Premier vs. iMovie

[Time Clock]

Hello one and all. I need some help. I am going to be creating a movie and editing on the Macs in the various labs at my school. These Macs have Adobe Premier 6.5 and iMovie 3 on them. What I was wondering is which program is would you guys recommend? I've used iMovie 2, and enjoyed creating on it. I also realize that Premier is a whole lot more complicated than iMovie, but how radically different is it (analogies accepted ), and what online resources are there if it is better overall? Also, iMovie can be imported into Final Cut, but can Premier as well? I assume not, but would like to be sure. I plan on eventually purchasing an editing workstation (PowerMac G5 tower, or maybe a G5 iMac or G5 powerbook if they're out) when I get a job this summer, and would like to continue to improve upon the movie. Thanks for your help.

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[OnceUGoMac]

If your school is a college and just has iMovie or Premier, change schools fast. To answer your question, you should be able to import the file into FCP. I would use premier if those were my two options.

 

[redAPPLE]

maybe you could answer your own question.

do you know how to use premiere? premiere is more flexible than iMovie. iMovie would be easier to learn.

how fast do you want to have your movie?

how radically different is premiere and iMovie? how about this explanation, premiere has a manual and iMovie doesn't.

 

[Time Clock]

If your school is a college and just has iMovie or Premier, change schools fast.

I go to a small Catholic university, so no film school, no screenwriting classes, etc. It's not that bad, though. Apparently, they purchased a bunch of Adobe products, Photoshop, InDesign, Go Live, etc. through a special deal. I was appalled when I saw that they had gone to Premiere and not Final Cut anything. Just imagine only having iMovie though.

do you know how to use premiere?
how fast do you want to have your movie?

I've never used premiere before. Call me a newbie to film editing, but I've only ever used iMovie from my parent's home computer.
I'll take as long as I need to take. My movie is going to be a cheesy horror film, but I want it to be a cool cheesy horror movie if that's possible.

I think I'll try Premiere out to see if I will be overwhelmed. By the way, how big exactly is Premiere's manual?

Thanks,
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[blackfox]

I've never used premiere before. Call me a newbie to film editing, but I've only ever used iMovie from my parent's home computer.
I'll take as long as I need to take. My movie is going to be a cheesy horror film, but I want it to be a cool cheesy horror movie if that's possible.

I think I'll try Premiere out to see if I will be overwhelmed. By the way, how big exactly is Premiere's manual?

Premiere 6.5 is not a bad program...and the last version made for mac (Premiere Pro, its replacement on pc side is much better)...it is not as intuitive interface-wise as FCP, but it is not bad...if you have never used it (or a program like it), it might take a while to figure out, but if you have the time...Adobe has some online tips and support, that might help...it is definitely the way to go, though (out of your choices) and will have more than enough power and flexibility for your needs...just to ask, what kind of machines does your college have? What kind of Macs? PCs? Depending on your answer, you might want to use a PC if it is faster, as if you are messing w/ you footage in any way (masks, filters, effects) it will take time to render and if there is no FCP, you are better off w/ the saved time. Good luck and use the best camera you can...you will thank yourself

 

[Time Clock]

Premiere 6.5 is not a bad program...and the last version made for mac (Premiere Pro, its replacement on pc side is much better)...it is not as intuitive interface-wise as FCP, but it is not bad...if you have never used it (or a program like it), it might take a while to figure out, but if you have the time...Adobe has some online tips and support, that might help...it is definitely the way to go, though (out of your choices) and will have more than enough power and flexibility for your needs...just to ask, what kind of machines does your college have? What kind of Macs? PCs? Depending on your answer, you might want to use a PC if it is faster, as if you are messing w/ you footage in any way (masks, filters, effects) it will take time to render and if there is no FCP, you are better off w/ the saved time. Good luck and use the best camera you can...you will thank yourself

Thanks fox. The Macs at my school that have Premiere are 2x1.25 Ghz G4 MDD (They're the one's before FW 800). The Macs are the only ones that have Premiere. The PCs wouldn't be any better for this task, however. They are a mixture of mostly P3s with the occasional P4. AFAIK, none of the PCs have firewire. As for the camera, I work for the technology center at school, so I think that I would be able to use one of theirs which are actually pretty nice. Incidently, I got this job through a friend that introduced me as the most knowledgeable person with a Mac that he had ever seen. Not bad for a guy who didn't have his own computer until semester the 2nd, is it?