Splitting a long video into several separate files.

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Level 2

303 points

Splitting a long video into several separate files.

Hi all,

I recorded a seminar in three files, two at 29 minutes and 3.2 GB each and a third at about 5 minutes and 370 MB. I need to split this by topic into shorter clips. I have imported the first file and split it into clips by moving the start where I want it, playing to the end of the topic I need, then selecting Modify-->Split Clip. I now have six clips from the first file. Before moving on to the next source file, I thought I would export the first five clips to separate files. I do not see a way to do this. File-->Share-->File... wants to save the whole movie, not a single clip. Do I need to create a separate project for each topic, import the same source files, and edit down to the topic I need? Seems like that would waste a lot of disk space with repeat content.

While the three source files total about 6.6 GB, the iMovie Library has swelled to 27 GB after importing and splitting the first file's single source clip into six smaller clips.

I don't see a way to save changes, but since I've never lost work, I assume changes are saved automatically. I assume this is an attempt to make the Mac behave like an iPad.

Thanks,

Scott

Posted on May 20, 2018 10:19 PM

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Answer 1

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Rich839

Level 8

47,214 points

May 21, 2018 12:36 AM in response to WoodPlane

Hi, Scott,

Select the split clip, do an Edit/Copy, and Edit/Paste it into a newly created project. Do that for each topic. The clips you are working with are low file size display replicas that refer back to the original raw footage clip that is stored in the iMovie Library Original Media folder in the Finder. So there won't be a great deal of repeat content. The separate projects will refer back to the original clips.

Yes, iMovie automatically saves your work as you edit the project.

When you share a project the entire project shares.. You can't share a portion of a project, as you have found.

-- Rich

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Answer 2

WoodPlane Author

Level 2

303 points

May 25, 2018 8:27 PM in response to Rich839

Thanks, that process succeeded in making a set of short clips from a single long video.

It is by no means conservative on disk space. I started with two, twenty-nine minute videos with a total size of 6.5 GB. Once I finished creating and sharing the resulting eleven clips to YouTube, my iMovie library grew by 41 GB. That's more disk space than if each clip were a copy of the segment from the original source files. None of the eleven short clips had any overlapping content.

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Answer 3

Rich839

Level 8

47,214 points

May 25, 2018 8:41 PM in response to WoodPlane

Great. Glad it worked.

I can't explain the file sizes, but using the same clip in multiple projects does not duplicate the clip.

-- Rich

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Splitting a long video into several separate files.

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