iMovie: The Missing Manual is the third in Pogue Press/O' Reilly's "The Book That Should Have Been In The Box" series that I've reviewed here in Moore's Views & Reviews.

The format and style of iMovie TMM are similar to the Mac OS and AppleWorks 6 TMM volumes, but the way that the topic is addressed is substantially different in this book, due to the nature of the subject. Like Mac OS 9 TMM, iMovie TMM is authored by the inimitable David Pogue.

iMovie is of course Apple's free video editing software for the Macintosh. Essentially, iMovie grabs raw "footage" from your digital camcorder and then serves as a tool that lets you edit your home movies into professional looking features. "On the great spectrum of software complexity," says David Pogue, iMovie falls pretty far to the left end, closer to SimpleText than to Microsoft Excel. It's a fairly small, fairly streamlined application that almost never crashes and only occasionally leaves you scratching your head."

Using this program, you can transfer DV footage from a camcorder to your hard drive; edit and rearrange scenes; and add crossfades, credits, and multiple sound tracks. iMovie includes almost everything you need to produce pro-quality video -- except a manual.

Enter iMovie: The Missing Manual, an entertaining and informative guide that walks you through every step of iMovie video production, from choosing and using a digital camcorder to burning your finished work onto CDs.

The book even explains how to run iMovie on any recent Mac model (not just the iMac DV); uncovers the two of three key editing maneuvers for trimming clips that Apple's online help doesn't even mention; and provides a powerful workaround for iMovie's weak soundtrack-editing feature.

Then there's the Secret Preferences Document, a preferences text file Apple doesn't tell you about that stores all of the iMovie settings in plain-English parameters that you can edit to make changes in the way the program works, including settings that add flexibility to iMovie, and that have no corresponding controls within the program itself. Appendix B, "Troubleshooting iMovie," contains six pages of instructions on how to edit the Secret Preferences Document.

iMovie is "nonlinear" video editing software, which means that you can instantly jump from place to place in your movie without "rewinding" or "fastforwarding." iMovie 1.0.2 is a 20MB download, but you can also order it on CD-ROM for $20. The CD includes tutorial footage missing in the download version. In the first week after Apple made iMovie a free download from their Website, over 150,000 customers took advantage of the offer.

iMovie TMM isn't just about the software and how to use it, Although it is of course intended to serve as an iMovie manual. However, the book also provides a basic grounding in professional filming and editing techniques (David Pogue hired several technical advisers from film schools around the country to help him in preparing this section) -- the artistic side of shooting movies; such as lighting, sound, and composition, and indeed, we're on page 85 and in Chapter 4 before iMovie really in enters the picture, so to speak.

Then on page 229, we begin at the third of the book's four sections Like Part 1, Parts 3 and 4 are not specifically focused on iMovie either, so the iMovie manual content specifically covers only 143 pages of the main text, plus 32 pages of appendices in this 373 page book.

Thus, iMovie The Missing Manual's outline is as follows:

• Part 1: Capturing DV Footage, covers what happens before you get to iMovie. It explains the DV format, helps you buy and learn to use a camcorder, and offers a crash course in professional film technique.

• Part 2: Editing in iMovie, is the heart of the book. It leads you through the act of transferring your footage into on-line movie, editing your clips, placing them into a timeline, adding cross fades and titles, working with your soundtracks, and more.

• Part 3: Finding Your Audience, helps you take the cinematic masterpiece on your screen to the world. iMovie excels at exporting your work in two different ways: either back to your camcorder (from which you can play it on TV, transfer it to your VCR, and so on), or to a QuickTime movie file (which you can burn onto a CD, post on a Web page, or sent to friends by email). This part of the book offers step-by-step instructions for each of these methods.

• Part 4: Beyond iMovie, shows you how you can use QuickTime Player Pro to supplement the editing tools in iMovie. It also gives you a peek at such more advanced video editing software as Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, and Edit DV.

Scattered throughout the book are special sidebar boxes under a variety of categories, including "On Location," which tells stories about real people whose lives have been changed by iMovie. The other sidebar categories include "Frequently Asked Questions" (and at least one "Rarely Asked Question"), "Word To The Wise," "Buyer's Guide," "Power Users Clinic," "From The Field," "Up To Speed," "Workaround Workshop," "Gem In The A Rough," and " DV Ethics."

iMovie: The Missing Manual is more lavishly illustrated with photographs than the other TMM titles, as might be expected given the subject matter. Screen images and DV footage frames were captured using Ambrosia Software's Snapz Pro and Photo DV.

A question crossing the minds of some people reading this review may be something like "Since Apple introduced iMovie II at MacWorld Expo New York, isn't this book already obsolete?"

Well, first, even if you're planning to edit digital video movies using other software than iMovie entirely, this will still be a helpful and useful book to own.

Secondly, in late August and O'Reilly will be posting on their Website a free, downloadable appendix that covers the new features of iMovie II.

Thirdly, the original iMovie application will continue to be a free download from Apple.com, so the original book is by no means obsolete, and it should be noted that iMovie 2 is a $50 upgrade.

Chapter 1: The DV Camcorder, is a tutorial on the history of video camcorders and an explanation of why you will need a DV camcorder in order to use iMovie. It walks you through the relative advantages of various DV camera features, and includes a buyer's Guide to popular DV camcorder models.

Chapter 2 , Turning Home Video into Pro Video, provides you with a crash course in professional filming techniques, and alone is probably worth the book's price if you are a film neophyte. The sections on camera techniques, microphones, lighting, and composition recalled my days working in a community cable TV production department nearly 30 years ago ("Ah yes, it seems like only yesterday").

Chapter 3, Special-Event Filming, addresses more advanced stuff, like staging and filming interviews, making music videos, capturing live stage performances, speeches, sports events, and weddings (the "22 shots for your wedding video" sidebar would have been a nice crib sheet to have in my days as a [still] wedding photographer).

Finally in Chapter 4, Camcorder meets Mac, we began Part 2, in which iMovie enters this scene for the first time. This software manual section also includes:

Chapter 5: Building The Movie Track
Chapter 6: Transitions, Fades, And Special Effects
Chapter 7: Titles, Captions, And Credits
Chapter 8: Narration, Music, and Sound
Chapter 9: Picture Files and QuickTime Movies
Chapter 10: Professional Editing Techniques

Part 3, "Finding Your Audience," includes:

Chapter 11: Back to the Camcorder
Chapter 12: From iMovie to QuickTime
Chapter 13: Putting Movies on the Web

Part 4 takes you beyond iMovie into the real pro leagues, and covers:

Chapter 14: QuickTime Player Pro
Chapter 15: Final Cut, Premiere, and EditDV

There are also the two helpful appendices and an index.

iMovie: The Missing Manual has been a strong seller, and it went back to press for a second printing only eight days after its initial release. When you read it, it's easy to understand why. If you are seriously interested in using and getting the best out of iMovie, buying this modestly-priced book is really a no-brainer.

iMovie: The Missing Manual
By David Pogue
1st Edition May 2000
388 pages, $19.95

For more information about iMovie: The Missing Manual, visit:
http://www.missingmanual.com

Charles W. Moore

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Friday, 29-Aug-2008 01:38:41 EDT