Fun with iMovie 11 trailers
iLife 11 came out recently and while there are a number of improvements everywhere, the Trailer templates in iMovie steal the show. The idea is simple: provide project templates that allow anybody to create professional looking trailers. So professional they look that Apple won't allow you to enter the name of a real studio for fear people will think they're watching an actual movie trailer!
But words are cheap. Here's an example trailer, done entirely by Mijal, my 12 year old daughter, from video she took herself on a point and shoot digital camera:
What's amazing about this is not only how easy it is to make trailers, but also that any video, no matter how inane or unexciting results in a trailer that promises lots of action, thrills, and fun.
Creating a trailer is amazingly easy. You get a template with placeholders for text and video clips. The transitions, music, and title sequences are canned and ensure the proper rhythm. You drop clips onto each slot and then open them up to select which section of the clip will be shown. Each clip lasts a very, very short time, typically around 1 second.
The whole thing is brilliantly executed and a joy to use. My only gripe, and a tiny one at that, is that it's a pain to fill in the whole technical sheet that shows up at the end: directory, producer, casting, costume designer, music, etc. To its credit, iMovie remembers the last set used and you don't have to type it again.
There are about 15 templates, some very, very good. Still, I wonder whether they will get too tiresome when you make more than a few and end up repeating template type. I assume Apple will ship more templates with new updates. Even better would be to open this up to third parties to provide their own...
And finally, when will they release templates for "Negative Political Ads"?
And to end, here's their second trailer, this time it's a moving love story: A Rock Story:
But words are cheap. Here's an example trailer, done entirely by Mijal, my 12 year old daughter, from video she took herself on a point and shoot digital camera:
What's amazing about this is not only how easy it is to make trailers, but also that any video, no matter how inane or unexciting results in a trailer that promises lots of action, thrills, and fun.
Creating a trailer is amazingly easy. You get a template with placeholders for text and video clips. The transitions, music, and title sequences are canned and ensure the proper rhythm. You drop clips onto each slot and then open them up to select which section of the clip will be shown. Each clip lasts a very, very short time, typically around 1 second.
The whole thing is brilliantly executed and a joy to use. My only gripe, and a tiny one at that, is that it's a pain to fill in the whole technical sheet that shows up at the end: directory, producer, casting, costume designer, music, etc. To its credit, iMovie remembers the last set used and you don't have to type it again.
There are about 15 templates, some very, very good. Still, I wonder whether they will get too tiresome when you make more than a few and end up repeating template type. I assume Apple will ship more templates with new updates. Even better would be to open this up to third parties to provide their own...
And finally, when will they release templates for "Negative Political Ads"?
And to end, here's their second trailer, this time it's a moving love story: A Rock Story:
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