Just in a few short years, video has legitimately taken over the internet. As an incredibly versatile and powerful storytelling medium, video is able to grab and hold our attention better than text, audio, or imagery. So no wonder there has been an explosion of tools to help you create the exact look and feel you seek.
Let your MacBook do the digging for you! Click in the Search box below the track list and begin typing a song name. IMovie narrows down the song titles displayed to those that match the characters you type. To reset the search box and display all your songs in the Library or selected playlist, click the X icon that appears to the right of the box. Oct 15, 2015 Open iMovie for OS X on your Mac. If you used AirDrop or iTunes, you'll find your iMovie for iOS project in your Mac's Downloads folder. Otherwise, you can select the following menu in iMovie: File Import iMovie iOS Projects.
While professional movie editing software costs anywhere between $240 and $450 a year, Apple generously offers its video editing suite iMovie on both iOS and macOS platforms for free.
If you’ve extensively used iMovie in your work, you may have experienced it slow down, lag, or in the worst case scenario — crash. Even if you are not working with large HD files, or using Stabilizing or Rendering features that demand a lot of power, it’s possible for iMovie to come to a standstill. This can be extremely frustrating, especially if you are on a deadline!
Why is iMovie so slow?
If you are wondering what’s causing your Mac to freeze repeatedly when cutting clips or why it’s taking forever to drag and drop things around, look no further than iMovie’s hunger for performance power.
To see how much impact running iMovie has on your Mac, just open up Activity Monitor and inspect the Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Random Access Memory (RAM) levels. While CPU points out the amount of work your Mac can handle and how quickly it can perform a task, RAM affects the processor’s ability to quickly and easily access information.
Buying more RAM is a good idea, but can be costly. Luckily, there are a few other ways to speed up iMovie that can save you money, energy, and time.
Plug your Mac into a power supply
Charging is a simple hack that can give your Mac a noticeable boost! Here’s why it works: the CPU adjusts its speed on the fly in order to balance performance and power consumption. As such, it automatically switches to low power mode when not hooked up to a power adaptor. But when plugged in, CPU doesn't have to concern itself with energy conservation.
If you are not close to a socket or happen to be without a charger, you can manually adjust the Energy Saver preferences to not let macOS put hard disks to sleep, so they wouldn’t spin down and turn off motors while on battery power, thus making iMovie wait longer when it needs to access data.
To change or adjust Energy Saver preferences:
- Open System Preferences > Energy Saver > Battery tab.
- Uncheck the “Put hard disk to sleep when possible” box.
- Uncheck the “Enable Power Nap while on battery power” box.
Delete unwanted folders and cache files
Still finding iMovie slow? Delete some files — a general rule of thumb is to have at least 25 GB of free space on your hard disk to run iMovie smoothly.
Start by deleting iMovie cache files. Cache files are essentially data files that log what you have done. They document changes you make and speed up revival next time you want to work with the same data in iMovie.
To delete unnecessary iMovie cache files:
- Close iMovie.
- Open a Finder window and select Go from your Mac’s menu bar, then Go to Folder…
- Type in ~/Library/Preferences and select Go.
- Move the com.apple.iMovie.plist file to the Trash, empty the Trash, then open iMovie again.
Now, move all unwanted cache folders from your Mac to the Trash:
- Open a Finder window and select Go > Go to Folder…
- Type in ~/Library/Caches and select Go.
- Delete the files and folders that are taking up the most space.
In addition, to really trim the fat from your Mac’s storage files, you should delete outdated iMovie folders. If you’ve updated to the latest version of iMovie, and no longer want to use the previous versions, iMovie Projects and iMovie Events folders can be deleted. Also, remove what’s duplicated and no longer needed from your iMovie Shared folder.
Minimize tasks and close other programs
You may have noticed iMovie slowing down if you have other programs open on your desktop. To speed it up, close all the apps you don’t need. And don’t forget to quit all the background processes that demand power as well, such as Energy Savers, Spotlight Search, Time Machine, and FileVault.
Some more tips for streamlining your Mac’s efficiency include:
- Setting a plain screensaver
- Removing all icons from your desktop
- Creating and logging into a new user account for iMovie
Optimize your Mac for iMovie automatically
While optimizing your Mac manually can seem daunting and repetitive, you can achieve even better results faster by using smart optimization software. A tool such as CleanMyMac X could be a perfect and quick solution.
Among other things, CleanMyMac X deals with storage, speed, and malware issues. It magically turns junk into free space. Here’s how to do it:
- Download CleanMyMac X (free trial available).
- Click Smart Scan in the menu bar on the left.
- Click Scan.
- Click Run.
The app makes it very easy to find those large cache files and “needy” programs that prevent your Mac from reaching its full potential.
Besides Smart Scan, it’s a good idea to go to the Optimization and Maintenance modules , where you can review other methods to give your Mac a much-needed boost.
Now your Mac and iMovie are ready for you to create your video masterpieces. You will want to repeat this cleaning process from time-to-time (at least once a month) to avoid any lags or disruptions, whether you do this manually or using a tool such as CleanMyMac X.
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If you’ve been asking yourself “what is iMovie?” — it's Apple’s answer to a video editing program for amateurs and enthusiasts alike. There's no need to even download iMovie for Mac, as it’s already included, for free. A companion iMovie app is also available for iPhones and iPads, and makes it easy to edit on the go.
For all of us who have hours of video clips from birthday parties, travel adventures, and other special life events, being able to create memorable movies out of them to cherish is priceless. And you don’t need anything but iMovie to turn iPhone-recorded video notes into a true attention-grabbing blockbuster.
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So with your iMovie download in hand, go through this iMovie tutorial to learn how to use iMovie like a pro. Plus, additional tips and tricks, which never hurt.
How To Use iMovie On Mac
Before you can start with the iMovie app, you need to make sure you actually have it on your Mac and know how to launch it:
- Click on the iMovie icon from your Dock or Applications folder (in case your don’t see the iMovie app there, search for it in the App Store and redownload)
- In iMovie, choose one of the libraries (Photos for media files in that app, All Events for files from your Mac, or All Projects for the past iMovie work)
How to create a new movie project
So with all your iPhone video clips ready to go, let’s create your new movie. To get started with a blank timeline for a new project:
- Open iMovie and click Create New
- Select Movie
The new Apple iMovie project will open. By default, there’s no predefined theme. To add a name to your movie:
- Click to go back to Projects
- Enter the project name
- Click OK
- Then double-click on your movie project to get back in
How to add video clips to your movie
It goes without saying that to play and edit your movie, you first need to include video clips it will eventually consist of! You can also use the picture in picture iMovie feature that’s useful when you want two clips to play at the same time (e.g. when you’re creating an iMovie tutorial). One clip will then appear in a smaller frame within the larger clip.
So to add a clip to your timeline:
- Select a file from your Libraries in the sidebar
- Drag the entire file onto the project timeline
How to trim a clip in iMovie
If you want to reduce the duration of the clip you’ve just added because it’s too long for what you’re trying to do, you can easily cut it at either end:
- Select the clip on the timeline and simply drag its corner inwards
- When done, click somewhere else to save the cut. Your changes remain adjustable until you click them off (you can still use the undo command though).
How to split a clip easily
In the process of making a movie, quite often you’d find yourself needing to split a clip into multiple sections (e.g. when creating a timelapse). Luckily, it’s very easy to do:
- Hold the cursor in the place you’d the clip to split
- Click ⌘ + B or right-click and choose Split Clip
How to combine clips together
iMovie makes combining two separate clips into one for editing and seamless playback effortless. Just drag the clips onto the timeline and make sure they are positioned back to back.
Add transitions between clips
If you look closely, you’ll notice that no movie just plainly changes its scenes — there’s always a smooth transition in place. How is it done?
- In your iMovie app, choose Transitions in the top menu
- Preview a few options by clicking on them
- When you find the right one, drag it to position just between the clips
How to add text to iMovie
If you’re about to make your own iMovie tutorial, you need to know how to add text to iMovie project, such as titles or subtitles. Luckily, it’s much more simple than it sounds:
- While in your project, select Titles in the top bar
- Go through all that are available, watch previews, and pick the best one
- Edit the title if such option is presented
- Drag it onto your timeline and place in the right spot
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Add background music to your project
Background music helps set the mood, define a character, mark a climax, or introduce a transition. No wonder the days of silent movies are long gone. Let’s see how to add music to iMovie to liven your project up:
- With iMovie open, click Audio at the top of the app
- All your tracks from iTunes will be listed there. If you don’t have any music on iTunes, just upload some audio from your Mac there first. Alternatively, switch to Sound Effects in the sidebar if you’re looking for something more ambient.
- Drag the audio file you like right onto the timeline and put it where you’d want the tune to start
How to add a background image to your movie
Adding images to the background of your iMovie project is a breeze:
- Switch to Backgrounds page in the top toolbar
- Go through the previews of all samples
- When you see the perfect one, just drag it onto the project’s timeline
How to save iMovie projects
Saving progress as you go is easily the most important thing you can do. As movie projects are often quite heavy and demand lots of processing power, you’re always a glitch away from losing everything you didn’t save in time. Make sure to know how to save iMovie projects:
- In the iMovie window, click Share
- Choose File
- Customize the default video information
- Click Next
- Select the destination folder ➙ Save
How to export iMovie projects
To share your iMovie projects on the internet, you can export them to Youtube, iTunes, Facebook, Vimeo, or email with a simple share feature:
- Click the Share icon in the top-right corner of iMovie
- Choose where you’d like to export your movie
- If you just want to save your movie to Mac, choose File and follow the process from the section above
More (better) video editing options
While iMovie is an ok video-editing app to start with, since it comes right with your Mac, there are much better options out there, which can perform more customized and advanced functions for video recording and editing. For example, Capto and CameraBag Pro.
Use Capto for video recording on Mac
It’s the quickest way to record screen, add voiceover, and edit your recordings flexibly on Mac. Try Capto free on Setapp!
Capto allows you to easily record the screen of your Mac to make tutorials or videos that include voiceovers and annotations. The app handles features like crop, cut, fade in and fade out of audio tracks, and many more without breaking a sweat. Plus, you can edit your screenshots too! To start with Capto:
- Choose whether you’re editing an image or video at the top-left corner
- Select one of the tools in the sidebar to activate it
CameraBag Pro is similar to Capto, but supercharged with even more advanced features. It has recently become #2 in the Mac App of the Year according to Apple and is basically the best photo and film-editing tool around that boasts:
- Award-winning intuitive interface
- A library of over 200 filters created by professional photographers
- Non-destructive edits for both photos and videos
- The ability to batch changes and save hours of doing micro-adjustments
Best of all, both Capto and CameraBag Pro are available to you for a free 7-day trial through Setapp, a platform with more than 150 Mac apps that inspire creativity and help you get your work done faster and better. Now that you know how to use iMovie for Mac and some other options to explore, making your first movie is going to be a no-brainer!
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