Black screen at end of video.

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Level 1

10 points

Black screen at end of video.

In iMovie, the video ends showing the last frame, where I wanted it to end. The end of video and sound tracks have been trimmed to equal lengths. After converting it into a .mov file, the last frame is followed by a black screen - less than a second. However, I want to stop with the last frame, as it's a zoom out revelation. The soundtrack is mono. And I've scrolled to the right but have found nothing but grey. The pointer will continue further for another 17 seconds, but there isn't any video, nor music extending that far.

I'm flummoxed having spent three evenings redoing and redoing this.

Cheers

eMac, Mac OS X (10.3.x)

Posted on Nov 13, 2007 5:35 PM

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Answer 1

bikebloke Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 14, 2007 7:48 AM in response to bikebloke

Unfortunately, I don't have QT Pro.

I did look at the iMovie work tables from previous videos. There wasn't the long grey scroll to the right of the end. When I started making this film, I had two long clips. After much snipping, most ended on the cutting room floor. Now I have a handful of small short clips to form my narrative. I wonder if orignally creating all that extra space did something.

I suppose there is a work around. I could export all the new clips, then create another iMovie work table and start anew. I'd only have to redo the opening titles and one fancy transition, since the creative bit has been done.

Cheers

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Answer 2

catspaw

Level 5

4,344 points

Nov 14, 2007 4:31 PM in response to bikebloke

Hi bikebloke - with imovie 6 you can have more than one project open at the same time. You could create a new project, and then select and drag the clips from the open original project to the open new one, dragging directly from one Timeline to the other. That would bring over the title clip and transitions as well, and should avoid the extra 'space' at the end, though not sure about that small black segment.
Whenever I have extra space at the end of movies, usually caused by importing a music file that extends beyond the video clips, and then cropping that music to fit, it has no effect on the actual playing length of the video. I am not sure why yours apparently does not stop at that point.

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Answer 3

bikebloke Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 14, 2007 5:59 PM in response to catspaw

Thanks. I'll try that.

My idea ventured above didn't work. When I tried dragging the new clips onto my desktop, what appeared were the original two long clips.

So I opened a new iMovie work table, then dropped in the converted .mov file with the black end screen. I clipped the black bit off and recoverted. Only there was deterioration in image quality.

I've made plenty of videos where I clipped off extended music without any problem. Though in this case, I first clipped off some talk preceding the music, then the over extended music at the end. I'm wondering if it was those longer clips.

I'll try your idea tomorrow. Time to walk away from it for a bit.

Cheers

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Answer 4

bikebloke Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 15, 2007 5:51 PM in response to bikebloke

It didn't work. The dreaded black screen still appears. I guess I'll have go the time consuming route and convert my parts of my video into .mov files in order to locate the problem. I have the two long clips, from which I snipped down to eight scenes, then a color clip.

I'm close to posting it on my vlog with the black ending, but the artist in me objects.

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Answer 5

catspaw

Level 5

4,344 points

Nov 15, 2007 8:09 PM in response to bikebloke

Hi bikebloke - the only way that I can produce a brief black moment at the end of the video of the sort you describe is by creating a black 'slug'. This is achieved in Timeline View by dragging a clip to the right. The resulting gap shows up as black when played back. Having made such a 'slug' I then moved it to the extreme end of the video by moving all clips to its left. It does not look like a clip - simply a grey 'space' at the end, but in playback it shows up as black .
You can turn such a space into a clip by Control-Clicking it and selecting 'Convert Empty Space to Clip'. I wonder if somehow you have such a 'space' (only about one second long)?
Try zooming in fully and see if there is such a thing, Control-Click it and see what results.

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Answer 6

bikebloke Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 16, 2007 5:22 PM in response to catspaw

Hi Catspaw,

I looked for the slug, but couldn't find one. Though I was able to create one. My troublesome black screen is less than a second. I just tried an experiment. I created a MOV file with just the black & white clips, then another with the just the colour clip. They both ended at the last frame. So now I'm wondering if perhaps my fancy transition between the two is the culprit. Perhaps the duration is too long - (1.25 sec)?

I'm tempted to buy into QT Pro, but to clip a fraction of a second, it seems extravagant. I looked for some freeware and trialware, but they all seem oriented to Microshite.

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Answer 7

catspaw

Level 5

4,344 points

Nov 17, 2007 12:40 AM in response to bikebloke

OK bikebloke - the only other workaround that I can think of for you is to share your movie back to camera, remove the short black segment from the tape, then re-import it to a new imovie project. You will lose nothing by way of quality, but of course you will not be able to further modify transitions etc.

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Answer 8

bikebloke Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 17, 2007 7:37 PM in response to catspaw

Hi Catspaw,
I created a MOV file with everything, except the fancy transition. It came out just fine - just looked strange changing from black & white to colour. I guess the "ripple" transition is buggy. I'd even cut the transition time down, but it didn't make any difference. A pity because it was effective. I'll have to experiment with the others. If that doesn't work, I have some ideas using special effects between the black & white and colour parts. I'm getting a lot of editing experience 🙂.

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Answer 9

bikebloke Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 20, 2007 6:13 PM in response to bikebloke

I finally coughed up the dough for QuickTime Pro. After scouring the Internet, the concensus was that it had its uses. I'd snipped slivers off the end of the video, but the black screen would still appear - it was only a single frame. It had been a long time since I used special effects, without that problem. I guess the latter updates threw a wrench in the works. So I guess QT Pro should come in handy for later videos.

Thanks Catspaw for all your input. And if Peter Jackson decides to hire me, I'll gladly move down to your part of the world.

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Answer 10

bikebloke Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 21, 2007 6:56 PM in response to catspaw

I already did. Six months pedalling around. I wish I could've stayed, but I wanted to do it legally. Though there are times when I kick myself for not hunkering down and overstaying. In fact, I made a wee film flying around my still photos. If you're bored, it and others (including the troublesome Swiss flick of late) can be seen at: http://veloroo.blogspot.com

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