How do you mark your 'in' point with the keyboard?

What I want to do is hit the spacebar to stop at just the right point, hit a key to mark my selection, hit spacebar to resume playing and then finally hit shift-A to mark my out. Any ideas?
Select a single frame near your out point, use Left/Right Arrow keys to select your exact "out" frame, move "playhead cursor to your exact "in" point, and now press "Shift-A" to select the range of frames from your "in" point (the playhead cursor) to your "out" point (selected single frame.

It would be so much easier to control the whole process with just the 'spacebar', 'i' & 'o' (as in Final Cut)
I assume the main problem in conforming to the normal in/out marking for applications like FCE, FCP, QT Pro, MPEG Streamclip, etc. is the apparent incompatibility of using the Right/Left Arrow and I/O keys in iMovie '08/'09 to select and mark an exact frame. You could, of course, submit a feedback request (see iMovie'09 File menu options) to change the shortcuts to match other applications.

I've just tried what you said but I find it all very messy and unintuitive.
Response was only to explain how the "Shift-A" sequence works. Frankly I use a different approach. I simply select a single frame near my "keeper" in point and press the "Delete" key to logically "split" the clip into two segments. each segment can then be manipulated/edited independently. I only use the "Shift-A" marking approach when I don't wish to drop a frame. Most of the time I am trimming so it doesn't matter.

John - this is priceless. Thanks.
This was confusing me like crazy too and to make things even worse, while going through the Shortcut (in German) I DID find Shift-A but did not realize what to do with it (marking I and O). Well - Apple has an error in many German shortcuts and writes ALT-A (which is wrong) - Shift-A is correct of course.

But I don't understand your second tip. Could you explain it again? What is the "Delete" key - the backspace key? I am marking doing that but not splitting - so it must be another key. Thanks for clarification.

gf

John - I found it myself. The command split works only in the project not in the event window. But Method 1 does work at both places of course - that was my confusion. Strange that in the German version of iMovie "Split" does not have a shortcut - especially not the "Delete" key. But I am reconfiguring all the shortcuts now anyway...

gf

Message was edited by: gfisch

I found it myself.
Sorry for the delay in responding. (Officially retired today and was gone filling out the paperwork.) In any case, there seems to be a lot of confusion between the us of the "Split"/"Join" commands (Project Editing), "Split Before..." (splitting of Events), the difference between an Event and a clip within an Event (Events vs files/clips), "logical" vs "physical" segmentation of files (iMovie '09 display vs actual source files stored), and the use of the Shift-A command sequence (i.e., to first anchor and then select a segment with specific "in" and "out" points). If I have the chance over the next few days, will see if I can make and post a few "Quickie" tutorials on these subjects.

Wow you nailed it, Jon. And enjoy your great new post-work situation. BTW - I liked your tutorial - the watermark example was just what I needed.

I agree - coming from iMovie HD and even FCP it IS confusion finding your own editing style.

What I understand - you can have two approaches.

1. Preselect and mark the material FIRST in the events window - do the rough edit there - so to speak. THEN move the parts up (or down) in the project window and do the final edit

or (as I have done it always in iMovie HD and FCP

2. Move the complete material in a new project, make hard cuts and delete the material you don't want - you end up with the rough edit automatically.

I think both approaches make sense with iMovie 09. Now that I have redefined the command for "Split clip" to the learned Command + T its even easier.

What I like with the first approach is that you can create different edits (projects) out of the roughly edited (marked) event files. And you can also delete the unwanted material - thats very handy and not possible if you would only edit in the project window.

The second approach is just faster: I learned you better not even click at all to get a yellow selection. No - you de-select everything and then just hover the mouse over the video while skimming and press Command+T all the time. This is even easier than with iMovie HD where you had to manually move the playhead! I think this is how you do it - not?

I will see how I will edit with iMovie09 in the future. But finally - after ignoring iMovie 08 totally and still working with iMovie HD I am ready to do the switch.

The best for me is the real time situation. It's just so much faster and inspires my creativity better: color-change, crop and titeling without rendering. THAT is just wonderful.

Thanks for your great tutorials, Jon. Keep up the good work.

gf

gfisch wrote:
BTW - I liked your tutorial - the watermark example was just what I needed.

Hi, all, very curious about these tutorials and where to view them?

Thanks, Deborah

very curious about these tutorials and where to view them?
They are "off the cuff" quickie tutorials primarily made in response to questions posed by members of our local South Jersey Apple User Group (SJAUG). In my area most of the group is above retirement age. (Let's just say 58 is considered "young.") In any event, posting a list of actions or set of instructions seems to create more problems than it solves, so I began posting very short tutorials to explain some tip, trick, or workaround. All of the tutorials are unscripted and usually made in a single take. Most contain verbal mistakes that aren't corrected but usually convey the proper work flow well enough for others to duplicate it. They are not intended to be professional in nature nor are they targeted for the advanced user or professional videographer. If you find any of the information of help, you are welcome to use it.

QUICKNOTES

Jon, You should really consider posting these on YouTube. They deserve a bigger audience.

Jon,

Could you describe your workflow in producing Quicknotes. They are very good and I wonder about the specifics and difficulty of producing them.

Thanks beforehand.

Denhnis

Could you describe your workflow in producing Quicknotes.

Basically I use a screen/system audio capture application to capture what I am doing in an application along with any audio being produced. There are many such applications available, but I tend to stick with Snapz Pro X which I have been using for years. My somewhat old PPC G5 limits me to captures of about 960x540 at 24 fps. This step, of course takes place in "real time." With iMovie '08, I would had to transcode the captured data to compatible compression formats, but with iMovie '09 it looks like I can go back to using the default Animation video codec which I prefer.
Once the screen captured data is stored to a file, I bring it into iMovie for a quick edit -- usually just a quick trimming of the length, adding a title, and adding simple opening/closing cross-fades. When done, I output the edited content via the "Export Using QuickTime" option -- normally as AIC/AIFF but will likely try Animation/AIFF on my next one. The editing process takes only a few minutes but exporting adds additional time.
At this point I import the edited file to GarageBand for a quick voiceover. I use this approach so I can keep a copy of the iMovie exported file for reuse at some later time. (My original intention was to eventually go back and correct my voiceover mistakes but I never seem to get around to doing this as some new project is always coming up.) For this step I generally use a Blu "Snowball" USB mic. In any case, the voiceover is also in real time. I normally export the finished file using the "Full Quality" mode so as to avoid a further transcoding of the video track. (It also saves time if no video re-compression has to be performed.)
At this point it is merely a matter of targeting my final output. For my web content, I usually use MPEG Streamclip to convert the GarageBand file to an H.264/AAC file with a targeted video data rate of 1.0 Mbps. If I decide to post the file in an MOV file container, I then open the file in QT Pro and set the "poster frame" for iWeb use. If for any reason I wish to preserve the MP4 container, I use iTunes to "poster frame" the file.
As previously implied, I use iWeb to actually post the file. In this case, the tutorials are posted to a separate "Podcast" page collection since the are easy to maintain; allow user comments, RSS notifications (which I've never tested), and searches (also untested). Primarily I liked the ease with which I can duplicate a previously posted video entry and simply drop in the new clip and modify the text changes. Posting the update is, of course, as simple as pressing an icon button and waiting got the upload to finish.
I have completed the work flow in as little as an hour but my average is closer to 90-120 minutes since my wife and/or pets usually want some sort of attention during the process. You may have noted Gracie (a Congo African Grey) or Mango (an Amazon Orange Wing) in the background of some of my voiceovers. And that, as they say, is all there is...

You should really consider posting these on YouTube.
Not really something I ever wanted to do. I have my own MobileMe account, most viewers I'd want to reach are Mac owners and users, so I am not really interested in reaching out to the "world at large."

Thank you for your detailed explanation of your work flow. I followed most of it but will have to study the text further and do some experimentation imitating your steps. I congratulate you on your commitment to the mac community and its training. It is very generous of you to help people understand the procedures necessary for a given result given the holes in most tutorials and manuals!

I think your focus on the mac community is an admirable choice and the primary demographic to be reached. You tube is somewhat easier to search for and useful fo that purpose.

Keep up the great work!

Dennis

I THINK I read everything in the thread so I'll add my own two cents on top of it. Here is what I do to select exact in/out points in an event to put into a project. I don't think this worked in 08 though.

I click an event around where I want my in point. I then use the right/left arrow keys to find the exact frame I want. This actually moves the out point too though. I then mouse over around where I want my out point then hold down SHIFT as I use the left/right arrow keys. This will only move your out point frame by frame, leaving your exact in point intact.