Opening iMovie HD
The first time you open iMovie HD, you’ll be asked if you’d like to Create a New Project, Open an Existing Project, or Make a Magic iMovie.
Warning -- Opening an older iMovie Project: If you open a project that was created with an earlier version of iMovie, your project files will be updated and converted to iMovie HD. Then there’s no going back!
In this tutorial, we’ll assume you’re starting from scratch.
- Select Create a New Project.
A new window will open, prompting you to name your Project and asking you Where you’d like to store your project files. Choose your Project location carefully. This is where iMovie will store all of the files and media associated with your project.
We’ll cover the two most common scenarios:
- Creating a Project on a Firewire Drive
- Creating a Project on your Macintosh HD
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Creating a Project on a Firewire Drive |
Follow these instructions if you’re working in a lab environment with a portable Firewire Drive:
- Make sure that your Firewire Drive has been properly connected. The Firewire icon should appear on your desktop:
- In iMovie’s Project field, enter your name: firstname_lastname as the title of your movie. This will keep it distinct on a drive packed with other people’s projects.
- Now you’ll save this new project to your Firewire Drive. Click the Arrow button beside the Project field.
- A new menu will open, displaying the drives and folders located on your computer. Click on the Firewire Drive icon in the lefthand pane. You should see all of the folders and files located on your drive.
Select your Firewire Drive |
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- Now you’ll Create a New Folder on this Firewire Drive to contain all of your iLife work. On the bottom left, choose: New Folder. Name your new folder: firstname_lastname. Click Create.
[Note: If you’ve already created this folder during our iPhoto tutorial, locate that folder now].
- Now the Create Project window should show your Project title and the Firewire Folder (firstname_lastname) that you’ve just specified. Click Create at the bottom right to save your project to this folder. The main iMovie interface will open a blank work space for your project.
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Creating a Project on your Macintosh HD |
In this scenario, you’re working on your own machine and portability is not an issue. You’ll save your iMovie project directly to your Mac hard drive in the Movies folder.
This is Apple’s default. If you make no changes to your Where settings, this is where iMovie will store your files.
- In the Create Project window, enter the Project title of your choice.
- In the Where field, select the default folder: Movies.
- Video format. In this tutorial, we’ll leave this on the default setting: DV. In most cases, unless you have access to a $2000-3000 HD camcorder, you’ll probably be importing DV format video.
- Click Create. The main iMovie interface will open a blank work space for your project.
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