With iMovie '11 how do I split a clip into two?

Bengt - I just did the test in iMovie'11. Split a clip in the middle (leaving 3 segments), deleted the middle segment, then rotated the first segment. All was OK. The first segment rotated correctly on playback and the last segment remained in its original form. On another test, I simply split the clip into 2 pieces and applied the Flipped effect to the first piece, as well as rotating it. Again, it all worked perfectly on playback. So, it appears that iMovie '11 is handling this correctly.

Thank you for advising us of the problem (which may be isolated to iMovie '09).

John

I've found everyones comments very useful on this thread, thanks. I have a related issue - when I imported content from my video camera it didn't break down the event into clips, its just a 60min long clip. Does anyone know a quick way of automatically breaking down the event into individual clips according to how it was originally recorded. I'm using an old panasonic digital tape camera. Cheers

Hi everyone, I found this useful conversation about splitting events.

I am brand new to all of this, and have a situation I don't think was covered here (I'm a little into the zombie state of a desk marathon, I may have missed something).

I imported a whole lot of video into one iMovie event...many many many many clips that now I have to separate via the methods you have all described above.

UNLESS, there is a way to separate all these in one fell swoop with some kind of command that will separate the clips all at once. Does such a command exist? If so, this would save many probably an afternoon of separating them one by one.

Thanks in advance...

Most of this conversation has been about splitting project clips. If you want to split a big event into multiple events, you can.

If you have normal camcorder clips in your Event, (the kind that start and stop every time you click record on your camcorder), then you can simpl select the first event clip that you want to put in a new event. Then Right-click/Split Event Before Clip.

If you have very long clips that are all in one clip, like for example if you have captured from an analog tape usinga DAC, then I would recommend splitting the clip in a third party app like MPEG Streamclip. It is possible in iMovie, but it is crash-prone and slow.

AppleMan1958, are you sure you can split a clip in the Event Library in iMovie 11? I can't figure out how to do it from iMovie. I imported a bunch of old 8mm video and one of the clips contained footage from 2 separate years (1992 & 1997). So, I was hoping to split the Event so that each segment will show up in it's proper year. So, even if it's crash-prone and slow, I'd like to know how to do it.

Thanks,

Dave

If you want to use iMovie, read on.

First you must mark a few frames with the Reject Tool at the point you want to split. This will be destructive to these frames in a later step so try to choose a place of low value, like when you are panning quickly.

Next, in the Events Pane, choose the Reject Only view in the VIEW box. Over to the right, you should see a button to Delete Rejected Clips. Press it. This could take quite a bit of time, depending on how long your clip is.

When this finishes, you can select the clip after the split, and Right Click/Split Event Before CLip.

Hi! Good info here but doesn't answer a related question I have and can't find in support. I have a clip with audio and I want to insert another few seconds of video or some photo in between, while the audio is still playing, then have the clip pick up with the audio still in sync. For example, I have somone explaining something in one clip about a minute long. I want to intersperse videos or photos here or there and return to the video of the speaker. The best I have been able to do is place the original clip, separate the audio, then trim either the front end or back end and place pictures or video there while the voiceover plays - but that is not what I want and doesn't serve. Is this possible in iMovie or do I have to move to FinalCut? Seems like a basic function, really. Maybe the answer is simple and right before my eyes. Any info on this?

Sorry - misstake

Very ingenious, AppleMan1958! I see now why you think it might not be worth doing it in iMovie. It may just work for my needs though, so I appreciate the time you took to supply us all with that solution.

Thanks,

Dave

Hi Happy Wanderer

Often better to start new question, especially if different, than tag onto someone elses; more likely to get a response.

Any way sounds like what you want is called "cutaway".

See the link above that John Cogdell posted "Ken Stone's iMovie 09 tutorial..."

What you want is about 2/3 rds the way in called cutaway.

You can adjust the audio to zero of either the original clip or the overlaid clip, position the overlaid clip and adjust it's duration etc.Remember duration is in seconds and frames ie 4.12 is 4seconds and 12 frames.

Hope this helps. Download the above tutorial it is excellent.

Thank you!

I'm not so good at this "forum" approach. I'm a bit old school and want to call a toll free number and speak to person. When I start looking for info I get overwhelmed. Seems like so many people are asking the same questions but in their own ways. This thread looked like it would answer the question and my thinking was my question was related. I appreciate the information and the advice on how to best use the forum as I continue getting used to living more in an on-line world! I'm grateful that you realized what I was looking for (I wouldn't have known "cutaway") and put me in the right direction. Sorry for any inconvenience to others posting on this thread. Many thanks!