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iMovie for Mac has some great editing tools. Thanks to the wonder of non-linear editing, you can cut unconnected clips together and fabricate a story. In our walkthrough we’ll show you how to detach sound from one clip and extend it over another to help knit the two shots together more effectively. You’ll also learn how to make the narrative flow by digitally flipping a shot horizontally to make a duck move in the same direction as the fleeing birds in a separate shot. In our narrative we captured a dog chasing the birds in a wide-angle shot. We’ll show you how to split and crop the shot to cut to a close-up of the cheeky canine. We’ll also show you how to re-time the footage to make ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ action last longer so it’s easier to digest.
1: Import assets
Create a new project with a widescreen aspect ratio and a 25 fps – PAL frame rate. Go to File>Import and browse to our Source Clips folder from the disc. Click Import.
2: Go with the flow
Drag the first three shots onto your iMovie timeline. Click on the Titles Browser. Drag the Soft Edge title onto the first shot. Edit the text in the viewer in the top-right.
3: Trim start point
Drag shots 04 and 05 onto the timeline. Click on shot 05. Choose Clip>Detach Audio. Drag shot 05’s yellow start point until the footage becomes more stable.
4: Trim to selection
Right-click inside the yellow selection window and choose the Trim to Selection option. The sound remains in sync with shot 05, but it now extends over shot 04.
5: Fade in
Click on the detached purple audio clip and press the A key to open the Audio Inspector. Tick the Fade In Manual box. Drag the slider to 1:13. Click Done.
6: Flip horizontally
The sound of the fleeing flock fades in over the duck’s close-up footage. To make him flee in the same direction, Press I. Now click on Video Effect and choose Flipped.
7: Slow down
Scrub across to frame 25:08. Right-click. Choose the Split Clip option. Now click on the second part of the split clip. Press I to open the Inspector. Set Speed to 50%.
8: Zoom in
Click on the re-timed clip. Press on the Crop icon. Hit Crop. Drag the green crop window to create a tighter mid-shot of the duck-chasing dog. Click Done.
9: Fill sound gap
By slowing the clip we don’t have enough sound. This is easily fixed. Click on the purple audio clip. Choose Edit>Copy and then Edit>Paste. Trim the copy to fill the gap.
Click Image to Enlarge:
