transitions between A and B roll, iMovie 10/Mac

Question

Level 2

172 points

transitions between A and B roll, iMovie 10/Mac

Can you add transitions between a video and pictures added to an iMovie project as B roll? I dragged photos from iPhoto into the B roll location above my video, and it works as cut aways. Is it possible to have the transitions as dissolves instead of cutaways, or do I have to insert the photos into my A roll to add transitions? I'm guessing the second, but thought I'd ask before giving up on my idea.

The video is a fashion show video and there is audio underneath. I don't want to lose the sync of the audio to the original video, but when I insert the photos into the movie A roll, I get these periods of silence during the photos. I suppose I can also detach the audio, but I was having trouble timing/ setting the ins and outs for the video clips after inserting the photos.

I realize iMovie doesn't have a "real B roll,"if it did there would be two tracks for video at all times. That adding photos as a cut away is a B roll type thing, right? Am I trying to do too complex things with this, and would be better to switch to a higher end video editing app?

Using iMovie 10 on my Mac laptop.

THX

Posted on Oct 4, 2014 6:29 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Oct 4, 2014 7:51 AM in response to tcwaters

What you can do in IMovie10:

have a close look on that cut-away stacked upon the video:

There are two tiny yellow handles, you can drag l/r; this adds a fade to that clip, symbolized with grey triangles:

(due to a 'flaw' in the forum software, there's a chance you can not see my applied screenshot - we have to live with that 😟 )

If you like to add one of the many other transitions, the still has to be indeed in the 'main project timeline':

• detach the audio first

• select the photo, set playhead at wanted position, hit W

• … this 'pushes' the original video aside.. = out-of-synch!

• click'n drag the start of that part and drag it to the right

(due to a 'flaw' in the forum software, there's a chance you can not see my applied screenshot - we have to live with that 😟 )

• when all is in synch, apply any transition you like....

_____________

If you do this just once-in-a-while, this method is painstaking but manageable.

In professional tools, such as FCPX, this is a two-clicks maneuver … 😀

Reply