iMovie: How To Use iMovie on Mac- Beginner’s Guide

iMovie is a video editing program for Apple devices. It can turn small videos shot on iPhones into full-length movies. If you are using it for the first time, know How to Use iMovie on Mac and how it will help to make your videos more professional. 

This article will help you explore iMovie on Mac devices. We will provide a step-by-step guide,  so you can understand the application and its features completely. However, make sure to have enough storage space to accommodate iMovie, if you haven’t done it so far. Now, let’s begin with the discussion on how to use iMovie on your iPhone or any Mac device. 

Learn How to Use iMovie on Mac

In this section, we will cover the details of using iMovie on Mac. So, let’s check out the steps:

• Access Mac Dock by clicking on the iMovie application icon. It will now open an iMovie window.  Look at the left of the screen and you will see your “Libraries”. 

• Find “iPhoto Library”, which contains all the media files saved in “iPhotos”. Here, in the “All Events” section, it contains the media files that are sorted according to the time and date. It sorts them in the same order as they were first saved on your iPhone device. 

• In the segment of “All projects”, contains all the move projects, which you have saved in the past. So, choose videos from the files that you want to make a movie with. You can also import these files from iDevices or digital cameras and feed them into iMovie. 

• To do this, connect your device to Mac and turn it on. Wait for Mac to recognize the Device. When you see the iMovie toolbar, click on “Import”. Select the device that you want to import photos from by tapping on the “Cameras” icon/option. 

• A list will appear containing all the media files that you want to import. So, if you know what to import from the existing files, hit the “Import to” option. Then, choose them from the drop-down menu. 

• To create a new event, select “New Event”. Now, when you are ready to import all the files, click on “Import all”. However, to import certain files, click specifically on them and hold the “Command” tab and left-click on the mouse. 

Give it some time to transfer the files to Mac. Once it is over, you are ready to create a new project on your iMovie application. 

Steps to Create New Movie Project Using iMovie

Follow these steps to create a new movie project on your iMovie application. 

Click on the “New” button on the toolbar and select “Movie”. From a new window named “Create”, choose a theme for your movies from the options. 

If you want a theme on the “Create” window, click its thumbnails. In case, you don’t want a theme, select “No Theme” thumbnail. Press “Create” and enter the name of your movie. 

To include a new event in your movie project, click on it from the “Event” menu. Click “OK” to confirm the selection. To start your new project, wait for the signal by observing the appearance of an empty timeline. 

How to Use iMovie for Adding/Modifying Clips to/in Your Movie Projects?

If you wish to add clips to the movie project, follow this procedure. We have mentioned two different ways to add clips 

Add Clips to Movie Project

Here, you will learn how to include clips from a single as well as from multiple files.

For Single File

Choose the file you want to add. You will see a film strip on your screen containing frame-by-frame content. To see the complete clip, simply drag the file.

To add the entire clip, follow the previous step. But, if you want a certain section from the clip, click on the file until you see the yellow slider. The slider signifies the beginning and end of the clip. So, drag the file across the frames then, trim and drag them to the project timeline. 

Adding Clips from Different Files

Choose the files you want to include. Drag the entire file if you wish to use the clip in your movie. Trim each file from different sections and drag them to the timeline. 

Whenever the film strips appear corresponding to each file, separate them. When the clip has been laid on your timeline, start editing. You can combine music, background music, subtitles, and also add transitions. Also, trim the parts you don’t want from the final clip.

Split/ Combine a Clip

Follow these steps for splitting or combining movie clips on iMovie:

Split Clips

You can add a dramatic pause or a text to enhance the importance of the scene by splitting the clip. So, take your cursor to the scene, where you want to split the clip. Now, hold the “Command” key but, keep pressing the “B” tab. Besides, you can also right-click on the project timeline and hit the “Split Clip” option. The original clip will split. 

Combine Clips

In case, you are making a movie, you can combine different clips to your project timeline. Hence, choose the clips you want to add and drag them to the iMovie timeline. Your timeline will be showing different clips that you have dragged to make a whole new clip. 

Further, you will find different options to add transitions, effects, etc. to the clip. The film will now play according to the order of clips, which you have separately placed to form a single movie. 

Add Transitions Between Clips

To produce movies as seamlessly as possible, add transitions in between the cropped clips to make it look professional. 

So, find the “Content Library” from the sidebar of the movie window. Choose “Transitions” from the Content Library and you will see a selection of transition options on the screen. 

Select the transition effect you want for your movie. Then, drag the transition clip in between the clips where you want to put it. You can use the transition clip wherever you want in the entire movie project. 

Include Subtitles in Clip

You can also add subtitles to your movie. Look at the Movie window’s sidebar and you find “Content Library”. Select “titles” and wait for the preview of the title and subtitles. Choose and drag them to the clip. Add text to the clip and start editing. Also, add credits to the video by choosing “scrolling credits”.

Also Recommend: How to Connect MacBook Air to TV 

Instructions to Use iMovie for Additional Features

If you are looking for some more information on using iMovie, follow these points:

Add Background Music

Adding a piece of background music can improve the movie. To add background music, open “Content Library” and choose among the listed options. These options include the default music, iTunes, audio clips. To add a piece of music apart from this, choose “import” from the iMovie window. Drag the file to the location you want to use it. A waveform will represent the audio clip. Drag and release it in the spot you want it.  

To add narration, use the same process. 

Add Background Image

To add a background image, select “Maps and Backgrounds” from the “Content Library”. It will show a preview after you are done. Drag the image to the timeline to use it. 

Save Movie

To avoid losing data while editing, save the file. Find “Share” and click “File”. Provide the information as asked and click “Next”. Select the destination folder and press the “save” option.  

Share Movie

After editing, go to the iMovie window. Tap on the “Share” button, click “Next” and hit the “Publish” option. 

In this post, we have mentioned different uses of the iMovie application on your Mac-based device. We hope you will have a happy time making movies after following the guidance. If you have any issues related to the article, leave us feedback in the comment section below.