iMovie cuts clip by 8 seconds!

Question

iMovie cuts clip by 8 seconds!

Dear all,

I have a clip 1m 26s long.

Importing it onto the timeline in iMovie makes it 1m 18s long, even when I stretch everything.

The final 8 seconds, which include an audio fade-out and a few seconds of silence, are cut out.

What can I do to get the full length of the clip?

What I have already tried:

in the library, right-click on clip and tap on "Select Entire Clip"
Delete Transitions and add again.

The Library says the movie is 1.3m long (which seems correct at 1m 18s) but in Finder I see it at 1m 26s and can reproduce it for its full length.

What can I do?

Thank you

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 12.6

Posted on Sep 24, 2022 7:40 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Rich839

Level 8

47,316 points

Sep 24, 2022 10:45 AM in response to NotationMaster

The moderator of this forum edited out the link in your previous message, so your video was not available. I don't know why that was done.

Looking at your screen shot of your timeline, try pushing the fade handle in the upper right of the clip all the way to the right, and then deleting the transition. Does it play O.K. then?

If not, a workaround would be to try opening the video on your desktop with QuickTimePlayer and export it as an Audio only clip to your desktop. See if it plays fine on your desktop. If all O.K, import the audio clip into your timeline. See if it plays completely to the end in the timeline. If it plays fine, mute the video clip, and then sync the imported audio clip to it.

-- Rich

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Answer 2

Sep 24, 2022 9:30 AM in response to Rich839

Here it is.

The last bar of music (in 3/4), plus the fade-out, plus the silence after it are all cut out.

This happens even after following your instructions in Handbrake.

Have you tried to download the video I attached to the previous message? How does it behave in your iMovie?

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Answer 3

Rich839

Level 8

47,316 points

Sep 24, 2022 7:57 AM in response to NotationMaster

Hi, NotationMaster,

Sometimes when iMovie acts unexpectedly is it caused by a preference going awry.

Try deleting/resetting 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. Now see if you clips plays at the proper duration. Possibly you may need to reboot to set the changes. Deleting preferences is a safe procedure that will not cause data loss or disruption to your project.

Also, try creating a new project and placing your clip into it. See if it plays properly there.

--- Rich

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Answer 4

Sep 24, 2022 8:20 AM in response to Rich839

Thank you Rich.

I have restarted iMovie holding down Option-Command and correctly reset preferences.

Now, though, I see an empty new library.

I tried to look for the old one, but couldn't find it. Where has it gone? There were quite a few projects in there.

In Finder > Movies, there is only one library, created three minutes ago, nothing else.

What should I do to get the old library back?

Thanks

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Answer 5

Sep 24, 2022 9:54 AM in response to Rich839

Ok, I found it, it was named in Italian and I couldn't see it.

Tried again, the file is still cut.

I am linking it here as it is exported from Avid Sibelius.

Opening it in QuickTime shows a 1:26 movie, with fade-out and silence at the end.

If one scrubs through it, though, the last few seconds are a black screen.

Can you find what is wrong in it?

[Link Edited by Moderator]

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Answer 6

Rich839

Level 8

47,316 points

Sep 24, 2022 9:10 AM in response to NotationMaster

Could you post a screen shot of your entire iMovie project screen that shows the clip in the timeline? Also, did you try the clip in a new project?

Since the exported clip plays fine in QuickTimePlayer, the digital information is there. There may have been something about the rendering that iMovie doesn't like. Perhaps a tiny aberration at the end of the clip. iMovie is sensitive to small variations. Try re-encoding the clip to Mp4/AAC with the free download ,Handbrake. Do that even if the clip already is in the Mp4/AAC format. Handbrake will render it in that format by default.

You can get Handbrake here:

https://handbrake.fr/

A simple way to do it is to open Handbrake and do a File/Open Source. Navigate to your video in the screen that appears and choose it as the source. Then do File/Start Encoding. Wait a couple of minutes for the conversion to complete. Then save and import the converted clip into iMovie.

-- Rich

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Answer 7

Sep 25, 2022 1:14 AM in response to Rich839

The grey circle handle is the one regulating the speed of the whole clip.

Sure, I can cut it a bit, make the last frame much longer, add an audio fade-out to it.

I think there may be some integration gone bad between how Sibelius exports video and how other apps read this. So, 50-50 responsibility.

I tried adding a freeze-frame at the end, but since there is still audio it creates a horrible effect.

I will now try to export the video from Sibelius again, this time including some music before and after that. At that point it should be easy to cut what I do not need. Will let you know.

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Answer 8

Sep 25, 2022 2:49 AM in response to Rich839

Hello Rich,

in the end using a longer clip was the thing.

The video is now published here: https://youtu.be/hs8zejgC4yk (if they moderate it no problem, you can look for it at this title "Johann Sebastian Bach - Suite No. 1 for cello solo - BWV 1007 - piano accompaniment by A. Piatti")

Thank you for the help, at least it made my brain crunch faster until I could find a solution!

All best

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Answer 9

Rich839

Level 8

47,316 points

Sep 25, 2022 7:38 AM in response to NotationMaster

Great. Glad you got it working. The final product turned out beautifully.

-- Rich

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iMovie cuts clip by 8 seconds!

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