Apple

When I learned that I’d be part of the Macworld Video production team, I was both excited and more than a bit apprehensive. I was excited because I enjoy working in video, though it never seems I have enough time to do so, and nervous because Apple had recently (with the introduction of iLife ‘08 ) basically killed off my video production tool of choice: iMovie HD .

iLife ‘08 includes a program named iMovie ‘08 , but it’s related to its predecessor in name only’”iMovie ‘08 is a completely new program. While iMovie ‘08 added a number of interesting features beyond those offered in iMovie HD, it also removed quite a few, and more importantly to me, created a completely new paradigm for video editing. In a typical video-editing app, such as iMovie HD, you have a spot to store your video clips, and a timeline on which to place them.

In iMovie ‘08, however, the traditional timeline and storage bin have undergone major changes’”your videos are shown as a series of still images in both the bin and timeline area, and a traditional timeline view is not available. For my first two Macworld video productions, I used iMovie ‘08, trying my best to adjust to the new way of doing things.

Even though I was able to create both videos, and the end results were fine’”at least as fine as my talents allow’”I wouldn’t say either production was an enjoyable experience. I worked too hard to understand the iMovie ‘08 way of doing things, and it seemed that many simple tasks, such as making a cut on a precise frame, were either impossible or more complicated than they were in iMovie HD.