When I try to select a section of a long clip and drag it to a new event in the iMovie event library, the whole clip moves into the new event. Isn't there a way to just select and move a section to the new event?
iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9), iMac 27"
No, unlike iMovie 9 you cannot split clips in events. You can use clips from any event in a movie i.e. a movie is not limitied to using clips in the event containing the movie. (It seems that clips can even be added from different libraries).
The only way to do what you want would be to split the movie outside of iMovie (using Quicktime 7 for example) then import the pieces as required into different events.
I hope this helps.
GeeD - Thanks for your response. After spending a lot of time trying to split the event I came to the conclusion it couldn't be done. Your answer just confirms this. Thanks.
Happy to assist.
"Solved" is an awful description of this resolution.
My mother imported days worth of old VHS tapes onto our computer. Each VHS is its own video file. Most have a hodgepodge of "events" on them. E.g. Christmas '93, gymnastics '94, swim team summer '94, etc. So currently each VHS tape is an Event. Splitting the VHS tape into "sub events" is impossible without some 3rd party software, and the software tends to suck or cost too much. Some VHS tapes are completely non sequential due to accidental overwrites. The iMovie experience is obviously designed for people that only capture video from devices that timestamp clips and clips tend to be 5 minutes or less.
I feel trapped in a paradigm that I don't fit into. This is easily the most terrible Apple product experience I've ever had.
Why not create Projects that can serve as the "sub events" you're looking for?
So in the Event called, say, "VHS Tape #3" you have 3 projects: "Christmas '93", "Gymnastics '94", "Swim Team Summer '94".
You can then right click on any clip in one of the Projects and choose Reveal in Event to locate it in the Event.
Matt
The idea in iMovie 10 (and FCP 10.1 as far as I can see) is that any clip splitting is done in the project timeline and you can't change the clips in events. As you say this fine for modern cameras where each burst of shooting results in a separate clip file. If your ex-VHS files are really too long or contain a lot of material you will never want to use it is possible to split into smaller pieces using QuickTime Player 10 (the version that comes with Mavericks). For details see:
http://www.mactips.info/2009/10/how-to-trim-a-movie-with-quicktime-player-10
I must admit I was not aware of this until I researched it - I use the old Quicktime 7 Pro (but its not free). I tried out the QT 10 method briefly and it seems quite easy to use.
Geoff.
Matt and Geoff -
Thanks for the idea. I tried the QT 10 method and it worked as advertized. I now have a way to create sub-clips from my original which when imported into iMovie can create a separate events. Thanks again for the follow-up.
Dick
This does work, but the process is crushingly difficult for my mother. (Try to explain to a 60 year old that you need to reveal the clip in finder. Trim it, save it, trim it, save it, etc for each part of the video. Then re-import those clips into iMovie and delete the original large file from your events). This could have been accomplished with one keyboard shortcut or menu command.
I'm opposed to creating projects to organize events because it doesn't make sense when creating a Christmas montage to open a project and look for a clip then find it in the events when you could otherwise just look through Christmas 1984 and pull the clip you want. It creates a dual paradigm.
More than anything I want to attract Apple to this glaring flaw in their product. I can't see the downside of in-app splitting of events which was a feature of iMovie v9. Why remove it entirely? I know it's a rarely used feature, it could have been suitably hidden to avoid accidents. It wouldn't frustrate the average user, but it has confused the ever-living **** out of my mother.
Steady on! I'm 66! 😀 .
But OK, if you've not been working with computers for years it may be tricky 😉.
Still, splitting up the 'raw' footage into manageable chunks should be realtively quick compared to all the editing in IMovie that is to follow. Maybe you can do that bit for her and then leave her to get on with the creative stuff.
Geoff.
I found the inability to split clips in Events equally frustrating and am relieved after reading these posts that I haven't missed something. I agree that it's a glaring weakness in iMovie 10. One workaround I used, which is a bit cumbersome, but can accomplish the task from within iMovie 10, is to select the long clip and click "Duplicate Movie" under Edit. I then move the new copy to a new Event I created. Now I have two identical clips in two separate events and can trim each one individually, trimming out the event from each that "doesn't belong." Trimming is counterintuitve. I can't isolate a particular part of the clip to trim. I highlight the entire clip, then pull the end that I want to keep until it comes to the part I want to trim, and click "Delete." The inability to easily trim a clip in Events is another weakness of iMovie 10. Hopefully Apple will restore that functionality at some point.
How do I create a new event from a section of a long video clip
