iMovie for Mac - Projects Thumbnails are Black Squares

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dbid2017 Author

Level 1

10 points

iMovie for Mac - Projects Thumbnails are Black Squares

I have just started using iMovie 10.2.2 on my new MacBook Pro running macOS Big Sur 11.1. I'm just learning how to use iMovie. I have created four projects and, while the creation of Projects appears to be straightforward, I do not understand why the thumbnails associated with each project in the Project View are simply black squares. I have read online that iMovie determines the thumbnail itself and that this cannot be changed manually. At this point, I would be happy with something other than a black square. See attached a screenshot.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Jan 3, 2021 2:09 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Brian_P7

Community Specialist

Jan 5, 2021 6:47 PM in response to dbid2017

Hello Dbid2017,

We understand your iMovie projects are appearing as black thumbnails. We'd be happy to help.

We have a resource that should help with this. Check out the steps in Add titles in iMovie on Mac.

You can also Edit app preview titles in iMovie on Mac for existing projects.

Thanks for using Apple Communities. Have a good one!

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Answer 2

Rich839

Level 8

47,844 points

Jan 6, 2021 10:17 AM in response to dbid2017

Hi, dbid2017,

iMovie randomly selects a frame in the middle of the project to display as the thumbnail in the projects browser screen. If that frame happens to be a black frame from a fade, or you have a background audio track that runs well past the end of the movie, then that might account for the black thumbnail.

As an experiment, try adding a background clip at the start of the movie to change the midpoint, and see if that gives you a display other than a black screen.

-- Rich

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Answer 3

dbid2017 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 6, 2021 5:06 PM in response to Rich839

I called Apple support and they were able to identify a problem with my video files. I was using video files uploaded to iMovie that were the result of my having converted analog video tapes to .mp4 files.

Apple support first had me create a new project and instead of immediately adding video clips, we added a section of background. After saving the project at this point the background appeared as a thumbnail in the Project view.

We then started a new project using one of my .mp4 files. Apple support noted that although images appeared in the viewer there were no images appearing along the timeline in the Media view. This suggested a problem with my video file.

Apple then suggested that I try opening one of my .mp4 files via QuickTime and then saving the video as a .mov file. I did this and then imported the .mov file into iMovie as an event. I placed this event as a clip into the timeline and the expected images appeared down the full length of the timeline. I then created a new Project from this and then saved the project. When I clicked on the Project view the new project showed a proper thumbnail.

So, something about the .mp4 file did not enable thumbnail images in iMovie.

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Answer 4

Rich839

Level 8

47,844 points

Jan 6, 2021 5:22 PM in response to dbid2017

We then started a new project using one of my .mp4 files. Apple support noted that although images appeared in the viewer there were no images appearing along the timeline in the Media view. This suggested a problem with my video file.

I'm not quite clear what happened. As I am envisioning it, the thumbnails of the videos appeared in the media browser and from there could be played in the viewer but did not appear in the timeline. However, the thumbnails would not appear in the timeline unless you dragged them in to the timeline. Did you try to drag them into the timeline?

-- Rich

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