Titles work really well in iMovie '09. Previous versions of iMovie had to render titles when you added them, taking a lot more time than the instant placement you get in '09. But there is more to iMovie '09 titles than just the speed.
Moving titles
First, you can place titles wherever you want in your movie with pinpoint accuracy. Once a title has been placed in your movie--represented by a blue flag running above your clip, you can drag that title to any point in the movie. This is even true of titles "over black". In iMovie HD, you'd have to split a clip at the point you wanted a title to enter, then add the title to the second half of the split clip.
Lengthening titles
Another really nice feature of '09 is the ability to lengthen or shorten a title quickly. Simply grab the end of a blue title flag by clicking on the end with your mouse and drag the title to lengthen or shorten it. In iMovie HD, you'd have to select the rendered title footage and readjust and rerender the title, guessing at the right length with each render. This new way is much faster and easier.
Spanning titles
By either moving a title or lengthening a title, you can get a title to stretch across multiple clips. In the case of lengthening, you'll notice that you can drag the end so it runs across as many clips as you like, with no rendering! (You just can't span a title across another title.) Very handy and much faster and more accurate than iMovie HD.
4 comments:
I'm struggling to get these tips to work. I can add titles fine and see the blue bar. But whenever I click on the left or right edge I just cause the playhead to move. Even if I select the title text so that it is selected (yellow highlight) it still doesn't allow me to shorten or lengthen it. What I am doing wrong?
Thanks,
Fred
Yes, this can be tricky. I find that I need to hover the pointer over the end of the title a bit and then it eventually changes into a slider-type of icon. When that happens I know I can click and drag the edge in order to move it. If you don't see this new icon, then you'll end up with the results you're getting. Keep playing around with it. Hopefully it will work!
hi, nice article.
i think i have a similar problem to fred.. you see, i am currently using imovie 8, and it seems like one of the settings is wrong for a project im working on. i can't seem to place titles onto videos, but only seperately on black, but not on blue. this is only the case for this project.. for other's it doesn't happen. when i place titles and try to shorten, or movie them, it shows yellow highlights but doesn't do anything. it just returns back to its original place.
any ideas of what i may have done wrong to the settings? it's frustrating because this project is due on FRIDAY
thanks!
A year later and I'm having the same problem as Fred. I can drag an over-the-movie title maybe one in 15 times, and even then the cursor never changes. Snow Leopard, Apple mouse ... what else do they want from me? Jeez! Frustrating.
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