Subtitles of the Movie

We're now ready to capture some video. First, we need to move the mode selector button over to DV. If everything is okay, the message camera is connected will appear. If not, the message camera disconnected appears. If disconnected appears, first, check that your camera is properly connected to your computer and it's switched on. If this does not work, your camcorder may not be compatible with iMovie's capture software. There are two parts to this software. The software, which transfers the data stream to iMovie and the software, which controls the camcorders play, pause, stop, fast forward, and reverse functions. Both of these protocols were written by Sony and some of the manufactures may not have followed Sony's protocol's completely. This is especially true of earlier DV camcorders. If you get the camera-disconnected message, it's worth trying to operate your camcorder manually. This may at least transfer video into iMovie. If this does not work, you'll need to go to Apples iMovie web site and check if your camera is supported. If it is, contact the camcorder's manufacturer, incase, there is a malfunction on your camera. If you forgotten to put a tape in your camera, iMovie will tell you with the message, camera no tape. Well, assuming everything is okay. We can start capturing some video. The camera's control buttons located here, work in exactly the same way as your camcorders. From left to right, we have fast reverse, pause, play, stop, and fast-forward. The large button here with the word import on it is the button you click to start and stop the video capture process. You can also start and stop capture by hitting the space bar, which is very convenient if you are capturing your video on the fly. Notice, that when you activate any of these buttons they'll turn a bright blue color. There are two ways to import video into iMovie manual and automatic. Which method you use depends on your experience and how much hard disk space you have available. The manual method involves capturing video clip by clip either in short clips or by capturing a large chunk of video and splitting that up into smaller clips later. To use the manual method, first preview your video until you find the start of the section you want to import. Roll back the tape a couple of seconds to give you some editing headroom. Click the play button and then the record button. Capture now begins. When you've captured the amount of video you want, click the import button again and capturing will stop. Notice, I've already captured the longer clip using this method, which will use later in the editing process. iMovie has a very attractive feature called automatic capture. In this mode, iMovie will capture video in one long session. But create a new clip every time you switched your camcorder from pause to play. This is an attractive option as iMovie will create the clips as you recorded them and move them then straight to the shelf for editing. To activate this option, go to the edit menu and select preferences. Under the import tab, make sure automatic start new clip is selected. Now, preview to the start of the video you wish to capture. Press record and watch until all of the video you need has been captured. Click the import button again to stop capture. Of course, you'll need to keep a close eye on your hard disk monitor as video eats up hard disk space very quickly. Whichever method you use, do not capture too much video at a time. Apart from the hard disk problem, managing large chunks of video is very difficult. Try to break down your movie into sequences or chapters. For example, if you are producing a holiday video make one activity, say a visit to a cathedral into a sequence. Capture only the video you need for this sequence do all of the editing you want including, adding effects and sound. Once you are completely satisfied with this sequence, move on to capture the next series of video clips for another event. If you find now that you are short of hard disk space, you can empty the trash and recover some of that space.