Jeff Carlson

When Apple released iMovie for the iPhone 4 last year, I felt a palpable sense of longing. I was excited to have a mobile version of iMovie, but a video-editing app seemed ideally suited to work on the iPad's large screen. I could easily imagine how it would work, and yet it ran only on the iPhone 4 and fourth-generation iPod touch.

Since then, it's been a given that the software would jump to the iPad, and with iMovie for iOS 1.2, we get to experience what was no doubt on the drawing boards, if not yet in the shipping schedule, of Apple's engineers. iMovie takes what can be a complex task-just look to Adobe Premiere or Apple's Final Cut applications to see how deep video editing can be-and makes it not only accessible, but touchable.

When Apple released iMovie for the iPhone 4 last year, I felt a palpable sense of longing. I was excited to have a mobile version of iMovie, but a video-editing app seemed ideally suited to work on the iPad's large screen. I could easily imagine how it would work, and yet it ran only on the iPhone 4 and fourth-generation iPod touch.

Since then, it's been a given that the software would jump to the iPad, and with iMovie for iOS 1.2, we get to experience what was no doubt on the drawing boards, if not yet in the shipping schedule, of Apple's engineers. iMovie takes what can be a complex task-just look to Adobe Premiere or Apple's Final Cut applications to see how deep video editing can be-and makes it not only accessible, but touchable.

Using transitions in an iMovie project adds polish and often smoothes juxtapositions between clips--for example, a long Fade to Black transition can indicate the passage of time. iMovie '11 offers 24 built-in transitions, and what seems like nearly as many ways to add and edit them to improve your movies.

Step 1: Add a transition

When you figure the amount of work required to make your own movie trailer from scratch, the new movie trailers feature in iMovie '11 is amazing. In just a few minutes, you can create a short film with production values that rival what you see on the big screen.

But is that all there is to iMovie's movie trailers? Did Apple put in what is obviously a lot of work--many of the soundtracks were recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, for heaven's sake--for a feature that takes a few minutes to use and creates a movie only a minute or two in length?

When iPhoto 4 first arrived in 2004, one of its touted features was improved performance when scrolling through thousands of pictures in a photo library. That was important because it did a better job of taking advantage of the hardware of the day. It was also key because as people quickly adopted digital cameras, their iPhoto libraries were growing by thousands of new images.

Our photo libraries continue to grow, and now the problem isn't so much one of hardware performance as it is overwhelming numbers. How do you quickly locate the shots you're looking for without having to scroll endlessly in iPhoto? Here are a few strategies for iPhoto users.

The new Movie Trailer feature of iMovie '11 is a great way to demo the program because it packs all the strengths of the video editor into a compact, visually arresting package. But like a real movie, there is more to iMovie '11 than the trailer--and thankfully, all of the best scenes aren't given away in the teaser.

iMovie '11 is an interesting mix of old and new. Audio editing is an old feature from iMovie HD 6 that's finally making its appearance in the new version, but with a new, easy approach. There are features such as One-Step Effects, which build upon the editing foundation of iMovie '08 and '09. But Apple is also putting serious effort into iMovie's development with a new fix for rolling shutter artifacts, and a People Finder feature which can help immensely when you're trying to locate clips of family members or friends amid hours of raw footage.

It's strange to think of iMovie--the first app in the series that later became iLife--as an underdog, but Apple's video editing application has found itself trying to overcome the initial poor impressions of iMovie '08 by longtime iMovie users. iMovie '11, introduced at Apple's Back to the Mac media event, adds long-awaited features like improved audio editing and 1080p HD output, and takes advantage of the program's editing strengths to introduce One-Step effects such as instant replays.

iMovie '11 also includes surprises, large and small. The main draw is the ability to quickly cut together movie trailers, but just as exciting are features for identifying when people appear in clips, correcting for rolling shutter side effects, and the return of a traditional timeline using the new Single Row view.

To take advantage of the video recording capabilities of the iPhone 4 and the latest iPod touch, Apple introduced a new iOS app for editing video: iMovie 1.1 for iPhone 4 and iPod touch (4th generation). That's really the full name, which is why from now on I'll refer to it as just iMovie and assume you know I'm not talking about the Mac application.

iMovie is fairly easy to use, but it also carries expectations based on what iMovie for Mac (or really any video editor) can do. Being a mobile app, some capabilities aren't available-or are they? Here are some tips for expanding the editing features of iMovie 1.1. The steps below assume a basic knowledge of how to use the app.

Point-and-shoot digital still cameras have been able to capture video for years, and now, the latest crop of DSLRs distinguish themselves by their video capabilities in addition to how well they capture stills. Even mobile phones like the iPhone 4 can shoot HD video. But the choices for people looking to edit that video are surprisingly limited.

iMovie '09 ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ) is geared toward making short, easily shared clips, but Apple lost many fans when it completely retooled iMovie after version 6. Final Cut Express ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ) provides plenty of power, but carries a significant learning curve for people who aren't versed in the language of video editing. And high-end tools like Final Cut Pro ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ) or Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ) are typically too advanced and expensive for casual shooters.

I recently (finally!) replaced my aging MacBook Pro with a new 2010 model, which includes a 500GB internal hard disk. I feel like I have more breathing room on disk, but I know from experience that it's a short-lived situation. Especially with digital video, that free space will be quickly consumed.

iMovie '09 stores your projects and events (which include the raw imported footage) on your Mac's internal drive by default, but at some point you'll probably want to relocate old videos to a secondary hard drive. To make them available to iMovie later, however, you can't just copy them in the Finder. Instead, do it all within iMovie. Here's how:

iMovie '09 ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ) offers several pre-made designs for titles that overlap your video, from basic centered text to animated concoctions like Sideways Drift and Lens Flare. All you have to do is select the title and edit its text to get a slick effect. But you can do a lot more to change the appearance of the text, from quickly applying different fonts and colors to tweaking the typography.

iMovie font panel

Today's cameras make it easier than ever for shooters to get good-quality footage, but sometimes the camera misreads the brightness or color balance, or the environment's lighting introduces a color tint.

iMovie '09 ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ) (and iMovie '08) can help you correct your footage without turning to advanced tools like Apple's professional Color ( Macworld rated 3.5 out of 5 mice ) application. iMovie doesn't offer the same level of control or quality, but it works well for fixing common issues.