iMovie '09 & iDVD: The Missing Manual

Creating Individual Transition Effects

To see the 20 transitions iMovie offers, click the Transitions button, which is identified in Figure 5-2. Point to a transition's name (like Cross Dissolve) without clicking to see a small animated preview of it.

Once you've found a good effect, drag its icon out of the Transitions panel and directly into the storyboard area, in the vertical gap between the two filmstrips that you want transitioned. Figure 5-3 shows the technique.

Note

Most people think of putting transitions between two clips. But if you drag one to the beginning of your storyboard, the transition works just as well—except that it transitions out of blackness. Fade Through Black and Circle Open work especially well to begin a movie.

The same happy surprise awaits if you drag a transition to the end of the movie. iMovie wipes, fades, or ripples from the final shot into blackness.

Figure 5-2. When you point to a transition's icon, you get to see a small preview right on its icon. Click to pause the tiny playback loop at any point, or double-click to reset the animation to its first frame.

Figure 5-3. Insert a transition by dragging its icon out of the Transitions palette and in between two clips (or at either end of your movie). In the storyboard, a transition shows up as a tiny icon. ...