tellyjan

Q: imovie

I just updated my OS from Leopard to El Capitan.  I have a problem with iMovie 11.  I created a movie and everything was fine.  I loaded photos & videos to make the movie.  However, when I play the movie, the photos show up as a black blank.  The photos do not show up.  Videos are not a problem, they show up just fine.  What happened?  Thank you.

Posted on Sep 12, 2016 6:33 PM

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Q: imovie

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Carolyn Samit,

    Carolyn Samit Carolyn Samit Sep 12, 2016 6:39 PM in response to tellyjan
    Level 10 (122,225 points)
    Apple Music
    Sep 12, 2016 6:39 PM in response to tellyjan

    El Capitan requires a Mac running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 or later >  Upgrade to OS X El Capitan - Apple Support

     

    Since you upgraded from an older OS X you may need to purchase the iMovie app at the App Store.

  • by Jim Wanamaker,Helpful

    Jim Wanamaker Jim Wanamaker Sep 14, 2016 12:50 PM in response to tellyjan
    Level 4 (3,761 points)
    iLife
    Sep 14, 2016 12:50 PM in response to tellyjan

    Imovie 11 is not compatible with El Capitan. There are many anomalies that occur, specifically with photos showing as black. The only solution is to upgrade to iMovie 10.1.2. It should be a free upgrade from iMovie 11 unless as Carolyn said it might not be free based on your upgrade from Leopard. Log in to the App store, sign in and select purchases tab. IMovie should be there to download.

  • by tellyjan,

    tellyjan tellyjan Sep 13, 2016 3:59 AM in response to Carolyn Samit
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iLife
    Sep 13, 2016 3:59 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

    Thank you Carolyn Samit.  I had a Snow Leopard and it must have been a later version because it upgraded to the El Capitan just fine without purchasing the iMovie app.

  • by tellyjan,

    tellyjan tellyjan Sep 13, 2016 4:05 AM in response to Jim Wanamaker
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iLife
    Sep 13, 2016 4:05 AM in response to Jim Wanamaker

    Thank you Jim.  The upgrade to iMovie 10.1.2 from iMovie 11 version 9.0.4 was free.  I did not have to purchase anything.  Since I am more familiar with iMovie 11, I prefer to use that only my photos are not showing up.  I rebuilt a new iPhoto library to see if it will work but it did not.

  • by Jim Wanamaker,

    Jim Wanamaker Jim Wanamaker Sep 13, 2016 4:17 PM in response to tellyjan
    Level 4 (3,761 points)
    iLife
    Sep 13, 2016 4:17 PM in response to tellyjan

    Imovie 11 is never going to be fixed by Apple in my opinion so it's time to move on and learn iMovie 10.1.2. I think you will like it once you start using it.

  • by Baron D. Woods,Helpful

    Baron D. Woods Baron D. Woods Sep 14, 2016 12:49 PM in response to tellyjan
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Sep 14, 2016 12:49 PM in response to tellyjan

    I was a Snow Leopard hold-out as well and just went thru the same dilemma as you after the El Capitan upgrade, and here's what I did to work around it.

    Instead of the usual drag/insert a picture or graphic onto a black screen and sizing it as I wanted(or even by itself), I opened the pic/graphic on the Desktop (like you would a screensaver), shot 10 seconds of that with the video cam, imported that in like any other movie, inserted into my project and cut the time length as usual. Done!

     

    Didn't bother setting up a tripod as it was initially just a test, but the slight hand movement of the still pics and graphics ended up being somewhat more interesting to see in the project and in one instance even closed the Mac while shooting the screen while the room was dark and that produced a neat effect of the title falling like a wall towards me,which I'm sure is a transition out there but iMovie never had it, and that one ended up in the final edit as well.

     

    I also tried another method, which I saw online, which was to make a slideshow in the 'Photos' app. First tried it with just a couple pics, then with many, and found a neat optional feature in there whereby the pics would scroll thru the screen sometimes breaking it in thirds and fourths as they slid in together and while I didn't use that effect yet, it is an interesting work around I wouldn't have come across without this problem.

     

    I've read so many bad reviews about updating iMovie to the latest version I think I'll hold out again till there seems to be no other solutions to the next problem. Hope you understand what I suggested above, and best of luck in all your iMovie endeavors!

  • by tellyjan,

    tellyjan tellyjan Sep 14, 2016 12:53 PM in response to Baron D. Woods
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iLife
    Sep 14, 2016 12:53 PM in response to Baron D. Woods

    Thank you Baron.  The videos come out fine without any problem on the new iMovie 10 but it is only the photos that come out black blank.  I read my question again and realized I had to clarify what I meant.  Anyway, I will try your suggestion about making a slideshow on photos and see how it'll come out.  I will also try to learn the new iMovie 10 and I'm sure once I'm familiar with it, I will be able to work with it eventually as Jim Wanamaker suggested. 

  • by Baron D. Woods,Solvedanswer

    Baron D. Woods Baron D. Woods Sep 14, 2016 1:20 PM in response to tellyjan
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Sep 14, 2016 1:20 PM in response to tellyjan

    You're welcome, and I understood you fine as I was having the identical problem. Videos themselves were fine, and in fact great. I've loved iMovie since I got my MBP in 2008 and have uploaded over 600 vids since then and gotten quite good and fast at editing. This Apple boo-boo was a real wrench in the works tho. I'm not tech savvy, just a good editor. I needed a simple-minded fix and this was it for me.

     

    Read up on reviews of v10 tho! I was about to clear my current projects and update myself but I've read a lot of strange things about it.