Video:iMovie Edit Clips

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Transcript:iMovie Edit Clips

Hi, I'm Isaac Brody for About.com Computing.

Today I'll teach you how to do basic editing in Apple's iMovie. I've got a project open. You can open yours or create a new one and capture or import clips. I'll click on the Clips icon to choose my footage for editing. There are two different steps involved in editing in iMovie, arranging and trimming.

iMovie Arranging

To arrange your clips click on the Arrange Video Clips icon. Now click and drag your clips onto the timeline. To arrange the order of them click and drag them into whatever order you want.

Trimming your Footage

If you click the clock icon, the timeline viewer appears. Here you can trim your arranged clips for more precise editing.

If you don't see both clips, drag the zoom tool until they both appear onscreen. To trim a clip, go to the edge of a clip and drag to change the length of it.

Changing Speed

If you want to speed up or slow down a clip, first click on the clip you want to alter and drag the speed bar toward the Turtle to slow it down, or toward the Rabbit to speed it up.

Keep in mind that when changing the speed you also change the length of the clip. The faster the speed, the shorter the length of the clip. The shorter the speed, the longer the clip. And speed changes also affect the speed of the audio.

Audio Editing

If you want to adjust the volume of an entire clip, click on the Edit Volume box, select a clip, and then drag the volume slider up or down. You can also click on the volume line to create volume keyframes. Volume keyframes are a good way to raise or lower the volume on specific parts of a clip in case your audio was recorded too soft or too loud.

To delete audio keyframes, click on the keyframe and hit Delete.

Undoing Edit Changes

When the Edit Volume box is checked you cannot trim your clip. Once you uncheck the box you can go back and trim the clip. If you make one mistake go to Edit Undo.

If you want to restore your clip to before you made any trims, press Ctrl and click on the clip. Go to Restore Clip and hit OK.

iMovie Preview

To preview your movie, drag the Playhead Triangle to the beginning of the timeline and hit the Spacebar or the Play button.

And that's how you edit in Apple iMovie. Thanks for watching. For more information, please visit us online at Computing.About.com