Skip to Content

iMovie '08



iMovie '08 has been completely rewritten from the ground up, at least that's what Steve said at today's media event. Let's take a look at some of the new features:

New Icon

Initially this will be the most visible change, that is until you launch the app. The icon has been changed because the app itself is so different. Makes sense to me.

Video Library

This is a big change. iMovie has gone from a simple editing program to a catalog of all the video on your Mac, no matter where it is stored. That's right, iMovie will display movies that are on your machine's hard disk or on an external drive. Pretty cool. You can also mark clips as favorites, so you can quickly navigate to your go to clips. Taking a cue from iPhoto '08, iMovie also has Events (it automatically groups clips taken on the same day together).

General Enhancements

I know this might seem like a cop out, but the real genius in iMovie '08 isn't the laundry list of new features, but rather how they combine to make movie making faster. The new Video Library uses skimming (think of that is scrubbing through a video clip, but without having to open it in a different viewer) to make setting in and out points a breeze. New transitions, effects, and realtime title rendering also help to make your video go from concept to screen (big, medium, or small screen) in a snap. Sharing has never been easier either. iMovie allows you to upload you completed masterpiece to YouTube, or your .Mac account with a few clicks.


Categories

iLife Video

iMovie '08 has been completely rewritten from the ground up, at least that's what Steve said at today's media event. Let's take a look at...
 

Add a Comment

*0 / 3000 Character Maximum

49 Comments

Filter by:
Jack Armstrong

I like the new iMovie 08; it serves a useful purpose for when you want to turn out a quick and dirty item in a hurry. I can still use iMovie 06 for more careful and thoughtful productions.

October 15 2007 at 12:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mark

I was VERY sceptical about this iMovie 08 Version, specially after reading all the very negative comments. But I gave it a try yesterday. Yes, plenty of features are missing and the themes, effects and other libraries are very thin. But I needed only 5 minutes to get it going and it is awesome. I was just back from a tour in Peninsula Valdès (argentina) where I did some whale watching. I had over 50 minutes of footage (90% just filming the sea in case a whale would suddenly appear). I cut it down to 13 minutes in less than 20 minutes, with effects, transitions, titles and all. A neat little clip that I would otherwise have made in at least 60 minutes. Imovie 08 is as intuitive as the mac itself. I'm sure there´ll be updates that will make all the naysayers happy.

Cheers to the iLife team.

Mark

September 24 2007 at 2:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Preston

In a nutshell. iMovie 08 sucks.

September 21 2007 at 7:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
macgeek1965

So, where's all the video effects living? I can find transitions and titling but no video effect. And if you search the web you can find plugins for older versions of iMovie but noting for '08. Can anyone help me out? Apparently Apple is talking: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1105208&tstart=135

September 07 2007 at 12:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Brad

If you had iMovie HD prior to installing iMovie 08, it keeps the HD version in a folder named "previous version" look in the applications directory. Which allow you to run both versions....
...Whew! Thank goodness the apple peeps knew we'd like a little more editing control that the previous version's timeline provided.

August 31 2007 at 10:28 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Travis

Oh god, guys...i08 (movies) is BAD really bad... No audio wavelengths, sound editing all screwed up...as far as I can tell... no "extract audio"...No effects...
Biggest Mistake I ever made was installing this product...THIS IS NOT AN "UPGRADE" in any manner...in fact, I am SEARCHING the web to find out what my options are for UNinstalling it...any suggestions??? Yuck.

August 22 2007 at 11:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Bo Hitchcock

I have to eat my words, I have now completed 45 minutes at thel Apple Store
Galleria Fort Lauderdale. Chis, the genius I was assigned to, showed me how to make this new '08 iMovie work. I must say adios to the '06, this new program is actually much better in many ways.

August 21 2007 at 3:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Bo Hitchcock

I have made over 200 movies on iMovie 06.
The new iMovie 08 is not nearly as "intuitive" as iMovie 06.
They surely will bring some updates...... surely........I hope.
'06 is my choice for now.

August 20 2007 at 8:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Phillip smith

Does any one know if it has applescript support. The absense of Applescript in imovie has alwasys annoyed me any idea if this has been added

August 16 2007 at 6:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
swenlin

Okay, I've played with it. It's a totally different paradigm - a completely different way to approach editing movies. It is a simpler program, but since it's totally different it's maddening to use if you're used to the previous versions of iMovie. And by simpler I also mean "limited". Ladies and gentlemen... there is no time line. It's a very non-linear approach in some ways and very linear thinking in others. THe live video scanning is great, and this will work great for jumping in and knocking out a quick flick or a video blog. But I miss the level of features and control that the pervious version provided. Damn you, Apple!

August 14 2007 at 7:54 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Buy an ad here

Hot Apps on TUAW

Tweets

© 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.