How to... put 2 clips in one? (better explain inside)

Hi there what I want to do is to have a clip playing in the background and put a little window with other clip playing to... is it possible with imovie? thanks in advance

Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Jan 15, 2007 12:13 PM

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7 replies

Jan 15, 2007 12:22 PM in response to timelikeit

timelikeit,

That kind of picture-in-picture effect will require a third party plugin such as this one from c/fx.

http://www.imovieplugins.com/plugs/pictinclipmoving.html

Gee Three also includes a picture in-picture plugin with their Slick Volume 4.

http://www.geethree.com/slick/V_04.html

If your handy with QuickTime Pro, you can also use it create composites.

Matt

Jan 15, 2007 2:38 PM in response to timelikeit

Hi Timelikeit!

Here is the way I do it, in Qicktime Pro - much easier than trying to use plugins that have not been updated for Tiger and often don't work:

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin!

Organise the video clips and/or stills that you want to superimpose on to your main video clip, by having these in separate, individual iMovie projects (no matter how small). It helps if these are in the exact length/time you want later.

Now start with the clip in your iMovie project on to which you want to superimpose one of more smaller video clips or stills. Lets call it Main Clip. Export this (share) to Quicktime Pro in DV (full quality). make sure it has the same aspect as before (Quicktime tends to default to 4:3. If you want 16:9, read on).

In Quicktime, with this project open, select File ~ Open File. Select the iMovie file (in your movies folder) of the first clip/still you want superimposed. This will open in its own QT window. Select Edit ~ copy. If it is a movie clip then select all ~ copy (or you will only get one frame!). Switch back to the Main Clip window, and click in the scroll bar where you want the extra clip/still to appear. Choose Edit ~ Add to Movie.

You can repeat this as many times as you like, if you want to build a 'Video Wall', i.e. have several superimposed clips/stills on the same Main Clip.

Do not worry that the new clip overlaps or covers up the Main Clip, at this stage.

Choose Window ~ Show Movie Properties. The Properties Dialogue appears.

You will see a list of video (and audio) tracks. Track one will be the Main Clip, track 2 your new added (superimposed) clip. Click track 2, then click visual settings. From the Scaled Size pop-op menu, choose percent. Then type 50 into the first box. If Preserve Aspect Ratio is turned on you won't need to type 50 into the second box. You have made the pasted footage appear at one quarter its original size. The inset is now hugging the top-left corner of the Main Clip. If you want, you can type numbers into the Offset Boxes to shove it away from that corner (there are 72 pixels to the inch).

If your original Main Clip was required in 16:9, unclick (de-select) Preserve Aspect Ratio, and type in 1920 in the first box, and 1080 in the second, in Video Track 1. This will not affect video track 2, but if that is also wanred in 16:9 repeat for that track.

You can superimpose, 3, 4, or more such 'overlaps' on the same clip, and spend a happy afternoon tapping away for each track in the Offset Boxes until you have got them all in the right place! You can even overlap them, if you can remember (or note down - hire a secretary to take notes) which track you want on top etc.

Save the completed QT file. Import the completed file into a new iMovie project. Import this into the original iMovie project, substituting the old clip you copied to QT as Main Clip for the new fancy clip you have made.

You will probably need to experiment a bit with the above. I know, it took me two days to master it the first time. Result: in the Wedding Video I made, during the Best Man's speech, he is relating a story about his brother (the groom) breaking his surfboard in half and swearing at the Atlantic Ocean whilst hitting it with his broken surfboard. While he is saying all that a superimposed video appears of the groom doing exactly that - a video I took 14 years previously! Moreover, the wedding video is in 16:9, but the inset clip is in its original 4:3 aspect!

Cool or what!

Have fun!

Jan 15, 2007 4:23 PM in response to Klaus1

QuickTime files can have up to 99 "tracks" and each track can have its own "layer", offset (position), mask, size (dimension) and various levels of blends and transparencies.
QuickTime Player can also do one thing that iMovie can't:
Display your file (computer only) at sizes beyond those offered by iMovie.
If your target is to watch on a TV (via DVD) then Klaus1's instructions take good advantage of the power of QuickTime Pro. I'll bet he wants to go back and add a simple "mask" so that two movies in one do not appear as "boxes". Maybe a "blend", too?
If your target is the Web or computer viewers you can start and end using QuickTime Pro.
It can capture your video from your camera. It can "add" different files together or position multiple files over one another. All of these tracks could fill the screen (or Web page) with a cacophony of video and audio. It could even include "text".
One, of many, of my QuickTime files:
http://homepage.mac.com/kkirkster/03war/

Jan 15, 2007 4:47 PM in response to QuickTimeKirk

Yo Kirk!

I'll bet he wants to go back and add a simple "mask" so that two movies in one do not appear as "boxes". Maybe a "blend", too?

Boxes? How dare you! 🙂

Read my last paragraph again! It would take too long (life is too short) for me to capture a screen image and post it here, but please imagine a cinemascope film of man making speech. On the wall behind him a 4:3 film is playing of what he is relating. I placed it exactly where I wanted it within the frame using DVD Companion. Hey, it impressed the masses who saw it!

Blend? I wanted to get the DVD out before the couple's silver wedding, so no time for experimentaion on fades etc, but tell me more!

The next time I will want to do this will be in about 18 months time. I have a video from 1975 of my son (aged 2) driving around in a red pedal car. We still have that pedal car! In 18 months or so his daughter will be old enough to have a go in that same pedal car. Get the picture? 🙂

So, you have 18 months to write your essay on 'blends'!

Jan 15, 2007 5:10 PM in response to Klaus1

Maybe a "pedal car" skin track?
Upper left is the old and upper right is the new?
Alas, skin tracks are computer only viewing.
In my example posted above I used "video" inside an image file of a TV set.
Carefully done "blends" can add a level of drama to video clips. Part of the underlying video shows "through" the blend. Combine this with a simple mask layer and you've got a shape. A still image of a hand extended palm up. A circle mask would look like the hand is holding a globe. A blend (under the image file of the hand) would allow another video to play in the viewing area.
So. Now we have a hand holding a globe and the "video" has clouds moving by in the background. Just needs James Earl Jones to do the narration.
Next we move up to "alpha channels". Even more to experiment with.
A skin track movie:
http://homepage.mac.com/kkirkster/Owl/
Something bad happens at the end of the file (only started in version 7) so you'll need to Command-w to close the window after viewing it.

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How to... put 2 clips in one? (better explain inside)

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