I'm using iMovie 10.1.6 and am trying to add subtitles to a video. It seems as though there is no way to overlay plain, unanimated text (i.e. no fading in/out etc) using just iMovie itself.
I have done some Googling... Is this really seriously impossible? Because that seems prettyyy ludicrous to me.
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2016, 4 TBT3), macOS Sierra (10.12.5)
Well the only ways using iMovie alone I can think of would be:
1. To add the title to each clip in a separate project, export each clip roject to file, import back into iMovie then crop away the fade in and fade out.
2. Put any clip from Backgrounds between each of your clips in a movie project and adjust the title durations such that the fade in and fade out occurs over the background clips. Share the whole video to file, reimport into iMovie then trim away all of the background clips. Still not very convenient.
It would probably be easier to create stills with the desired text on green or blue background ouside of iMovie then import these into iMovie and use them with the video overlay > green/blue screen utility. It would also be much easier to make changes.
Geoff.
To perhaps put things in perspective, iMovie is now free but lacking in some of the fine adjustment features which were in the old versions that came with iLife. On the other hand FCP X, at $300 is only 1/3 of the price of the earlier versions and so within the reach of many 'prosumers' who have probably spent considerably more than this on camera equipment. You can try it out free for 1 month, its interface is fairly similar to iMovie and you can import project from iMovie. With FCP X you have much much more control and can also access to 3rd party plugins.
Geoff.
Thanks for the helpful reply. I guess I'll use the green screen utility.
It's hard to believe I have to find a workaround for something so small and simple.
iMovie title animation
