iMovie '11 Cutaway Problems

Question

Level 1

4 points

iMovie '11 Cutaway Problems

Hey everyone.

I seem to be having a problem with my cutaways in iMovie '11.

I can more then happily insert a cutaway, picture in picture, and a side by side action with VIDEO clips, however, I can't seem to be able to do it with PHOTOS.

What happens is that when I place the photo and select "cutaway", the video footage freezes for the duration of 4 seconds and then once the cutaway ends, the footage comes back. For side by side, the photo is all black, same for picture in picture. This seems to be a new problem for me. I have advanced tools on/enabled. I just want to know why I can't seem to do a photo cutaway as apposed to a video cutaway.

Am I the only person having this problem? Or are they others?

Thanks for any help.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Dec 2, 2010 8:19 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 6, 2010 11:03 PM in response to dmanapple87

Hi dmanapple87. I'm having the exact same problem. I THINK I followed all the instructions, and I can see the picture-in-picture in the preview, but when the movie plays, that portion of the video goes black. I'm interested, like you, to see whether anyone has had this problem and found a solution.

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Answer 2

mannyotr

Level 1

11 points

Dec 13, 2010 5:48 PM in response to dmanapple87

Same issue here. What's od is the if you mouse over the clip, the cutaway looks just fine. But when you actually play the clip it freezes. I haven't tried actually exporting the movie, maybe that will render it correctly?

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Answer 3

mannyotr

Level 1

11 points

Dec 13, 2010 6:11 PM in response to dmanapple87

Ok, I just tried it and yes, it looks like when you export the movie it renders the cutaway correctly.

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Answer 4

Feb 27, 2011 12:04 PM in response to dmanapple87

If anyone is having similar problems but also finding that the exported file does NOT render properly (ie. there is only a gap of black empty video where the cutaway should be), I've found that this can be caused if the cutaway image is larger than the video to which it is applied. Re-sizing the image should mean that exports render correctly, AND the live timeline rendering should display correctly too.

S.

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Answer 5

Mar 1, 2011 3:50 PM in response to dmanapple87

i am in the same boat it has been very frustrating. when i take a still photo and place it over a video track in imovie 11 the cut away goes to a black screen or pics up the image at the front or back of cutaway and just doesn't work correctly. Any ideas. It has happened and then gone away but is back again and cant figure how or why

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Answer 6

Mar 2, 2011 3:51 PM in response to stooliebod

I suspect that the Cutaway function may simply be buggy. When I attempt to use more than one cutaway in the same clip, the first one will render fine in the live time-line, but subsequent cutaways will be either: rendered as opaque black as described in this thread; or rendered as being identical to the first cutaway.

If this thread gets any more responses it might be worth reporting as a potential bug.

S.

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Answer 7

Mar 23, 2011 6:45 PM in response to SiRGadaBout

I too am having this exact same issue. I have a video project due tomorrow and adding in pictures is essential for me!

I have scoured the internet to find ways to fix this issue, and there doesn't seem to be a definite solution. Kind of sad that it hasn't been fixed yet.

What I have resorted to now is more time consuming and less 'neat', but it gets the job done and the point across. Import the photo(s) you need into iPhoto, select them (make sure they are in the order you want them to be displayed in) and export them as a quicktime movie (.mov file). You can also set the duration of how long each picture is displayed for. This essentiall creates a video slideshow of your pictures which you can then import into iMovie. It can get quite messy and time consuming but in the end it should work. As well, I have found that you can use a picture-in-picture (or any of the other view options) for these 'video slideshows' and it will work perfectly fine.

Again, it's sad that something as simple as adding in a picture does not yet work...

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Answer 8

Mar 24, 2011 5:49 PM in response to dmanapple87

Having same issue. Trying to put a .jpg or .png photo into a move (as a picture in picture). No matter what format of photo I try, they all import as black boxes. Even after exporting the video, they still appear as black boxes. I have spent hours online trying to find an answer as to how to fix this or what may be causing it and I can't seem to find a fix or reason.
Also, it would be nice if Apple could let us move the type (or titles) to other locations on the screen. If anyone knows how to do this, it would also be helpful.

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Answer 9

MikeColo

Level 1

15 points

Jul 22, 2011 5:15 PM in response to ClearlyConfused

I am having the same issue, but I think I found a workaround. Instead of importing from iPhoto I have the picture files on my desktop and drag and drop those into iMovie. Seems to be working now! This does look like a bug though.

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Answer 10

LDenson

Level 1

8 points

Oct 12, 2011 3:05 PM in response to MikeColo

Unfortunately, dragging the photos from the desktop results in the same problem for me.

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Answer 11

Oct 19, 2011 1:34 AM in response to dmanapple87

This used to work for me without a problem. Only recently, I am confronted with the same behavior you are describing.

For the purpose of elminating possibilities, here are some of the things I tried:

- Trying picture in picture on different videos

- Trying picture in picture on different videos in other projects

- some projects were copies of older projects. This doesn't seem to be a difference, with a blank project it also creates the same behavior.

I have no idea what got changed that triggered it to stop working, very frustrating. Like other posters, mouse hovering works fine, but the picture freezes up at the moment when the PiP starts. If anyone finds a solution, I would really appreciate it if you would post it here.

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