Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I thought this book was okay at best. I purchased it to learn iMovie for our business. It did not meet my needs, and I am going to go in search of another.
The authors are obviously very informed on the subject, they often referred to earlier generations of iMovie, which honestly didn't interest me at all, and I felt often just confused the issues.
I didn't feel like they explained editing at all. They said you could edit in the project window, if you hadn't edited in the event window, but they hadn't explained how to edit in the event window!
I thought their explanation on page 100 of how to use the Clip trimmer was awful.
"In the trim window, the yellow border shows which piece of the clip you're using in your movie. The extra, thin yellow borders show you what bits the transitions use on either end of the clip. The darkened portions are the ones you've so far eliminated. Above the trimmer window, the arrow between two lines plays your selection. The left and right arrows refocus the clip trimmer on the project clip that comes just before or after the current clip."
There was a picture, but it wasn't clear or big enough to show all these complicated descriptions.
Then a little over half way through the book it stops talking about producing iMovie, and goes into exporting and DVDs. There was a large section in the beginning of the book on importing too. I wish they had spent more time, details, and well-done illustrations on the hard part, which is editing.
I finally found iLife '11 Portable Genius. While it is in theory a broader subject book, it is much more helpful when it comes to iMovie. I suspect it will also be helpful with the other areas of iLife when I get to reading the rest. If you look back to my observations about editing in paragraph three, in the Portable Genius they point out that "Changes you make to a clip in the Event browser apply to any project in which you use that clip. By contrast, changes you make to a clip after you place it on the Storyboard for a project apply only to that project."
That is a very important distinguishing factor when deciding where to edit! The photos/ illustrations are also much better in the Portable Genius book.
I hope you find this helpful. I really hate writing negative reviews, but I hate reading books that aren't helpful more. I don't want someone else to experience the same frustration and waste of time I went through.
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iMovie '11 & iDVD: The Missing Manual (English and English Edition)Apple's video-editing program is better than ever, but it still doesn't have a printed guide to help you get started. That's where this gorgeous, full-color book comes in. You get clear explanations of iMovie's impressive new features, like instant rendering, storyboarding, and one-step special effects. Experts David Pogue and Aaron Miller also give you a complete course in film editing and DVD design.
Edit video like the pros. Import raw footage, add transitions, and use iMovie's newly restored, intuitive timeline editor.
Create stunning trailers. Design Hollywood-style "Coming Attractions!" previews for your movies.
Share your film. Distribute your movie in a variety of places—on smartphones, Apple TV, your own site, and with one-click exports to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, CNN iReport, and MobileMe.
Make DVDs. Design the menus, titles, and layout for your DVDs, and burn them to disc.
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Click here for more information about iMovie '11 & iDVD: The Missing Manual (English and English Edition)
