Imovie black screen

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Level 1

8 points

Imovie black screen

So many people have the same problem with multiple versions of imovie no matter the year or upgrade.

I'd expect pics to import and be able to playback in full screen to check the quality of the resolution of scanned old photos.

Does not play. Goes black screen. Sometimes pops up a timeline in lower bottom but does nothing.

I'd also like to export into youtube and use their simple to create vids with sound.

Works seamlessly with Windows moviemaker.

Tried with a .mov apple movie and it loaded up black screen.

No one has explained what the problem is except for some convoluted codex jazz which doesn't make any sense.

My imac is useless if the apps are deficient.

Posted on Jun 27, 2020 1:42 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Rich839

Level 8

47,670 points

Jun 27, 2020 7:42 AM in response to sailsmart22

What version of iMovie and operating system are you using? What format are the scanned photos?

Sometimes lowering the resolution of the photos helps. Take one photo and put it on your desktop. Open it with the Preview app on your Mac. Click on Tools/Adjust Size. In the dimension box lower the long dimension to a number under 4000, say 2500. Then import the photo into iMovie and see if it displays properly.

Also, you can try deleting preferences. Open iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and select to delete preferences in the box that appears. iMovie will open in a new library. Reopen your old library to get back to your projects.

-- Rich

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Answer 2

Rich839

Level 8

47,670 points

Jun 27, 2020 2:25 PM in response to sailsmart22

That's why I asked you what iMovie version and operating system version you were using. iMovie 9 is not completely functional on operating systems from El Capitan and later. Black screens for still images is one of the most common complaints. It doesn't happen with video clips, only stills. No cure, really, other than to update/upgrade your software. A workaround that has worked for others is to put the still image into a Photos app slide show, export it to your desktop as a video file, and then import it into iMovie 9. Since it is now a video file it will display as a photo. You might try that if you still have iMovie 9 on your Mac.

Otherwise, you are in somewhat of a tough situation. You need to be able to upgrade to at least Mojave 10.14.6 in order to download current iMovie 10.1.14. Since you are not able to do that, you cannot get iMovie 10.1.14. If you ever had iMovie 10 on your computer before, you could update to the highest version that El Capitan can run. But that does not appear to be an option for you either.

Normally, I would say that you are out of luck, unless you want to buy iMovie 6 from Amazon or ebay as part of the iLife 6 package. However, one poster on this forum, spectre_ghost, came up with a solution that worked in his situation. You might take a look at his/her post in this thread and see if there is anything that helps you:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251259186

-- Rich

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Answer 3

sailsmart22 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 27, 2020 1:27 PM in response to rs09

I can't update imovie. The rotating circle keeps flying. Dimensions are not excessive as they're scanned photos in jpeg format saved in photos. I drag them from there and insert into imovie. Won't play in quicktime either. Saved in .mov format. Won't export into youtube as a share.

Why would I delete preferences when one of the preferences is a radio box to tick off that I want to view in full screen playback.

Seems you're making this up. Grasping.

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Answer 4

sailsmart22 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 27, 2020 2:09 PM in response to rs09

I have El Capitan 10.11.6 so uninstalled imovie which was version 9.0 and found that the latest version cannot be installed.

Too old.

Well normally I'd expect to be told that it cannot be installed on your system but try this instead.

A lot of ineptitude on how to serve user.

Samsung is far better with its apps.

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Answer 5

sailsmart22 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 28, 2020 1:31 AM in response to rs09

I started out doing that by trashing the version 9. The pics weren't faulty because I put them on icloud, transferred them to moviemaker and was done in less that 5 minutes.

There is no iphoto app or imovie app in the apple store for my version of the imac.

Apple doesn't care about the apps that are its main brag.

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Answer 6

rs09

Level 2

335 points

Jun 27, 2020 5:44 AM in response to sailsmart22

Have you tried restarting iMovie? If the problem persists, uninstall the app and then reinstall it

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Answer 7

Rich839

Level 8

47,670 points

Jun 27, 2020 1:40 PM in response to sailsmart22

O.K. If you feel that way then solve it yourself. You post on here asking for help and then criticize those who try to help. Not going to get you very far.

— Rich

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