iMovie '09 & iDVD: The Missing Manual

Adding Audio to the Storyboard

Nothing adds emotional impact to a piece of video like music. Slow, romantic music makes the difference between a sad story and one that actually makes viewers cry. Fast, driving music makes viewers' hearts beat faster—scientists have proven it. Music is so integral to movies these days that, as you walk out of the theater, you may not even be aware that a movie had music, but virtually every movie does—and you were emotionally manipulated by it.

Home movies are no exception. Music adds a new dimension to your movie, so much so that some iMovie fans edit to music. They choose a song, lay it down in the audio track, and then cut the video footage to fit the beats, words, or sections of the music.

Tip

Even if you don't synchronize your video to the music in this way, you may still want to experiment with a music-only soundtrack. That is, set the volume for your camcorder clips to zero (Volume Adjustments), so your movie is silent except for the music. The effect is powerful and is often used in Hollywood montage sequences.

The Music and Sound Effects Browser

Here's how you go about choosing a piece of music, or a sound effect, for your movie:

1. Choose Window → "Music and Sound Effects" (or press c-1).

   Alternatively, click the musical-notes icon just beneath the Viewer. Either way, the lower-right chunk of your iMovie window is now filled with the Music and Sound Effects browser (Figure 9-1).

2. Find just the right song (or sound). The panel is filled with useful ...