iLife '09: Hands on With iMovie '09

iMovie is the application that persuaded me to get a Mac back in late 1999. I had previously edited film and video in college on huge, expensive editing bays, so cutting digital video on a G3 iMac was a revelation. It didn’t take long for me to get a copy of Final Cut Pro. The power, flexibility, and efficiency of pro apps like Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express, Avid, etc, is usually traded away for ease of use in consumer apps such as iMovie. That’s why I pretty much abandoned iMovie once I got the hang of FCP, though I continued to find iMovie fun and easy to use.

That is, until iMovie ’08 debuted. I’m one of the people who was unhappy that Apple removed many advanced editing options in iMovie ’08, in order to make it easier to use and more of a video cataloging tool (iPhoto for movies). I appreciated the iMovie ’08 interface but found it a little confusing to use.

Movie ’09 is an attempt to build upon what worked with iMovie ’08, while adding new features and enhanced performance. In a week of testing, I can say that iMovie ’09 mostly accomplishes its goals.

The best thing about iMovie ’09 is that it allows you to truly edit video, rather than simply cut video. Cutaways, match cuts, shot-reverse-shots are all now easily possible.

Positives:

• The Precision Editor is very welcome. It’s far easier to edit audio and video independently, so you can use the sound from one clip with the video from another. This makes it possible to perform cutaways and perform real edits, rather than basic cuts.

• Video Stabilization – in my experience, this works better than expected, though processing long clips can take several minutes. See an independent example by clicking here.

• New themes – these are very polished and work well. It’s easy to add them and to make adjustments. The only downside is that everyone with iMovie ’09 will be using them, making your work of art a little less distinct. But they do look incredible.

• New backgrounds and title effects. Some of the new title effects are quite attractive and will be useful.

• New advanced tools – After checking Show Advanced Tools under iMovie Preferences, there are many more drag-and-drop features including Picture-in-Picture, Green screen, Audio Only, Cutaway, and more. These are all completely new to iMovie ’09.

• Stable and fast – for me, at least, no crashes yet.

Cons

• I’m still not convinced the new interface is easier to use. I think a more conventional interface with a real, obvious, apparent timeline would make iMovie 09 an all time, epic winner.

• More video effects. iMovie ’09 has a bunch of set looks and effects you can apply to your footage. There still are not as many as in iMovie ’06 and earlier.

• Again, I wish iMovie ’09 had a conventional timeline, or at least the option for a conventional timeline.

Over all, iMovie ’09 is a very solid update from iMovie ’08. I’ll use it a couple of times a month, especially during the day to prep YouTube content for Small Dog Electronics. So far, it has been fun, fast, and effective – three qualities iMovie ’08 lacked.