How I used iMovie

This is iMovie, the video software I used to create and edit my music video.

This screen allows me to see the picture from my video in progress.

The red line located on the project controls what I see on the screen, which is important; especially when I want to edit certain clips.

This is the project. It allows me to order clips that I wish to use. It is where I can chose to edit clips, by their audio, visually and their length. This helped me because it made me aware of the shot types I was using, so that I maintained a range and didn’t repeat the shot-types one after the other.

This is where my uploads are stored. The orange lines indicate what parts of the clips I have already used. When clicking on one of these clips, I can

view the length of them. If I drag slightly above the clip, I can select a section of it.

I then drag it over to the project and the green line indicates where the clip shall be placed.

By clicking the music icon, I am directed to my iTunes, where I can select the desired song (in this instance it is Damaged- Graves). I then drag it over to the project and it is displayed as a green line, as evidenced (below).

When I double-click a clip in the project, an ‘inspector’ appears, which allows me to edit my video. As I based my video on the Casualties- We Are All We Have, I needed to heighten the contrast to gain a similar effect to that of the video. I could do this by clicking on the ‘video’ option, where I could change the levels. By changing the contrast, I occasionally needed to heighten the brightness, as the contrast emphasised the darkness of the video. Another option I wished to change was the saturation. I asked the audience how they would expect a punk video to be visually and many of them said that it should be greyscale, though not enough did to make that decision. So I decided to reduce the saturation slightly, to satisfy both prominent opinions of the audience.

By clicking on ‘Audio’, I can mute the sound of the clip. In a music video, there shouldn’t be any digetic sound unless necessary, so I mute it by bringing the volume down to 0%, so only the music is heard when the clip is played.

By changing the saturation and contrast, I create a more conventional video. The contrast emphasises darker colours, which makes the graffiti, the artist’s hairstyle and their clothes more visible. It also makes the video rather different, and gives it a dark twist, which links to the darkness of some of the lyrical content within the punk genre and in this particular song.

When it is finished, I can then share it so it can be displayed to the public. I do this by clicking on the share icon, then selecting ‘Youtube.’

Another tab then opens. I must ensure I do several things when I share it:• Enter my Youtube password• Enter the category as either

‘music’ or ‘education’• Title it accordingly• Add a description, giving musical

credit to the artists• Publishing it in HD 1080p so that

I can gain the best quality possible

• Make the movie public, instead of personal, so it can be viewed by the audience.

It shall then take several hours to upload, as it is a large file. It shall notify when it is completed. Problems I faced:I deleted some of the footage off of the camera, storing it onto my computer so I could make room to take extra footage. I then found out that iMovie would not allow it to be uploaded from my computer, so I needed to upload all of the clips onto Youtube, convert them into MP4 files and then open them on iMovie. This constant converting compressed the video in such a way that some quality was lost and the process. Benefits of this:I learnt not to invest so much faith in technology, dedicating more time into properly researching unfamiliar software so that I am aware of possible problems. I learnt how to compromise.It actually became more conventional this way, as punk videos are made typically on a low budget, as artists within the punk genre do not work with high-profit businesses, as it is not something they agree with. So their videos are usually in a low quality and can jolt and buffer, as they appear amateur and cheap. Due to this, my video does look more like a punk video, which means it is more conventional and successful within its genre.iMovie was rather user-friendly and helped me to edit a video that would reflect the knowledge I have gained through my research into music videos of the punk genre.