Everyone of you is very familiar with two possibilities for video orientation when recording with your iPhones (or any smartphone, really): you can either record stuff by holding your iPhone up vertically OR horizontally - the later offers a more classic video format viewing experience once you play it on a TV/computer screen because it will literally fill out all of your plasma screen. My problem is: I have some videos I need to edit and they were recorded on that vertical position! Cropping is not an option. If I import them to iMovie, I will end up having to choose either widescreen or full screen aspect ratio once I'm ready to export my final project. But imagine this: I will end up with a video that has two "black bars" on the sides... not to mention that its file size will end up being much bigger than what it would be if I were able to preserve the original iPhone video aspect. BTW, I do not own iMovie for iOS so it's out of question to consider using that. So, is there any possibility to edit an iPhone video recorded on the vertical orientation on a Mac and preserve its original aspect ratio once exported? I don't have the newest iMovie version, but I'd consider getting it if it offers the possibility of exporting videos in that iPhone format. Suggestions?
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Help editing "vertical" iPhone video on iMovie for Mac. Aspect ratio problem.
- Thread starter joe-d
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If, by that, you mean ending up with an edited video in a vertical format showing the whole clip without any black bars, then the answer is No, sort of.
With the latest, and the last, version of iMovie, if you import a vertical video, you have two options using the Crop menu. You can either choose Fit, where you see the whole of your clip, but with black bars either side, or Crop To Fill where you clip is cropped so that it fills the screen.
What you could try is this. Put the clip in a Project, and then with the Crop menu, rotate it to the horizontal, so that it fills the screen and you see all of it. You can then edit it and then Export/Share it as a movie file and then open it in Quicktime and rotate it back to the vertical. Obviously you can't mix vertical and horizontal videos in the same Project and do this.
Meanwhile, have a look at this:
If, by that, you mean ending up with an edited video in a vertical format showing the whole clip without any black bars, then the answer is No, sort of.
With the latest, and the last, version of iMovie, if you import a vertical video, you have two options using the Crop menu. You can either choose Fit, where you see the whole of your clip, but with black bars either side, or Crop To Fill where you clip is cropped so that it fills the screen.
What you could try is this. Put the clip in a Project, and then with the Crop menu, rotate it to the horizontal, so that it fills the screen and you see all of it. You can then edit it and then Export/Share it as a movie file and then open it in Quicktime and rotate it back to the vertical. Obviously you can't mix vertical and horizontal videos in the same Project and do this.
Meanwhile, have a look at this:
Hey Dave,
Thank you so MUCH for your reply. I had already checked the new iMovie using my friends Mac and was disappointed that Apple hadn't made any significant changes regarding video format and aspect ratio exporting. Still, you taught me something I had never known: Quicktime rotates videos! And also FLIP them! LOL! It has been such a long time since I actually paid attention to Quicktime that it feels good to have some renewed respect for this old friend of mine. I still can't forgive Apple for never expanding Quicktime's capabilities beyond what's expected from it. I remember when it was the best player out.
So this is my solution: I will rotate the video on iMovie, edit it, and then I will rotate it back to its natural orientation on Quicktime as you suggested. I clearly won't be able to use iMovie's title cards, so I'll have to create something on photoshop and then animate it. It will still do the job and it will look good too. This task will take a bit longer than usual but the challenge will be entertaining.
The video you sent is great. I had seen video tutorials on how to overcome the vertical syndrome but none were funny, helpful or entertaining. I would rather have a non-vertical syndrome video project to work on given that I also prefer videos shot on "landscape" mode, but it's the project I currently have to work on and how the video was recorded. I hope it's the first and last one!
Final Cut Pro X makes this easy if you wish to give that a go ($299--but you can try the program for thirty days free). You can then create projects in any aspect ratio and resolution you wish, including square resolution, vertical etc. After finishing the edit you can export a "Master File" from the project from Final Cut Pro X and it will create a file that retains the aspect ratio without pillarboxing or letter boxing.
Thank you so much for replying, Chung123! I have worked with FCP in the past and I like it a lot, but I currently don't own it. So yeah, the $299 is keeping me from getting it. I haven't edited a lot of videos lately though, so I have no real urgency to purchase it. I had read all about the possibilities for creating personalized aspect ratios with it and was really glad because back when I used it a lot I remember it having several options for exporting files but nothing too different from all of the other softwares in the market. Good to know they are tuning and refining it on a constant basis.
If, by that, you mean ending up with an edited video in a vertical format showing the whole clip without any black bars, then the answer is No, sort of.
With the latest, and the last, version of iMovie, if you import a vertical video, you have two options using the Crop menu. You can either choose Fit, where you see the whole of your clip, but with black bars either side, or Crop To Fill where you clip is cropped so that it fills the screen.
What you could try is this. Put the clip in a Project, and then with the Crop menu, rotate it to the horizontal, so that it fills the screen and you see all of it. You can then edit it and then Export/Share it as a movie file and then open it in Quicktime and rotate it back to the vertical. Obviously you can't mix vertical and horizontal videos in the same Project and do this.
Meanwhile, have a look at this:
Hey but then can i upload that video to YouTube? So basically i have the same problem, i have the latest version of iMovie. My project is to record an iphone screen showing how an app works so therefore it had to be in portrait, now when i add some titles to it, it becomes weird. then when i upload to Facebook its super tiny!
Please help!
I know Vimeo and Facebook supports video in different aspect ratios without letter boxing or pillar boxing (YouTube supports vertical video playback on mobile devices--but everything else on the desktop will have black bars) but you have to first confirm the video file you are sharing or uploading is indeed the size you want it to be.
Save a copy on your desktop and play it there.
If your project includes black bars to fit into a 1920x1080 HD or 1280X720--then it is what you are going to get on FB.
If the file is good--- upload that file directly into Facebook.
I'm not sure if it is a limitation with iMovie---but FCPX will solve these issue as it will allow you to work in custom resolutions. Cinemascope, Square Format, 16x9 etc.