What's the difference between iMovie from 2014 and now? Projects vs library folders

[eclipse]

Hi guys,

1. I want to get back to the raw footage. Due to work changes, in a year or so I might be moving way from mac to (arrgh!) Windows or even Linux.

2. Ancient history: I don't think I've EVER loaded movies directly onto my computer, but have instead imported them all into iMovie. Even back in the original iMovie days. Did iMovie ever change the codec, condense the footage, or lose any information at all when storing the raw clips?

3. I've not been paying much attention to my iMovies and haven't been doing much movie editing for years. I opened iMovie a while back (6 months? A year?) and it took quite a while to load. It was copying something. Then today, for the first time in years, I looked in the MOVIES OS folder to see 2 old folders called iMovie Projects and iMovie Events, and now 2 new folders iMovie Library.imovielibary and iMovie Theater.theater. When did this change? Did it automatically copy all my movie events and projects and rename them when I opened it ages ago? If so, which would be the safer raw clips to go and grab?

At this stage I just want to be able to grab all my raw footage and just use operating folders as the filing system by date. It's time to start weaning myself off iMovie and going vanilla, at least to archive and store the raw unedited clips. What's the best way to do that?

Finally, if I did want to go and edit the raw clips into a project, what would you use? (Trying to stay platform independent.) Da Vinci Resolve or Kden live or Openshot? What's your thoughts on going platform independent? The free Da Vinci Resolve doesn't do 4k, not that I'm into that yet but one day...

Thanks all, you guys rock!

 

[Dave Braine]

Then today, for the first time in years, I looked in the MOVIES OS folder to see 2 old folders called iMovie Projects and iMovie Events, and now 2 new folders iMovie Library.imovielibary and iMovie Theater.theater. When did this change?

The current version of iMovie is iMovie (v)10.x.x

This came with all new Macs from late 2013. This version uses the iMovie Library.imovielibary and iMovie Theater.theater files.

The previous version, version 9(known as iMovie 11 because it came with iLife 11) used the iMovie Projects and iMovie Events files.

Did it automatically copy all my movie events and projects and rename them when I opened it ages ago?

When you first opened the current version, you should have had a message to ask if you wanted to import all Projects and Events from the previous iMovie.

which would be the safer raw clips to go and grab?

There shouldn't be any difference.

I just want to be able to grab all my raw footage and just use operating folders as the filing system by date.

For iMovie 11, all your imported video should be in the iMovie Events folder. For iMovie 10, your video will be in the iMovie Library file. To open this, Control Click on it and chose "Open Package Contents" . You should see a number of folders relating to each imported Event. In each folder there should be an "Original Media" folder where your imported video should be.

Finally, if I did want to go and edit the raw clips into a project, what would you use? (Trying to stay platform independent.) Da Vinci Resolve or Kden live or Openshot? What's your thoughts on going platform independent? The free Da Vinci Resolve doesn't do 4k, not that I'm into that yet but one day.

Can't help with that. iMovie does all that I need.

 

[eclipse]

Thanks! I'll look into it. Yeah, I agree, iMovie is great and I'm sad to be considering moving away from it.

 

[kohlson]

free Da Vinci Resolve doesn't do 4k

A couple of versions back, Resolve didn't do 4K in the free version. Now, I'm pretty sure v14 did, v15 definitely does, and I am pretty sure the beta of 16 does. Now if you were interested in 6K or 8K....

I am an FCPX users, but have taken an interest (and a class) in Resolve. Platform independence and NLE feature velocity (or lack therein with FCPX) keeps Resolve in my field of interest. Worst case, a one-time fee for a very powerful editor.

 

[eclipse]

Thanks for your help guys!

So I've found the 'Original Media' folder and it has .dv clips in it. I assume that's the raw, most uncompressed version of the original footage I'm going to find?

Does anyone have any hints on how to manage and file the raw footage files for future reference? Are there any .dv file handling conventions I need to be aware of or things I can break? I'm thinking of just having them in folders named by year and maybe month. There's no way I can accidentally remove the date information attached to each file is there?

 

[Dave Braine]

So I've found the 'Original Media' folder and it has .dv clips in it. I assume that's the raw, most uncompressed version of the original footage I'm going to find?

Yes. Probably imported from a miniDV camcorder?

Are there any .dv file handling conventions I need to be aware of or things I can break? I'm thinking of just having them in folders named by year and maybe month

That should work. Can't think of any problems. Where is your dv footage coming from? I can't think of a way to import it without using iMovie.

There's no way I can accidentally remove the date information attached to each file is there?

Not that I'm aware of. It's part of the exif data of the file.

 

[eclipse]

Yes. Probably imported from a miniDV camcorder?

Yes, back in the day quite a good one. We spend over $3 grand on an MVX1i Cannon only to then have every thing shift to HD a few years later, which kind of made our camera feel like the over-investment it was.

That should work. Can't think of any problems. Where is your dv footage coming from? I can't think of a way to import it without using iMovie.

Yes, maybe importing from the old digital tapes to the computer was a different process to today's quick data dumps from SSD drives or micro SD cards or what have you. My 20 year old son studied multimedia during high school and was taught to load directly into the OS. He was so weirded out to learn I had only ever loaded directly into the iMovie app! I guess times change, and the raw OS can handle more and more as time goes on.

Not that I'm aware of. It's part of the exif data of the file.

Thanks, it's been very comforting chatting with you! I'll eventually be able to get my movie data down from 800gigs to under half that. Cool!

 

[Dave Braine]

and was taught to load directly into the OS.

How does that work then??

 

[eclipse]

I think the moment he connects to Windows the camera appears like an external hard drive, and he just drags the files to the folder he wants. He can view them in the OS and store them. Then when it comes to editing in Sony Vegas Pro, he knows exactly which ones he is importing and has already deleted any poor quality clips.

 

[Dave Braine]

I think the moment he connects to Windows

OK. Thought he was doing it on a Mac.

 

[eclipse]

Yikes! I looked in one of the event folders and there were about 4000 items! Maybe rearranging the raw footage the way my son suggested is not the way to go.

Another suggestion from here years back was using imovie to edit the raw footage/ events and then export into a fairly lossless codec. If I organise it all into half hour episodes, I might only be exporting 20 or so files. What's the best way to do this? I just wanted to confirm if this 3 step pathway was still a good option?

• Download FREE version of Final Cut Pro
• Share to FCP
• Export to XML file

Then would the XML be a good format to re-import into whatever other cross-platform software I end up doing the finicky editing in?

MAN what a headache. I know we're meant to be about a free market place, but sometimes I wish the world only used the one OS and had some law and order to it! (I have an army background, and in basic the Sargent used to shout "Recruit! Get your sh*t squared away!" It seems I've left this family movie thing waaaay too long.)

 

[Dave Braine]

I just wanted to confirm if this 3 step pathway was still a good option?

• Download FREE version of Final Cut Pro
• Share to FCP
• Export to XML file

Can't really comment on FCP, as I've always used iMovie.