iMovie 6 and iDVD: The Missing Manual

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 512 pages
• Published by: Pogue Press; Full Color Ed edition May 5, 2006
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0596527268
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0596527266
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.3 inches
• Weighs: 2.2 pounds

Product Description
While the last version of iMovie gave moviemakers the ability to capture and edit widescreen High Definition Video (HDV) from the new generation of camcorders, iMovie 6 is all about the ease of moviemaking itself. iMovie 6 includes five professionally designed themes with backgrounds, motion graphics, titles, and effects that act as building blocks for your projects. You can preview transitions and stunning new video effects--such as time-lapse video--in real time using the full screen. Or edit audio and add sound effects with a new built-in sound studio. For presenting your movie, Magic iDVD offers easy-to-use themes, including new widescreen options.

Whether you're a professional or an amateur moviemaker, this is amazing stuff. But if you want to learn the full capabilities of these applications, Apple documentation will not make the cut. Instead, iMovie 6 & iDVD: The Missing Manual is the ideal third-party authority that covers all of these changes through an objective lens. This witty and entertaining guide from celebrated author David Pogue details every step of iMovie 6 and iDVD production. The book shows you how to:

• Work on multiple iMovie projects at once and drag & drop clips among them
• Output your creation to a blog, its own web page, or as a video podcast with iWeb
• Use "Magic iMovie" to import your video and make a movie for you
• Integrate with other iLife programs to use songs, photos, and an original soundtrack
• And a whole lot more

From choosing and using a digital camcorder to burning the finished work onto DVDs, posting it online, or downloading it to an iPod, iMovie 6 & iDVD: The Missing Manual zooms right in on the details in a clear, concise, and understandable manner. The book also provides a firm grounding in basic film technique so that the quality of your video will not rely entirely on magic.

About The Author
David Pogue, Yale '85, is the personal-technology columnist for the New York Times. With nearly 3 million books in print, he is also one of the world's bestselling how-to authors, having written or co-written seven books in the "for Dummies" series as well as his celebrated Missing Manuals books on Mac OS X, Windows XP, iPod, Microsoft Office, iPhoto, Dreamweaver, iMovie 2, and many others. His Web page is www.davidpogue.com, and his email address is david@pogueman.com.

Reader Reviews
iMovie has tools that help your movie look professional, but the iMovie help files are very tedious to go through. There is a great deal of referencing, cross-referencing, and nothing is smoothly laid out. This book is another story, as it is very well laid out with clear instructions and illustrations. It is very long, but since these applications are powerful, it would be expected that any clear explanation of them is going to require some space. What is particularly good about this book is that the author doesn't assume you are a professional video author, and he spends part one of the book helping you learn how to shoot videos and shares tricks that will make you good at it. Part 2 is dedicated to iMovie, and shares not just how to use the application, but the little extras that will make your video special - transitions, effects, titles, captions, and even how to work with sound in your movie. Part 3, on finding your audience, was another unexpected treat. There the author shows you how to move between iMovie and Quicktime, and how to post your movie to your phone, to the web, and even to the iPod. Part 4 of the book is on iDVD. I particularly liked the chapter on iDVD secrets, where the author shows how you can use AppleScript to customize iDVD itself. I also own Pogue's other book on iMovie 5, and even though the chapters in this book have almost exactly the same titles as the book on the previous version, it is still a worthwhile upgrade for several reasons. Chances are, if you upgraded from iMovie 5 to iMovie 6, you did so to take advantage of the several upgrades to the new product such as the five new Apple-designed iMovie "Themes". Designed for ease of use, the user can easily drop movie clips or photos into these preset themes to give the project a professional look with each theme including full motion-graphic bumpers and transitions. There is also cinematic real-time titling and real-time video effects newly included in iMovie 6. Also, the audio in iMovie 6 has been greatly improved via greatly enhanced effects such as equalization and reverb. All of these new features are covered in the book. Finally this book covers the connection between iMovie and the iPod. There are also a host of subtle changes in the way that iMovie 6 works versus iMovie 5, and for that reason alone it is worth the price of the book to save yourself time and head scratching over problems. The only bad thing I can say is that the print quality of the book is not nearly as good as the previous edition. It is not good to scrimp on such things, especially if you are writing about multimedia and you need clear and aesthetically pleasing illustrations. I notice Amazon does not show the table of contents, so I do that here: Part 1: CAPTURING DV FOOTAGE 1. The DV Camcorder 2. Turning Home Video into Pro Video 3. Special Event Filming Part 2: EDITING IN IMOVIE 4. Camcorder Meets Mac 5. Building the Movie 6. Transitions and Effects 7. Titles, Captions, and Credits 8. Narration, Music, and Sound 9. Still Pictures and QuickTime Movies 10. Professional Editing Techniques Part 3: FINDING YOUR AUDIENCE 11. Back to the Camcorder 12. From iMovie to QuickTime 13. Movies on the Web, iPod, and the Phone 14. QuickTime Player Part 4: iDVD6 15. From iMovie to iDVD 16. iDVD Projects by Hand 17. Designing iDVD Themes 18. iDVD Secrets Part 5: Appendixes A. iMovie 6: Menu by Menu B. Troubleshooting C. Master Keyboard Shortcut List Comment | | (Report this)