iMovie - video editor for the rest of us.
It just doesn't get any easier. iMovie, combined with a low end Macintosh and a digital camera make a video editing station that is incredibly powerful, expandable and inexpensive. For less than a $1000 and a few extra pieces of hardware that are sitting in your office closet or back room you purchase a digital camera and computer that will create sports videos that can be used for performance analysis, motivational highlights, opponent scouting and as an aid in the recruiting process.
Get a Digital Camera.
A lot to choose from, all with more features than you can possibly ever use. We like these features:16X9 and 4X3 screen size: 16X9 works great with rectangular sports like football, basketball and soccer. 4X3 works better with individual sports like wrestling, gymnastics and golf. Net sports like tennis and volleyball are best shot with screen sizes that match the perspective of the shot. From behind the players shoot 4X3 but from the sideline shoot 16X9.AvtoDV: Occasionally you'll be given VHS tape that you want to use with the rest of your digital film. AvtoDV allows you to attach your digital camera to a VHS VCR and record the VHS tape to a digital tape for later digitizing with your computer. AvtoDV may also allow you to use your digital camera as a bridge. This little known feature of most digital cameras allow you to attach a VHS VCR to your digital camera and then attach a Firewire cable from the camera to your computer.
iMovie Compatible: Check the web site below to make sure you are purchasing a camera compatible with iMovie. Most are, but it is always wise to check first.
Get a computer.
Macintosh iMac, eMac, iBook or Mac Mini.These computers can be purchased as complete video editors, right out of the box. Check Apple's web site (www.apple.com) or check Braintree Athletic's web site for current Apple prices. (www.btathletics.com/ho.htm) When browsing Apple's site make sure to go to the Education area first and then navigate to their online store from there. Apple gives significant discounts to schools and educators.
Why a Macintosh?
The guts of every new Macintosh are digitally ready to make excellent sports videos. You might want to check out a few of these features however.RAM: 512 Meg RAM at least. 1 Gigabyte is preferred.
Hard Drive: 80 gigabytes and more. 3.4 Megs per second, 2 gigabytes for ten minutes. An 80-gigabyte drive will hold around five hours of video. Plan on purchasing additional storage each year or season. We really like Firewire drives because they can be "daisy-chained", one can easily be added to another for at least 72 drives. Now that is a lot of storage! We try to spend less than one dollar per gigabyte of storage.
DVD burner or Superdrive: A must if you are going to burn DVDs. However, you don't necessarily need to buy one built in. If you should be lucky enough to find a slightly used eMac, iMac or iBook that has everything but a Superdrive, don't despair. Lacie and several other companies now make external Firewire DVD burners that are very fast and reliable. And because they are external and use only a Firewire cable it is very easy to share one among several computers. The latest two versions of iMovie allow the coach to make their DVD as a digital image on their computer for later burning to an external DVD drive.
External monitor support: We really like to show our athletes video using a video projector and a screen attached to a wall. In most cases for best viewing this requires attaching your computer to a projector using a VGA cable. Most new Mac's come with the necessary port, requiring the purchase of a $20 adapter. Some coaches will create a video on DVD and use an inexpensive DVD player attached to a projector or large monitor. We prefer to use the computer when working with athletes at practice in that it allows us to see any clip, at any speed as many times as we want, and in any order. This is not always as easy to do with a DVD. However, it makes perfect sense to send home video with an athlete on DVD.
iMovie: Free. Comes installed on any new Macintosh. New versions, which come out about once a year, usually cost around $70. Many coaches are still using iMovie 3, which was originally published in 2002. Each new version of iMovie introduces new effects, transitions and text overlays. And each new version of iMovie required a slightly faster processor and a little more memory. Regardless of your version of iMovie and your model of Macintosh the basic features of iMovie are incredible.
Importing video is a snap!
Bringing your video into iMovie HD is easy. If you want, you can let iMovie HD's Magic iMovie feature automatically create a movie for you. Magic iMovie can import your footage from a DV or HDV video camera via FireWire and assemble it into a movie, complete with a title, transitions between scenes, and even a music track of your choosing. It can also automatically export your movie to iDVD as a project you can burn to a DVD disc. Making a movie has never been easier. If you want more directorial control, you can also create your own iMovie HD project and simply click Import to transfer footage from your camera to your computer. iMovie supports importing a variety of video formats, such as standard definition video, widescreen digital video, high definition video, and more. When importing from a camera connected by a FireWire cable, your video is captured in "clips" that you can edit, and you can control your camera directly from the iMovie HD window. You can also capture live video with your iSight and send it directly to iMovie HD. If you have video or audio clips stored on your computer, you can also drag them into an iMovie HD project from your desktop.
iMovie Application Window - Basics
A iMovie Monitor: Watch your clips play in this window. You can play clips that are in the Clips pane or Clips viewer.
B Scrubber bar: Drag the playhead along the scrubber bar to move though a clip frame by frame.
C Mode Switch: Click to switch between camera mode and edit mode. Use camera mode to choose an input device and transfer your raw video into the computer. Use edit mode to work on your movie.
D Playback controls: Use these controls to skip to the beginning of a selected clip, play or pause the clip in the iMovie monitor, or play the clip full screen on your computer's monitor.
E Volume slider: Slide this control to change the volume of the computer's speaker while you work in iMovie. This won't change the recorded volume levels of your video or audio clips. You make that kind of adjustment using the controls in the timeline viewer.
F Movie Size - Storage Left: You will always be aware of the size of your project and how much storage you have left.
G Trash: Everything thrown away ends up in your trash can. This icon will tell you how much is in your trash can. Empty your trash (File --> Empty Trash) before saving.
H Pane buttons: Click these buttons to see different panes of the iMovie window. The image above is of the Clips pane. You could click on the Photo pane to add pictures stored in iPhoto. You could click on the Audio pane to add music and sound effects. The Titles pane allows you to add text to your movies, either as an overlay or by using white text on a black screen before or after any clip.