Video editing can seem very daunting. All the glamour of the well-known influencers shine through your screen as you scroll through Youtube and Instagram. Do you have the right camera? How’s your lighting? Should you have an intro or an outro? Is the music too distracting? How do I put this clip in between this other clip?
Take a breathe and make the dive. Being a content creator doesn’t have to be difficult. Just starting is the hard part and I’m here to help you along the rest of the way. Today we’re going to give the Mac users something to check out. If you have a Mac OS of some kind, then you are in luck. Mac OS comes with plenty of bells and whistles including iMovie.
Pictures as Footage
Video editing doesn’t have to simply consist of videos. If you have professional shots or pictures that convey your point, then use those. In most editing software, you can import both videos and pictures as footage.
In iMovie, there is the option to crop your footage in three different ways. There’s Fit, Crop to Fill and Ken Burns. Using Ken Burns as a crop option can pan/zoom in/out of a clip and gives your photo a little life. Crop to Fill eliminates the empty space that comes with using portrait mode and the main content fills the screen.
Customizing Fonts
Here’s a fun addition I’ve learned recently!
iMovie has a few fonts and subtitles but they’re not very customizable. Mac OS comes with a software called Keynote. Use keynote to create text with various fonts or effect. First create a slide and make it transparent. Then add your font, color, and layout that you like. Export the slide as a .png and import that file into iMovie. And you’re have your own customized fonts.
You can even add Keynote effects to your content and save the slide as a movie.
Audio
It’s a good rule of thumb to detach the audio from your footage. This makes the audio more manageable. You can increase or decrease the volume. You can even add a fade in or fade out effects.
In iMovie, you can add additional sound effects, extra voice-overs, or music. It’s important to be mindful that too much audio can be distracting but a good choice of music can really impact how your content makes your viewers feel.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. iMovie has plenty of options to make a great video. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me and I’d love to help.
D'Miria Collins 