Edit and share movies

Get to grips with basic editing tips, tricks, and techniques

- GEORGE CAIRNS

THESE DAYS, your iPhone is capable of capturing stunning high-quality video footage that's on a par with the professionally shot shows on TV. However, many of us are wasting hours of valuable video clips by simply trimming a single clip in Photos on our iPhone and sending it to a few friends via Messages. macOS iMovie is a powerful nonlinear editor (NLE) that enables you to turn a collection of long, rambling clips into slickly edited videos that showcase your activities, such as vacation highlights or a city visit, in a more entertaining way.

In part one of our macOS iMovie series, we'll show you how to get up and running with basic skills, such as importing iPhone–sourced clips, trimming them to share the best bits, and swapping their running order to tell a story. In parts 2 and 3 of the series (available in #ML241 and #ML242), you'll learn more sophisticated post-production skills, such as adding titles and transitions, and combining one clip with another as a green screen composite.

QUICK LOOKThe iMovie interface

A MY MEDIA BROWSER

Imported assets, such as clips and photos, will appear here as thumbnails.

B TIMELINE

After trimming clips in the My Media browser, drag them to the timeline to tell a story.

C TRIM HANDLE