iMovie 09: Almost certainly maddening
Among the products Apple announced today is iMovie 09, an update to their entry-level video editor that I currently find completely unusable. They have demo videos up showing some of the new features, which range from very helpful (stabilization) to fairly gimmicky (the animated maps).
What’s most clear, however, is that they’re sticking with the bizarre and unfortunate editing interface.
Yes, I have the curse of knowledge: I know how an editing system is “supposed to” work, as it does in Final Cut, Avid and to some degree, the original iMovie. But I’m always game for a new and better idea, particularly if it makes heretofore complicated things easier for newcomers to understand. iMovie is supposed to let ordinary Mac users cut together simple videos. I get that.
But worse than being unlike real editing systems, iMovie is unlike any normal Mac application. Take a look at how Precision Editor works in the new iMovie.
You move the mouse along the gray bar, or inside one clip or inside another clip. You’re not clicking or dragging; you’re just floating. Unlike every other Mac application in which a click selects something (or moves the insertion point), a click in iMovie is a cut — or more precisely, it adjusts the out point of the top clip. A click in the lower clip adjusts its in point. There’s feedback, in the sense that the video suddenly jumps, but it’s not immediately clear what’s changed, or what would be undone if you hit Undo.
Throughout iMovie, there’s a lot of WTF? Important things are hidden in pop-up menus, often attached to clips. I understand and support the idea of attaching actions to objects, but how is Precision Editor an action? It’s a noun, not a verb, and opens as a separate viewer.
The timeline is the other major frustration. Anyone who has ever watched YouTube understands that in video, time moves from left to right. If you drag the playhead — the little circle — you’re moving forward and backward in the clip. But not in iMovie. In iMovie, time wraps like text, left to right then up and down. Apple has created a new and inferior grammar for no good reason.
Fortunately, Final Cut Express is only $169 on Amazon
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January 6th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Probably best to wait and try the app before judging it too much, but there still seem to be some odd choices made in iMovie. And isn’t FCE pretty out of date at this point?
Not super happy with Apple right now, particularly since I have been waiting for hardware updates to upgrade and it has been months and still counting.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Final Cut Express is a year old. That’s not bad.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
I’d like to check out FCE but based on apple’s track record (mostly from using Logic Pro and the generally unreliable Soundtrack Pro) I have to say I’m not optimistic about them keeping their “pro” apps up to date.
And when I finally got a camcorder recently, I was pretty shocked to find out that there seems to be no native support for AVCHD. What’s up with that.
By the way, glad to hear you are a mac geek although I assume there’s lots of that in the film industry.
January 6th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Well, as I see it (just watched the Keynote, the Videotour is downloading) it will be, as iMovie 08, a good tool to rough cut Musicvideos or Documentary done to music. With a click you can select a piece of Footage a certain Time long, like 2 Bars of your Music and line them up. This ones will be tight to the timing of the song if you did the math right. From there I would, or to be precise, have exported the Stuff and imported it into Final Cut Pro to do the Cut. But I never got a faster rough cut for my Tattoo-Documentary than with using iMovie 08. And yeah, they kind of reinvented the Timeline. But with the Thumbnails I’m able to overview a bigger portion of the cut than I’m able to with Final Cut. Have to watch the Videotour to get a more complete view, but it looks like this will at least remain my Rough-cut Editor. Would really like to see this in FinalCut as an Option.
And to be honest I’ll just get iLive 09 for the new Features in iPhoto :-)
George
January 6th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
John, You are now in charge of Apple media software development.
How do you propose to differentiate the really low end software (iMovie) from the low end Pro suite (FC Express) from the top-of-the-line software (Final Cut Pro)?
On price alone? Usability? Maybe both?
Oh wait…. Apple is already doing that.
You’re fired. -Jonathan
January 6th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Jonathan, iMovie 06 already showed it was possible to differentiate without having an oddball interface on the low end.
It’s simple, the low end just has fewer features than the mid which has less features than the middle. Usability shouldn’t be worse on the low end.
January 6th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
I got a camcorder for the holidays but was disappointed to discover it was incompatible with iMovie 6 because it uses AVCHD, so I’m going to buy FCE. FCE is good right? I mean, it doesn’t suck? My cousin says it sucks, but maybe she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She says I should get Final Cut Studio. Would you say, as an industry insider, that FCE is good enough to cut an indie movie? Are there any gaping flaws? I agree whole heartedly that iMovie ‘08/’09 aren’t that hot.
January 6th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
I have to say, the stabilization effect looks very cool. I don’t mind iMovie. It took a little getting used to, but once I figured it out, it was fine to use. If I want to do something really quickly, I like it better than FInal Cut Express. The only thing I really don’t like is that I can’t pick a scratch disk. I don’t have much room on my laptop and would love to be able to save to my Time Capsule, but there’s no way to do that.
January 6th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
@Jonathan:
I’m not opposed to iMovie existing. I want it to be good and easy to use. The current application is neither, and the upgrade doesn’t look to have corrected its fundamental shortcomings.
It’s fine to have a cheap version with fewer features. But to saddle it with a poor interface isn’t product differentiation.
@Max:
You probably wouldn’t cut an indie feature on Final Cut Express — but I’m sure some have. There are enough things deliberately left out of it to encourage you to use Final Cut Pro, which costs $1299. Everything you do in FCE will translate directly to FCP if you need to get it later.
The Macworld review is pretty accurate:
http://www.macworld.com/article/131409/2008/01/finalcutexpress4.html
January 6th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Yep. I’ve never understood the changes other than appealing to the lowest common denominator. However, the changes didn’t really hit me until I was watching the guided tour.
The glaring thing I noticed was that the timeline was in the left upper corner. That doesn’t make sense, especially when, as you point out, a timeline isn’t supposed to wrap. It boggles my mind.
Even more, though, is that I think FCP is in dire need of a UI overhaul. It just looks unlike a Mac app. I think this dissuades a lot of people from using it.
Finally, I think there are some major things they could take things and make them as easy as they are in iMovie in Final Cut Pro. All in all, I think the application is probably a step up, but like you point out, it boggles the mind layout wise.
Ignorance is bliss, though.
January 6th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
I take it Final Cut Express/Pro can only be used on a MAC? Do you know any great editing software for the PC user? Thanks
January 6th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Anyone who is halfway serious about managing and editing media (be it video, photos or music) will avoid iLife. Unsurprisingly, this advice seems to need no revision with this release.
January 6th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
iMovie? OMG!!! Ok, it’s better than Win Movie Maker, but… let’s stay with Final Cut ;)
January 6th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
I’ve seen people doing some amazing things with the ‘old’ iMovie, it was easy to use, it was powerful enough for the amateur yet not over the top – there were still dozens of reasons for the pro to switch to FCE or FC. Point being: iMovie was the perfect software to start editing stuff. Vastly superior to all those Windows apps shipping with the new graphics card.
iMovie 08 killed that, simple as that. The interface looks and feels like it was bought from a third party software manufacturer, and a third rate one at that. It’s not as intuitive as 06 while offering fewer options.
Weird decisions.
January 7th, 2009 at 12:16 am
I’ve used a lot of different video editors and yes, iMovie 08 differs from most of them. However, I’m not sure that a novice would think about the differences the way you guys do. I use FCP a lot, but find it to be overkill to edit a 2 minute YouTube-clip of a vacation. In iMovie 08 it’s done in a snap.
I also think that the skimming feature will be incorporated in both FCP and FCE in the future. It’s awesome. :)
January 7th, 2009 at 1:59 am
THANK YOU! Christ, I was beginning to think it was me. First time I tried to use iMovie (as an FCP user), it was pure WTF. Sure, it’s usable. Eventually. But come on.
Curse of knowledge, indeed. Like being a motion graphics artist (After Effects user) back in the day, trying to make heads or tails of Flash. What on earth inspires these people to put a “new spin” on every single software metaphor in use? Boredom?
January 7th, 2009 at 7:12 am
I’m in the WTF boat with the new imovie… BUT I do have to give apple kudos for trying to be inventive in a field that hasn’t really changed much for years. Trying to edit a video in the new imovie after using final cut for years is a very frustrating experience, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that its a bad concept. I’m just not used to it.
January 7th, 2009 at 7:32 am
Hey guys,
I think the new iMovie is pretty amazing. They’ve created a unified visual interface for L-cut, where the audio and video come in or out at different times. And it’s graphical.
Granted, the interface isn’t perfect. Having to go to a pull-down menu to get there isn’t the most efficient way in, and like John mentioned, there could be more real-time feedback instead of a “blink” to let you know the edit point has changed.
To play devil’s advocate though, why doesn’t final cut or avid have a function, where you double click on a transition (or several layers of them) and it magnifies the timeline to the relevant area, wherein you can drag or trim the tracks easily?
Trim mode in FCP and AVID, though extremely fast and efficient, provide even less visual feedback until you play back the edit. (granted, pros move so fast, it’s not much of an issue, but it is definitely NOT intuitive)
Why doesn’t FCP have a drag function where you drag the part of the clip you want, it play at high speed as you drag, when you release the mouse, it automatically sets ins and outs? This would allow for lightning fast assemblies. Specially if you know your footage.
The point is, though there have been some reasonable complaints about iMovie 09′, it’s got some really innovative cutting paradigms that could speed up parts of even a pro workflow. I personally am looking forward to seeing some imovie functionality like magnified graphical trimming (& dare I say, an ergonomically efficient effects mode) make it into FCP.
Best,
F
January 7th, 2009 at 7:36 am
I haven’t found anything to support any upgrades in the final cut studio, but wouldn’t everyone who uses Final Cut Studio be irreversibly PO’ed if this new iMovie ‘09 has all these “special effects” that don’t need render times, and that technology ISN’T incorporated into FCP? (sorry, that’s just kind of a backwards way of saying the new FCP better not have render times for a lot of their effects and transitions).
January 7th, 2009 at 7:43 am
Wait, Avid works? When did this happen?
January 7th, 2009 at 7:56 am
@Kevin:
There are several PC video editing options, both beginner and advanced. Sony Vegas and Adobe Premier are as full-featured as Final Cut Pro for about $500. Each has a lighter version, Vegas Movie Studio and Premier Elements, for about $50. There’s also Pinnacle, made by Avid.
Yes, there are some of us who haven’t seen the iLight yet.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:04 am
I’ve been using imovie since the OS 9 days, and am still using 06 now. For me it was the only case where the simple/cheap/consumer version of a product wasn’t completely annoying and frustratingly crippled, but gave everything I needed without the complexity of a pro app, resulting in speedy and intuitive cutting. Only thing found lacking was the limited supported formats. Guess I will slowly have to look for a different editor now.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:07 am
@ Dave in DC
Thanks for the info! I only hear/read about editing software for MAC’s. However, I have seen the iLight and would like to switch to MAC, but my iWallet is iEmpty and iI can’t afford it yet. OK, enough with the ‘i’ jokes :) cheers
January 7th, 2009 at 9:10 am
@Kevin:
Ha! Thanks for the first laugh of the day. Hope the switch goes well.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:55 am
I feel that way about all the iWork products, frankly, so I’m not surprised it would extend to the iLife stuff. Although I’ve heard great things about Garage Band?
January 7th, 2009 at 10:06 am
@Kristan -
What don’t you like about iWork?
Personally, I think it’s a much better approach an MS Word. And the whole suite is only 2 years old (pages being a little older).
January 7th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Imovie is ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!! Imovie 08 was great but not perfect. Imovie 09 is great AND perfect. I have worked with Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere. FCP and Premiere are very good in making a profesional movie.
But….
Organizing and making fast very good looking movies of home footage is only possible with Imovie 08 and 09.
Example: to make an overview of last year. Just all kind of home footage like my son playing football, conversation in the garden. My wife cooking etcetera etcetera. You can do it perfect in Imovie.
I pre-ordered imovie yesterday. I’m so excited.
January 7th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I had to cut a short film using a recent version of iMovie. It was completely hopeless. Usability was nonexistent, which I found weird because I used a version of iMovie way back in 2000 when I was in high school and I remember it being simple and perfectly usable. It surprises me how terrible an entry level program like iMovie can be when all they really need are the very basic tools. Somehow, even those get screwed up. What irritates me about the cheaper editing software these days is they all seem to have this same feature: a magic button you press that automatically makes the movie for you. I have not tried this feature, but I cannot imagine how it works or that it works very well and its very existence is offensive to me. Then I try to cut the movie myself with the program and it doesn’t have some of the most basic things like a fade in/out transition, but instead has transitions that involve computer generated airplanes flying across the screen in a wipe. This is all truly ridiculous stuff that seems marketed towards the lowest common denominator consumer crowd. Man, I gotta get some cash and some real editing software.
January 7th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
@Franco:
There are certainly things FCP/FCE/Avid could crib from iMovie, and that sense of quick-and-dirty throwing things together would be useful.
I’m not sure how the L-cut in the new iMovie is particularly novel. By looking at the demos, it seems like they just hide the audio until you make it visible. After that, it just like a standard audio overlap.
@Evan:
Is iMovie’s stabilize real-time?
A lot of iMovie’s VFX seem like imports from Motion, which is quite snappy. I agree that FCP needs speedier rendering (or non-rendering) for many of its VFX, and look forward to an upgrade. Or an announcement about when that will come.
January 7th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
In their video demo, it looks like stabilization takes quite a bit longer than real time – their example looks like a clip under a minute, and the dialogue box said it estimated 16 minutes to analyze the footage. Obviously, no idea what machine they were doing the demo on.
“Anyone who is halfway serious…”
These apps aren’t aimed at anyone who is serious about doing video, photos, or recording music. They are intended to be accessible to people who have never done them before, they are the apps that let Grandma edit video and make a website. That said, aiming to make it possible for first time users isn’t an excuse for an unintuitive interface.
Obviously iMovie 08/09 is going to feel very odd to anyone who has used a more traditional video editing app already. But I’m curious if it is more intuitive if you hand it to someone who has never done it before. In other words, is it truly unintuitive, or is that just reaction from people experienced with other “standard” apps? It would be interesting to sit a group of grandmas down with iMovie 08 and another group with 06 and compare the reactions.
January 7th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
@mike:
If stabilize is 16/1, then it’s likely the same technology as SmoothCam in FCP, which was brought over from Shake.
January 7th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
It’s a safe assumption that any features that look similar between their pro apps and their consumer equivalents are shared code. They do it all the time between GarageBand and Logic, in fact they are programmed by most of the same people.
Seems to be a smart move on Apple’s part to take advantage on multiple levels of features they have created, although I can’t help but suspect that Logic’s development has suffered because the team had some of their time taken up by work on GarageBand (and the same may be true of their video apps as well, at least to some degree).
January 7th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
I never used iMovie 06, but I did use Final Cut Pro and iMovie 08 for a few hours. I found Final Cut’s UI really bizarre and hard to use. On the other hand, though iMovie 08 seemed a little strange I never had any problem actually using it. For the quick editing of home videos I do, iMovie 08 is great.
I don’t think the UI has changed so much in iMovie 09. The image stabilizer alone is going to be enough for me to upgrade.
January 10th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Doesn’t everyone know that you can download all mac software, well pretty much any software through the use of torrent sites? Come on!
January 11th, 2009 at 10:13 am
I found iMovie ‘08 easy to use and understand but simply lacking in features. iMovie ‘09 seems to add the features I thought were lacking in ‘08 and more. I already have Final Cut Express and will probably be upgrading to Final Cut Studio sometime in the near future, however iMovie seems like a faster way to quickly cut together a simple video that does not need the advanced features of FCE or FCP. When I edited a 15 minute video I had shot of a competition at a convention I used iMovie ‘08 rather than FCE because it was much faster and didn’t require anything more than a few quick cuts.
I think the market that iMovie is aimed at will find the product easy to use and understand, it’s more so people coming from other video editing products that may have issue with how it works.
-Vince
February 17th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
iMovie ‘09 certainly does seem ugly and convoluted. Every movie clip is turned into a zillion-thumbnail representation. Video seems to have to be imported only using the import command, instead of merely dragging a video (or audio) clip from Finder into iMovie, like you used to be able to do. For those with limited storage space, ‘09 makes additional copies of your clips plus hundreds of (to me) utterly useless thumbnails of second-by-second action of those clips and puts them into a new folder in your Movies folder called iMovie Events. Does this sound good to anyone? When I merely wanted to join together 7 already-edited clips (edited on old, easy-to-use, intuitive iMovie ‘06) into one contiguous movie, the program seemed to infer that I should do some editing on those clips before “sharing” them. Is iMovie ‘09 now featuring criticism as well as video processing? Remember the Save command, as in saving your project with some other name other than the childish, unicorny “My First Project”? No more Save command in iMovie ‘09. Just a succession of ‘My (1st, 2nd, 3rd & onward) Projects” Why? I believe that the market iMovie’s appearance is aiming at is the Final Cut crowd, and if they can afford Final Cut, they can afford to hire somebody to run the program and do their work for them.