Why You Should Respect iMovie

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As we start a new week I’m sitting here scratching my head searching for some cool, relevant post production news to write about. I could mention the Oscars and Joi McMillon being the first black female nominee for film editing. I could mention the recent Editors Retreat. I could mention any number of political issues dominating seemingly every bit of social media, news coverage or casual conversation we may have. But I’m still sitting here thinking about iMovie.

On Friday night my wife and I went out and bought her a MacBook Air. Our previously laptop-less household was in desperate need of one. $849 later we were back home signing into iCloud, iTunes and a dozen other applications that begin with ‘i’.

::Jump cut to Saturday night::

My wife, who is not an editor, edited a 6-minute movie of our trip to Vietnam. It’s complete with animated lower thirds, timewarps, blur dissolves, stock music (that I provided from my Soundstripe account) and more. It’s a legit video that most any big-time travel vlogger would be proud of. I couldn’t be more proud of her!

It’s apparent that iMovie has shortcomings, especially for us trained editors. But it can get the job done for a lot of people. Some of the biggest people on YouTube began cutting in iMovie. You may have started in iMovie. I started in iMovie many moons ago! After watching her spend a few hours in iMovie it’s clear that iMovie has two jobs. First, to help amateur video creators edit their first videos. And second, to those that want it, inspire them to be creative.

My wife will never be a professional video editor. But she could very well become an inspired video creator in her free time. And iMovie seems to let her do that. The creative tools are right there and fairly easy to use. Titles automatically have (darn good-looking) transitions. Timewarps have automatic presets. Color corrections apply like filters on Instagram. Anything a new editor could want is right there.

I’m going to try my best not to rag on iMovie anymore. We should respect iMovie. It’s a piece of software that we should encourage people to use as a stepping stone to more advanced NLEs if their videos require it.

I’d love to hear any thoughts you have on respect for iMovie. Share them below in the comments section or send them to me privately here.

BTW, the other day I created an Archive Page that contains every article I’ve written and tutorial I’ve created. Please check it out if you’re new around here.

– Josh

Hey, one last thing. I publish a weekly(ish) newsletter about post production news and happenings around this site. If you’d like to receive it and notifications about new blog posts go here to sign up.

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