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You can't. You would need for example, adobe premiere pro or apple's Final Cut Pro.

Even those would be a stretch. You could do a sort-of-ok job at it, but this really is a task better suited for After Effects.

The point, OP, is that this is something that's not for any video editing software, really, but for video compositing software.
 
That is video compositing.

Basically you would have to create a mask. Imagine having your face in a picture and cut it with a scissor, and having the background with blur. You would have to do that but in digital, frame by frame almost.
 
The point, OP, is that this is something that's not for any video editing software, really, but for video compositing software.

Correct answer. And even with that, you need to understand motion tracking and masking. Not a quick or easy process.
 
How do I blur the background of a video in iMovie without blurring my face?

Is the face always about the same spot in the frame? If so you may use one of the spot blur filters.. this will blur everything except the spot you define. That may be adequate for your needs (its not a mask). Dunno if any are available for iMovie. If your face is all over the place... well thats a lot of work.
 
And the more your the face moves in the foreground, the more difficult it becomes to achieve the desired effect.

Most editors achieve this effect by shooting the subject in front of a green screen to do a chroma key, where they can then slap a background behind it. It's a billion times easier that way...
 
How do I blur the background of a video in iMovie without blurring my face?


People here are saying "you can't do that". That is true if you have already shot the video. But you don't say.

You CAN blur the background on your NEXT video. Simply shoot with a wide aperture (small f-number) on a longer lens. The effect is created by using a shallow depth of field. It is easy to do if you shoot using an SLR and a fast prime lens. Depending on the light, you might need a neutral density filter to allow opening the lens up all that way
 
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