iMovie '09 & iDVD: The Missing Manual

Cropping Video

The Video Adjustments panel is only one example of the incredibly sophisticated, pro-level features that you stumble across in this supposedly simple, idiot-proof program. Another example is the Cropping tool, which was previously relegated to the stratosphere of professional, $1,000 video-editing programs like Final Cut Pro.

Figure 7-11. Click the clip that you've already got looking good. Then choose Edit → Copy (⌘-C). Now click the next clip that needs the same touch and choose Edit → Paste Adjustments → Video (or press Option-⌘-I). Proceed through all the clips that were filmed under the same lighting conditions: Paste, paste, paste. You've just saved a heck of a lot of time.

This tool lets you crop a video clip the same way you'd crop a photo; that is, you can chop off the edges of the video frame. Figure 7-12 shows the idea.

Cropping isn't something you'll do every day. But it can be handy in situations like these:

• You're adding a clip that's got the wrong aspect ratio to a project (Aspect Ratios: The Missing Manual). For example, you're creating a regular, squarish, standard-definition movie, but you want to place a widescreen clip into it. The Cropping tool lets you lop off the sides of that widescreen clip so it fits perfectly into the squarish frame without any black bars.

• There's something at the margins of the picture that you want to get rid of. Maybe your finger ...