Filed under: iLife, Software, Blogs
Maybe iMovie '08 isn't such a bad change after all
Many folks who were used to the array of features iMovie '06 offered were understandably upset when iMovie '08 uprooted just about everything they knew. After all, they had the figurative rug pulled out right from under them. Eric at no one sequel, however, doesn't see this as a bad thing. Eric's entire post is definitely worth a read, but to summarize: while iMovie '06 is a good product, it doesn't exactly live up to the Apple and iLife reputation of "just working." iMovie '06 users need to learn a little too much about video editing - time codes, time lines, "rendering", etc. - causing a significant portion of the public to avoid the practice altogether. I agree with Eric - perhaps it isn't Apple's job to bring pro features and workflows to the general user. Instead, maybe it's their job to to eliminate the need for those features to exist in the mind of said user, greatly simplifying the barrier to entry in video editing so that more can use these otherwise complicated tools.By completely rethinking the practice of video editing and redesigning iMovie around the new paradigm, iMovie '08 could perhaps be the first product that really captures the attention of the larger mass that hasn't caught the bug yet (no pun intended). Sure iMovie is lacking a few features everyone can enjoy, such as a few effects and transitions, but users no longer need to learn what a 'timecode' is just to cut together the summer vacation or a cute puppy montage. It's just skim, click and drag and poof - a video.
Isn't that the way Apple products are supposed to work?
[via Daring Fireball]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
clark Goble said 1:38PM on 8-27-2007
I wouldn't mind this if (1) iMovie '06 were available and continued to be updated (2) iMovie '08 were given a different product name and (3) iMovie '06 and '08 could share project files.
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Zach said 1:44PM on 8-27-2007
Did a bunch of bloggers overreact? Never!
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fd said 1:58PM on 8-27-2007
When was it - if ever? - required to use timecode (TC) in iMovie to do a quick movie edit?
Maybe the underlying engine needed some work in iMovie 6 to handle more stuff real-time - but for all the known reasons - v 7 is still a thumbs down for the majority of people. They should've simply bolted-on the new quick editing model.
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Goran said 1:58PM on 8-27-2007
Good to see some sense here. Although I haven't read the linked blog article, I think at Apple they took enough time weighing the pros and cons of offering a different iMovie. For me, this was what finally got me into buying a .Mac membership and set up a webpage/blog/photo&video gallery.
To paraphrase the last sentence in David's post: "It's just skim, click and drag and *boom* - a video." :)
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FCEx said 2:04PM on 8-27-2007
The change is to push people that want robust editing features up to Final Cut Express. Simple.
http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/quicktours/imovie.html
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Thayne Miller said 2:31PM on 8-27-2007
personally I love the new imovie. Having all my video in one library is worth its weight in gold! Besides, whenever I made a movie using iMovie06's effects, most people I shared the movie with found the effects too distracting.
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Bruce said 2:58PM on 8-27-2007
iMovie 08 supports AVCHD video, something that I find to be very important for all the new HD based camcorders out there. For this reason alone I think the iMovie rocks. I really hope apple releases a plug-in for Final Cut Express to support AVCHD, but until then looks like imovie 08 will have to do.
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Bob C. said 3:02PM on 8-27-2007
I personally like im08. I've been able to throw together some really cool vids in just a short time, but i do think that apple took out too much choice form im06. I think that they could bring back the video effects and other stuff from the old version without sacrificing the simplicity.
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JohnQ said 3:05PM on 8-27-2007
bootcamp = MSmoviemaker
solved.
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clark Goble said 3:13PM on 8-27-2007
Final Cut Express is an order of magnitude up in complexity and difficulty over using iMovie '06. I had a copy and I found I rarely used it because I could do what I needed in iMovie more easily. While I don't mind the new product and think it will definitely fill a niche, there is a niche between iMovie '08 and Final Cut Express that has been dropped...
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Tom said 3:14PM on 8-27-2007
The way I see it, the two iMovies serve different purposes.
iMovie '06 is truly fabulous, and I'm thrilled with all of the editing power and what-not that it gives to me. I've made some really neat videos of my kids with it, and it's neat being able to share these videos with far-flung relatives, like my mom.
That said, there's a whole lot of things that I've videotaped over the years that sit, collecting dust, because I don't have the mental energy and/or time to do all sorts of editing, the sort of editing that I really feel compelled to do in iMovie '06. To me, iMovie 08's strength is that it (mentally) gives me the freedom to just throw a couple of clips together and put 'em online, and not worry about whether I should be using the overlap or the cross-dissolve transition.
In the big picture, at least for me, it's better to just get something done and online. If iMovie '08 makes that easier for me, great.
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Paul said 3:51PM on 8-27-2007
I think that iMovie 08 and iMovie 06 users are dividing into camps kind of like the Mac vs PC debates, or the emacs vs vi camps, etc.
Count me into the 06 camp.
I've drawn the line.
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Sam G. said 4:16PM on 8-27-2007
While I understand the idea behind the article, I disagree. There is absolutely no reason why iMovie 08 couldn't have had easily accessible advanced features for those who are already familiar with 06. FCEx is correct: this is to get people to buy Final Cut Express.
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olivier said 4:19PM on 8-27-2007
my iMovie 08 crashes at startup.
probably because of my Canon G7 that makes .avi movies that neither quicktime nor vlc can read.
anyone encountered the same issue?
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Steve Mills said 4:22PM on 8-27-2007
Yes, they're supposed to work that way, but they're also supposed to allow previous users to still be able to do everything they were able to do with the previous version, not less. It was just a stupid move to completely replace iMovie with the idiot version. What they should've done is present you with a dialog box when first launched (and add a pref) with 2 radio buttons: "I'm not a geek and I just want to share my dumb kid's birthday party video" and "I want to edit movies like I could before".
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Al said 4:24PM on 8-27-2007
@14:
I totally agree. They should never _remove_ features (like customizable transition lengths, audio extraction, and rubber-band volume editing - come on!) with a version update. I like the way the new iMovie works, but I'm annoyed that they removed features - just leave them in preferences or something so that iMovie '06 users can still use them.
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PSM said 4:28PM on 8-27-2007
"Isn't that the way Apple products are supposed to work?"
Yes, Apple products are supposed to make doing something complicated seem simple and fun. I think the problem is, where do you draw the line at how simple it needs to be? When I first tried iMovie years ago, I thought this already WAS the simple version. Editing a movie is complicated as it is, and here I have little aqua-like bubbles representing my timeline and different video and audio clips. I have an easy draggable rubberband to set audio levels throughout, etc. I've never liked the way effects work, it never seemed very intuitive, but on the whole, I have enjoyed making movies that were fairly easy to make but offered me almost all the precision I wanted in terms of artistic control.
Now of course it's still a bit of work and learning to get to use it, but compared to how complicated "real" movie-making is, it's simplified yet powerful enough for an ambitious consumer.
I think the best way to describe it is to imagine other apps getting the same treatment: How about Garageband? That's pretty powerful. What if it was decided that it's too complicated, so waveforms are being taken out, you can't edit the tracks once you've played them, and you get five instrument choices: piano, guitar, drums, trumpet and violin, only two of which can be playing at any one time. That's basically what they've done to iMovie.
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bruno said 4:58PM on 8-27-2007
All I have to say is Amen. I've been using the iLife suite since it's inception & I can't rememebr the number of ideas for videos I began and gave up on inside previous versions of iMovie. I've always wanted to use it and like it but i didn't. I told myself it was easy - but it wasn't easy enough. Day One with iMovie 08 and i've put together 4 videos and uploaded something to youtube to boot - another thing I could never be bothered to do before with youtubes wonkey web interface. by the way - it's FUN too:) I love it. Thank you Apple
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bruce said 5:30PM on 8-27-2007
Hmm. I agree with David Pogue: the whole point of iM6 was to make it easy to access the power of FC and FCE and do cool stuff quickly. None of its features were obligatory in order to produce great clips, such as dropping into a timeline view or inserting transitions (there never, ever has been a need to "worry about whether I should be using the overlap or the cross-dissolve transition"), and all those features are sooo easy to use (and no easier to use in iM7!)
No, Apple blew it big time with this. iM6 is the gold standard for introducing *any* sort of video editing to a huge range of people (school kids all the way through adults). There's no way schools are going to start 5th graders on FCE, and with iM8 so dumbed-down, it's just another reason for them to switch to Windows...
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Greg G said 6:34PM on 8-27-2007
They need to make professional tools easy to use. There shouldn't be a compromise between ease of use and quality. That's not what Apple is known for.
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