simple process.
For example, if you want to make a movie that imitates the sci-fi classic Star Wars you can do so using the Titles menu that is built right into the iMovie interface. One of the options in this menu is the classic scrolling yellow text that so famously rolled up the screen before Luke Skywalker’s adventures. It’s quick, easy to master and produces some really fun results. There are other effects too; read on to find out how you can turn your videos into a sci-fi masterpiece.
1: Opening titles
Open a project that you want to transform, or drag videos into the Project Viewer, then open the Title Browser on the right-hand side of the window.
2: Centred
The first title you need to add is the Centred option that is first in the comprehensive list of titles in the browser that opens up. Drag it into the Project Editor.
3: Editing the text
Double-click on the text so that you can edit it. You will also want to change the font, alignment and colour, so click Show Fonts in the top-left of the viewer.
4: Getting there…
From the pop-up menu choose Helvetica Neue, the turquoise colour and size four to make it look most like the Star Wars style. Align the text to the left, too.
5: Lengthen
The clip will be four seconds long by default, which is a little short. Double-click the blue bar over the title and lengthen the clip. You can also alter the fade.
6: Scrolling text
Now you need to add the classic scrolling text. Scroll down in the Title Browser until you see ‘far, far away’ on the right, then drag it into your Project Editor.
7: Text edit
The text will be made up of Latin filler words, so delete them and type out an intro that works with both your theme and the Star Wars styling you’re adding.
8: Lengthen again
Again, the clip is much too short by default. Double-click the title and make it longer. You might need to tweak this depending on the amount of text you’ve written.
9: Transitions
In Star Wars films, ‘Wipe’ transitions are often used to get from one scene to another. You can add these between your scenes from the Transitions Browser.
Click Image to Enlarge:
