Getting Started
iMovie comes with all Macs by default, and is currently one of the most popular video editing software in the market. It is far from the most advanced, but iMovie is fairly easy to use, making it ideal for beginners as it can be used for school assignments and even for YouTube videos.
iMovie unfortunately does not come with Windows, so if you intend on using a computer on campus and want to use iMovie, make sure you are using a Mac. There are alternatives to iMovie, some of which can be found at this link here as well as here. Some of the principles in this guide might be able to be applied to other software, though it is still recommended to look at guides and/or experiment to determine how many of the settings and options are the same as portrayed in this guide.
To learn more specifics on editing audio or video please see the tabs to the left of the screen.
When you open up iMovie, you have the option to either open up a previous project or a new project. Select "create new" and you can either make a movie or a trailer. Most projects will focus on movies, though trailers can be fun too.
When you select "movie," you will be met by a screen with three main parts. The upper left corner contains the clips, photos, audio, and resources imported into iMovie that you can use in making your movie. The upper right corner is the program monitor that contains a screen that displays your movie as well as several editing option. The bottom half is the timeline, where the clips and audio you are using is displayed and is also where you can edit your clips and audio too.
Setting up the movie is the easy part so long as you have all the clips, audio, and other files you want to use. All you have to do is drag them to the timeline and put them in order.
iMovie does have the option to record additional audio with a mic option below the movie display in the upper right corner. Make sure you select the part where you want to begin recording as the icon won't appear until you do so.
Make sure everything you use that you didn't create is attributed properly!
