iMovie '09 & iDVD: The Missing Manual

Creating Still Images from Footage

iMovie doesn't just accept still photos; it can also create them for its own purposes. To do this, iMovie can pluck a frame out of any footage, whether it's in the storyboard or the Event Browser.

And why would you want to create a still from your video? Let us count some ways:

• Create cool titles. One of the best reasons to get to know iMovie's still-image feature is to supplement iMovie's built-in titling feature. Using still images as titles gives you the freedom to use any colors, type sizes, and positions you want.

  Since you know about Ken Burns, you can even animate them now that you know about alpha channels (Figure 10-7), and even make video play behind them (if they're cutaways).

• The freeze-frame effect. One of the most obvious uses of a still frame is the freeze-frame effect, in which the movie holds on the final frame of a shot. It's a terrifically effective way to end a movie, particularly if the final shot depicts the shy, unpopular hero in a moment of triumph, arms in the air, hoisted onto the shoulders of the crowd. (Fade to black; bring up the music; roll credits.)

• Credits sequences. If you were a fan of 1970s action shows like Emergency!, you may remember how the opening credits looked. You'd be watching one of the starring characters frantically at work in some lifesaving situation. As she looked up from her work, just for a moment, the picture would freeze, catching her by lucky happenstance at her most flattering angle. At that instant, ...