Is iMovie enough?

[actripxl]

Ok guys I need some advise here. I'm flying back to Miami for the next 2 weeks and I will be taking a lot of videos and photos to make a movie and show it to some people in D.R. Now I want to make this video as slick as possible and use various effects like slowing or speeding up video. I would also like to insert some of the pics in the video as well. My question is will iMovie be able to do all these things and if not what programs would you recommend.

 

[Quark]

Depends on machine

iMovie will do what you want to do. It is enough, however, for any extended amount of Video editing and processing, I strongly recommend Final Cut Express.

I have made several little videos using the exact effects that you mention in iMovie but the wait times and quality of the final product is not quite up to par.

Spend a few bucks for a long term investment and get Final Cut Express.

And finally, as my title says, it also depends on the machine you have. If you have a G5 beast, then you could get away with all the editing and processing just fine in iMovie, without wasting too much time. If you have anything less than a G5, you'll be waiting and waiting and waiting for iMovie to do the processing and it may not be what you expect. iMovie gets funny like that.

Before anyone comments on this, keep it in the context of what the end goal is of the video.

Oh, one quick question, what is D.R.??

Take Care,
Quark

 

[Chaszmyr]

How much experience do you have with this kind of stuff (i get the impression not much), if you don't have much, how much time are you willing to spend to learn?

The more powerful program you get, the more difficult your task will be if you're inexperienced. If you've never done any video editing before and arent great with software or don't have much time to learn, Final Cut Express might produce a finished product more like what you want, but iMovie might make the task a lot more pleasant for you.

(Note: I've never actually used Final Cut, but I'm assuming it is more difficult to use than iMovie, because pro apps are characteristically more diccult to use than consumer apps)

 

[johnnyjibbs]

I got Final Cut Express for cheap when I got my Mac (an Apple deal) and I got it because it was partly why I chose Mac and also why I got a Superdrive. I'll never do movie editing for any more than home hobby projects but I have to say FCE is really good. I only have version 1, but I think version 2 is the same, except for the realtime architecture. Final Cut Express has a poor help system but is easy to use and comes with a DVD video of the basics. It's only a case of having a timeline and arranging your clips, but with far more features and effects if you delve deeper. In essense, though, the interface is not that far removed from iMovie, but is far more flexible.

 

[Horrortaxi]

iMovie will be perfect.

 

[actripxl]

D.R. Dominican Republic, sorry about that. Well I guess I'll give FCE a shot since I really want this movie to look really cool and show off my hometown to everyone, and as a reminder when I get home sick since I still have 8 months left till I can go back.