PE2_iMovie

Rough Cut & Multitrack Editing with iMovie

The Advanced Editing Tool! Why did I not know about this before? One of my biggest gripes with iMovie was the occasional difficulty I experienced with the selection process in the event browser and getting it to the timeline. Sometimes the software just seemed to have its own idea of what it wanted to do. The Advanced Editing Tool is a huge time saver as it simply allows you to rip through your raw footage and add footage to your timeline just by selecting it. It cuts out the click-and-drag to the timeline step. This is a great too for roughing out your edit quickly.

 As Lynda.com video stated many people who are not new to editing software can’t stand the way iMovie works. (I was one of those not too long ago) iMovie ‘11 includes a single button to ease the transition. It allows you to view your timeline horizontally like most other editing software.

Another complaint from many experienced editors (including me) was that iMovie did not allow you to have multiple video tracks, so performing edits like cutaways or picture-in-picture was not possible. To bad this isn’t true. iMovie just made it so easy to do that I missed it. I kept trying all these workarounds to emulate old school editing software when all I really had to do was drop one clip on top of another and select the option that I wanted. Now all you experienced editors can stop complaining, iMovie really can perform most typically used edits, and it makes it all so simple.  

PE1_iMovie

The Lynda.com training series are amazing. I have my own students use the free samplings provided on the Apple website when we begin our units on Final Cut Pro, Motion, and Soundtrack Pro. So I am aware of the potential of the Lynda training series. The videos are always very complete overviews of the software but what I love most about them are the little tips, tricks, and other nuggets of gold that even experienced users of the software can learn and add to their own tool kits. So even though I consider myself fairly proficient with iMovie over the next three posts I will be looking for those little tidbits of knowledge and explaining why I think they are so important.

iMovie Gets Things Organized

Most of my editing experience comes from working professionally as a Final Cut Pro Editor for about 4 years. My typical editing job was taking 25-30 hours of video and film and editing it into a 22 minute TV show. To do this efficiently organization was key. We had a team of tape loggers that would comb through all the footage and gave each and every clip keywords, descriptions and marked clips as good or bad. Needless to say this was a very labor-intensive process. I have never had an editing project in iMovie with an amount of footage that required that much organization, but I was happy to see that iMovie makes tagging, marking favorites, and rejecting clips a fast and easy process.

As with most operations there are a couple ways to do things but I am always looking for the most efficient. In the case of marking favorites, and rejecting clips you should start by activating the Advanced Tools options in the iMovie Preferences. Then you have the most options for your working style than simply being restricted to the slow way. With the Advanced Tools on marking favorites, or clips for rejection is as easy as clicking and dragging. Very cool!

Tagging clips with keywords is also as simple as click-and-drag. I can see how this feature would be incredibly beneficial if iMovie was your only editing option and you had hours of footage on your computer. By tagging footage it allows you to quickly sort clips to find exactly what you need.

Along the same lines as tagging is a feature called people finder. This analyzes your footage for any parts that have good clear close-ups of faces. A great feature if you had to go through hours of shaky home movie footage to find those few good shots.


Overall some great features to speed up your search for usable footage.  

BP2_Popplet.com

Popplet is an online collaborative, mind-mapping tool. I decided on Popplet because I have students use the application Inspiration extensively in my class for brainstorming and pre-planning. However Inspiration has some limitations that I am hoping Popplet might overcome.

Creating a Popplet account was a very simple process. It asks for your name, email address, and a password. Once you enter that information it takes you right in to the site, no email verification necessary. Once you are logged in Popplet presents you with a large button prompting you to get started. It then takes you through a simple 9-step tutorial process to get you accustomed to the interface, features, and navigation.

At first Popplet is similar to most other mind mapping applications. You simply create “popples” and populate them with content then make connections. The types of content that you can include are simple titles, drawings, photos, and embedded videos. You can also add comments to all the popples you create. (in fact multiple people can comment but I’ll cover that in a minute)

The drawing feature is one that I have not seen in other mind mapping applications. This allows you to create simple sketches to illustrate your ideas.  However drawing with a mouse pad is not very accurate. This would be a great feature if you had a pen tablet. Another feature that it includes is the ability to embed a Google Map. This could be a great feature for a Social Studies classroom.

You can embed videos or photos straight from Youtube or Flickr. However there is no way to tie in to your own accounts for either of these to access personal videos, favorites, or photos. You simply have to search all of Youtube or Flickr so you need to know what you are looking for and supply strong tags to your own content to access it quickly. It does allow you to log in directly to your Facebook account to access photos but I was unable to get this function to work.

The only content capability that Popplet does not include that is included in Inspiration is the ability to record voice memos into concept bubbles. This a feature that I like in Inspiration because it allows students to quickly record comments as they brainstorm.

The problem with Inspiration is that it is hardware-based meaning it only exists on the computer on which it is created. Popplet stores your projects on it website so they can be accessed from any computer. Popplet also includes one very powerful Web 2.0 feature and that is its ability for multiple collaborators to work on a popplet at the same time from multiple locations. You simply click on “add collaborators” then enter email addresses, or other Popplet account names to invite them to work on your Popplet. Popplet also has a cool feature called timewarp that stores all or the changes to your Popple and allows you to view the development of the Popple over time.

Overall I am excited to try this tool in my classes. Especially with a new class that I am teaching this year that requires my students to engage in “distance” collaboration and plan web based video projects with another class in our school electronically.  

BP3 Google Screen Shots

I just set up some new tabs on my iGoogle page for my Emergent Technologies In A Collaborative Culture Course. I was unaware of the tab feature in iGoogle so I have already learned something new and useful this month. Here are some screen shots of my Home tab:

My FSO/CBR Tab:

And my ETC Tab:

Hopefully these will help keep me organized this month and in month's to come. If you use a gadget that you think might be useful that I don't have let me know about what it is and how you use it.

BP1_Welcome to My Blog

Image from Microsoft Clip Art Gallery

Thank you for joining me on this journey of instructional discovery. In this blog I will be documenting the trials, travails, and successes of my continuing education as I strive for higher levels of instructional mastery through the Education Media Design and Technology program at Full Sail University. Check back often for updates on my progress and to hear my thoughts and reflections about current educational practices, strategies, and tools. For as Socrates stated, "Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for."