iMovie 11 Newbie Needs Help - Clip is freezing

[adamboettiger]

Hey folks - Thanks in advance for any help with this.

I'm editing raw footage I taped of a session I spoke on last week at a conference in San Francisco (ad:tech 2011 - How to Thrive in the Age of Distraction").

I am brand new to iMovie 11, but am catching on quickly.

The specific problem I'm stuck on is likely a 60-second response from anyone who uses iMovie 11.

I'm splitting the clips to add cutaways to show my slides full screen in the video while the narration and audio track continues, to create the experience that you're actually there in the room watching the session.

I have one section where the video is freezing and I'm not sure why.

Here's a screen video of it so you can get a sense for what I'm talking about:
http://screencast.com/t/6q1mfnnFO

I'm sure it's something simple, but hoping it's not a bug in iMovie 11.

Any help would be appreciated!

Additionally: If you happen to be a video editing professional, I am quickly realizing the obvious, which is that the MacBook Air 2010 is probably NOT the best piece of hardware for editing audio MP3 files and video - due to processor being overtaxed, fan on etc.

At some point, if I have the cash I'd like to really buy what I need to do video editing well. There is the likelihood that I may be traveling, so am thinking it should be a MacBook Pro, maxed out on hard drive size and processor and RAM; but would appreciate any additional recommendations WRT:

- iMovie vs Final Cut Pro vs Camtasia?

- A USB device that I can dial forward and backward on the clip rather than using the mouse or keyboard arrows, which is tedious

- Best OS X software for editing MP3 files of recorded AUDIO (like from a SONY digital audio recorder), that allows for great sound cleanup and audio editing options.

Thanks so much for any help.

Adam Boettiger
http://digitalminimalism.com/
Portland, Oregon

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Additionally: If you happen to be a video editing professional, I am quickly realizing the obvious, which is that the MacBook Air 2010 is probably NOT the best piece of hardware for editing audio MP3 files and video - due to processor being overtaxed, fan on etc.

The MBA is quite okay with editing video, if you use a proper editing codec for video like Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC - iMovie and FCE) or ProRes (FCP) and uncompressed audio. MP3 files are compressed and should be transcoded to a .wav or .aiff using Max.

- iMovie vs Final Cut Pro vs Camtasia?

There is also FCE and the coming FCP X (June) and Adobe Premiere (Pro & Elements), but for your uses iMovie and FCE should suffice.

- A USB device that I can dial forward and backward on the clip rather than using the mouse or keyboard arrows, which is tedious

Those will only work with advanced editing software, though this may work too: http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powermate

- Best OS X software for editing MP3 files of recorded AUDIO (like from a SONY digital audio recorder), that allows for great sound cleanup and audio editing options.

As mentioned above, MP3 files are not meant to be edited and transcoded properly before editing. Garage Band and Audacity can import MP3 files though.