I am new to IMovie but i think i understand how to work with it since i finished a couple of small projects. I have a newer project where i have 2 cameras shooting a speaker from different points. 1 close-up and the other far back. So, how would you approach syncing and mixing the 2 footages video/audio? Is is just a matter of having to use the precision editor and manually moving the editing points by the speaker's word for each of the 2 video shots? (Since Imovie uses only 1 video track). Or am i missing something obvious in Imovie? I plan to get FCP later. Thanks.
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Basic IMovie Q
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Yes, I believe you would have to have final cut for this.
You don't need Final Cut Pro though.... Express will work just fine.
Generally you actually only use one of the audio tracks ( the one with the best quality ). It will be too difficult if you didn't use a mic the person to get it to sound right having 2 sources from different distances ( unless they're relatively close I guess )
So in Final Cut you just lay down both video and audio tracks and synch them up as best you can with the audio. Any sharp noise generally is easy to sync up with ( this is what the clapper board is for, but you can just clap your hands or sync in on someone coughing or something )
Anyway, once you have your video synched, then disable the audio on the clip source you don't want to use, and then start editing.
I believe FCP has built in "multicam" support that lets you see multiple tracks at once and lets you choose which camera you want to use at a given point, and switch around between them easily ( I'm told anyway )
Final Cut Express does not have this feature, but when you only have 2 cameras it's not rocket science.... just turn the top track on and off... like an eye exam...1,2 1,2 better? 1,2 1,2
Final Cut has a heck of a learning curve though, so make sure you have *plenty* of time on your hands before you try out your first project on it.
Yes, FCP does have multicam support. There are tutorials out there on how to use that.
I wonder if as a hack, you might be able to take advantage of the picture-in-picture feature of iMovie 09.
I wonder if as a hack, you might be able to take advantage of the picture-in-picture feature of iMovie 09.
You'll know when you need to buy FCS when you're bored with FCE.
Save your money until you know it inside and out.