iMovie help!

[flyfish29]

Ok, so I have created two iMovie projects...lets call them A and B

I was working on project B and imported A into B.

Now I am wanting to shorten the length and edit out quite a bit out of project A and it says I can't work on it in iMovie as the folder is locked or priviledges, etc are wrong. I have check for locked folders and priviledges are fine.

Is it this way so I don't mess up project B which is using project A?

I would like to keep movie A in its original long version and make a second version that is much shorter...what is the best way to get myself out of this mess and do what I want.

Second big question:
I have also already saved a iDVD project using B (which includes A) but want to include in it the shorter project A when I get it edited down. How would I go about doing this. I have the dvd menus, etc just the way i want them and would like to not have to recreate them.

Also, would my chapter markers be changed if I shorten the project A movie?

PS I am using the latest version of both iMovie and iDVD.

 

[itsaploy]

suspect strongly you made a User Error here..

Hi Flyfish:

I think you may have made a mistake when you imported one project into another.

I cannot see how that should even be possible to accomplish - because iMovie doesn't work internally in a way that would allow that. But I am assuming you actually did what you suggested.

Maybe you did it (imported files from one project into another) using the Finder - if so that would be a serious error as the project text file would become out of sync with the project's assets (folder contents).

When you add video to a single project, all the assets you add are recorded in a special project text file.

When you edit the video, the edit instructions are saved in the text file too - so that when your video plays, what you see is the result of the text file being interpreted for it's edit list etc.

Now, I can see how you can import video from one project to another, that can be done using iMovie if you know that actual video's internal filename and physical location - but I cannot see how you can import a project text file from one project into another - and have that work properly.

It won't work because one project's text file will not read and interpret another project's text file that is in the same common folder. iMovie doesn't work like that..

So, my advice is that you DO NOT import one project into another - just import assets like video from one project into another. And do that using iMovie - NOT the Finder.

That should work - and the procedure is discussed in "iMovie 04 and iDVD - the Missing Manual".

Good Luck!

M R

 

[flyfish29]

Hi Flyfish:

I think you may have made a mistake when you imported one project into another.

I cannot see how that should even be possible to accomplish - because iMovie doesn't work internally in a way that would allow that. But I am assuming you actually did what you suggested.

All I did was import using iMovie the quicktime file that is located in the folder that imovie created for project A- not one of the quick times I exported to show on the web. I assume this quick time is automatically created by iMovie? As a result it simply placed it inside the clip window as another imported clip just as if I had done it from a video camera.

Now I get the error message that reads "the project could not be opened because the folder is locked or the folder permissions are incorrect. If the project is on a cd rom, server, etc..." which it is not "...If the project is already on your hard disk, then you may not have permission to modify that folder. Correct the folder permissions and try again."

I have repaired permissiions and checked the permissions on the imovie project file and it reads "You can read and write" in that window.

The project I had created with iDVD burned great and worked fine, but we now need to edit it down some.

Help!!! I will get this book for use later, but I dont' have that long...please help. This is for my wife's proposal to a school for professional development training and I have to get one burned today.

 

[live4ever]

Did you actually import A into B? What I mean is did you:

1-in projA select the clips in the timeline you wanted to use in projB
2-Go to File>Share>QuickTime (check box for only clips selected)>Expert Settings>Export to DV Stream (save as say clipA.dv)
3-open projB select File>Import and select the clipA.dv from the sheet and then get a blue importing progress bar

This is the only way that works to share clips between iMovie projects that I'm aware of.

If you just dragged say Clip01 (that has a document icon) from iMovie projA folder into iMovie projB folder this wouldn't work because the .iMovieProj file wouldn't have pointers to where the clip is supposed to be.

 

[flyfish29]

Did you actually import A into B? What I mean is did you:

Neither of the ones you listed. I was in proj B and went to File>Import and selected the quick time movie that is created by iMovie (I guess) which is found in the proj. A folder.

It was the only thing selectable in that folder when I did File>Import so I was thinking it was just a quicktime version of the finished project.

Now- since then, my wife has deleted clip A (the imported one) from iMovie B but I still can't edit or even load project A- error message- like I stated above.

 

[live4ever]

I just did what you did (imported the reference QT movie from projA into B) then I deleted projA entirely and emptied the trash and projB still works.

So I think you might have got some corruption in the files maybe.

Try creating a new admin user and while logged in as the original user put the project folder in the ~/public/dropbox. Then try opening it with the new user.

Or try copying the project folder to an external and open it from there.