iMovie Trailer and Review
I have dabbled with video editing programs like Windows Movie Maker and Camtasia, before. With these experiences in mind, I downloaded the iMovie app expecting a similar experience. There would be a bit of a learning curve as I figured out the nuanced features and qualities of the program. My creative process would follow a pattern of design, redesign, scrap the project entirely, and redesign again. While I did take a bit of time figuring out how to work this app (about a half hour of trial and error), I found the program to be fairly intuitive and very user friendly.
Check out the product of my labors after about an hour of work filming and editing, below.
Check out the product of my labors after about an hour of work filming and editing, below.
Okay, so I’m no Spielberg behind the camera, but with iMovie you don’t have to be. The people that designed iMovie had the movie making novice in mind. I can best describe iMovie’s layout and design as a plug and play style of app. For the trailer that I put together, I picked from a series of pre-made trailer templates, and just inserted the pictures and videos into the storyboard.
My personal experience:
Being user friendly and designing a program with accessibility in mind, comes with some tradeoffs. I had mentioned earlier that I had a background in a few other video editing programs. These programs (Camtasia, Lightworks, and Windows Movie Maker) were not designed quite as heavily with accessibility for a range of people in mind, but they were far more customizable and allowed for a greater degree of personalization. That is where I felt the most frustrations with iMovie. The app does most of the footwork for you, this makes it easier to work with, but less open to creative design. Anyone who has shuffled through the iMovie templates will immediately recognize the fact that I used iMovie to make my trailer. |
The bottom line:
While I will not be using iMovie to edit any major productions of my own, I would definitely recommend it for the classroom. The intuitive design as well as its plug and play layout, has the beginner in mind. The brief learning curve makes this an ideal tool for students. In a class’s time, your students can begin effectively using this app and directing their own productions.
While I will not be using iMovie to edit any major productions of my own, I would definitely recommend it for the classroom. The intuitive design as well as its plug and play layout, has the beginner in mind. The brief learning curve makes this an ideal tool for students. In a class’s time, your students can begin effectively using this app and directing their own productions.