need help with memorial video, audio and beat markers

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Level 1

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need help with memorial video, audio and beat markers

Hello all,
Been really having trouble getting this to work. I am trying to put together a memorial video for my father in laws funeral. It will consist of still photos, and three songs. I have been trying for weeks to figure out how to get the beat cuts to work, they kept getting out of sync. Then I discovered you cannot add transitions, or whatever you add after that is out of sync. Okay, so no transitions till the project is done. Got it to work through the first song, then tried to drag the second song into the project. For some reason the audio clips don't show up until you add something, so I add a photo, there now I can click it the audio clip and adjustment tab.
Then I want to move the new audio over the ending fade of the previous song. It won't let me. All it does is shorten the first song. Then I tried deleting the new song, then dropping it over the end of the first song. Then it let me move it around, but then it doesn't extend the music as I add photos. Seems like this step used to be easier in older versions.
I am also having trouble with snap to beats in the second song. Any clue what I might be doing wrong?
What on earth is the "jump cut at beat markers" under clips for? It's ALWAYS grayed out.
I am hoping someone can direct me a bit so I can get this done, his memorial is Monday.

Thanks,

John

20" Intel Imac, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Jan 5, 2011 6:11 AM

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Answer 1

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Lorna from Hawaii

Level 2

285 points

Jan 5, 2011 11:08 AM in response to jonjonbear

JonJonbear,
Aside from the excellent support here, there is also terrific visual video support on YouTube on pretty much everything iMovie '11 and Snow Leopard etc. There are several good tutorials on how to set your editing to go with the beat. Last summer I viewed about three of them, but there are more. Different people give tutorials in different ways; among them you will find someone who explains at your own level of expertise.

The thing is, on those videos you both SEE what they are doing on their iMovie screen and you HEAR the music.

1. Thisone is not YouTube. I just now found it: http://www.unlockingimovie.com/2009/02/how-to-edit-to-beat.html

2. Beat Markers in iMovie '11 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5jMg6Xgwag

3. Beat Markers Quick and Dirty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tju6lCdsIBs

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=956afqCwryg

This is MOnday Night Football with the music but no verbal instruction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ROqGX2Q1g

-L

Message was edited by: Lorna from Hawaii

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Answer 2

jonjonbear Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 5, 2011 12:54 PM in response to Lorna from Hawaii

Hi Lorna,
Yeah I had been through most of those. I finally got the beat cuts to do what I want them to do but the one thing that is absolutely kicking my butt is getting the music clips to over lap slightly so I can have a cross fade between songs. The only way I can figure out to put music into my project is dropping it in the back ground. I absolutely HATE that you can't see the entire music clip until you drop photos/video into the project. So at the end of the first song, I drop in a second song. It goes right against the end of the first song, and won't let me overlap. When I grab the song and try to move it over the end of the first song, it just moves them over.
I then tried dropping the second song onto the ending photo at the end of the last song. Sure enough, it then drops the second song below the first, allowing me to move them. That works, but then the clip won't follow the newly inserted pictures, nor will the beat cuts work. I seem to remember this was much easier before. I hope I am making sense, I would think this would be a simple and mindless task but I can't get it to work.

Thanks so much,

John

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Answer 3

Jan 5, 2011 3:24 PM in response to jonjonbear

Since you are working on a tight time frame, I would recommend that you not use beat markers for your project. Beat markers work best when you have a single song, and once you have set them, it is very difficult to edit further without throwing them off.

If you do want to stick with the beat marker plan, I would create a separate iMovie Project for each song. Set the beat markers. Add your clips or photos for that song. Then SHARE/EXPORT USING QUICKTIME as Apple Intermediate Codec to a file name of your choice in the current dimensions.

Do this for the second and third songs as well. When done, import these .mov files into iMovie into an Event. You can now string them together into a single movie and share it in the format of your choice.

If you get that far, there are ways to make a transition between the two songs.

Beat markers makes your project much more complex, especially if you are new to iMovie. You might consider not using them and doing it all in one project.

My condolences on your loss.

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Answer 4

Jan 5, 2011 3:43 PM in response to AppleMan1958

If you decide not to use beat markers, then it becomes much easier to manipulate the music. You can drag the music tracks into your project as voiceover type clips rather than as background. In doing this, it becomes much easier to position them or cross fade them simply by dragging left or right.

[Here is a good video tutorial for how audio works.|http://www.apple.com/findouthow/movies/imovie08.html#audioclips]

While I was testing the answer I gave above, I thought of a way that might work for beat markers with multiple songs. If you could calculate or observe the number of video frames that are used between each beet marker, you could add animatics to your project and set them to this frame length. Then you can add videos or photos later. Animatics are the place holders that are used in Trailers, but you can use them in any project. You can find them in the Maps section. I may try this myself, but I don't think I will have time to test it in time to be helpful to you. I have a lengthy movie in mind that this would be useful for.
If you are very comfortable in iMovie, you may want to try this yourself. If not, my recommendation would be to keep it simple.

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Answer 5

jonjonbear Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 6, 2011 10:56 AM in response to AppleMan1958

Thank you for the help, I might try the separate file trick next time. I found it's working okay to have the songs back to back with a fade out/in. I think it will be fine for this.

Cheers,

John

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Answer 6

mozark13

Level 1

14 points

Aug 21, 2011 1:57 PM in response to jonjonbear

I'm curios how you got it to work. I added music the other night, added beat markers, went up to jump cut at beat markder to edit the frames and they were grayed out. I have watched you tube but none address the issue I'm having with my imovie 11.

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