This document provides a 19 step guide for creating movies on an iPad using the iMovie app. It begins with transferring videos between devices, creating a new project in iMovie, arranging and trimming video clips, adding transitions between clips, detaching and editing audio, adding background music, changing themes, and making final touches before saving and sharing the completed movie. The document is from Martin Cisneros, an Academic Technology Specialist, and is intended to teach introductory movie making skills using iMovie on iOS devices.

1. DIGITAL MEDIA ACADEMY
- VIDEO UNIVERSITY
Martin Cisneros
Academic Technology Specialist
MCisneros@sccoe.org

2. GET THE PRESO AT
Martin Cisneros
Academic Technology Specialist
MCisneros@sccoe.org
bit.ly/DMA-D1

3. PROJECTS & WAYS TO USE IN THE
CLASSROOM
IOS APPS & TOOLS FOR VIDEO CURRICULUM
INTRO TO MOVIE MAKING ON IOS
DAY 1
DAY 2
DAY 3

4. GO AHEAD…TAKE A
SHOT

5. HOW TO SHOOT
BETTER VIDEO ON
YOUR IPAD goo.gl/u1rMTw

6. STEP 1
Step 1. This is optional, but much of your video will probably be on your iPhone rather than iPad. You can run
iMovie on an iPhone, but it’s much nicer on an iPad’s bigger screen. To transfer videos between devices, simply
use AirDrop. If your devices don’t support it, you can use a third-party app such as Simple File transfer from the
App Store, or transfer the videos via iTunes. Oh yes…..There is also Google Drive :-)
Get Your Video

7. SEND ANYWHERE
(FILE TRANSFER)
https://goo.gl/CrF457
INSTASHARE AIR
DROP
https://goo.gl/F6tOd0

8. YOU HAVE THIS!

9. STEP 2Step 2. Launch iMovie and tap the + button to create a new project. You can
choose between a Movie and a Trailer. Trailers are fun, but we’ll focus on Movie
mode here. Tap Movie and then choose a theme. You can tap the play button to
watch a preview of each style.
Creating New Project
9

10. STEP 3
The Editing Layout
Step 3. You can change the theme
later, so don’t worry too much.
Choose one and tap Create Movie
in the top-right corner. You’ll see
the editing screen, with your
videos to the right, a preview
monitor on the left and, running
across the bottom, the timeline,
which is currently blank.

11. STEP 4
Arranging Video Clips
Step 4. Tap on a video and it
will be highlighted in yellow.
You can drag the left- and
right-hand edges to trim the
clip before you add it to the
timeline, or you can add the
whole clip (by tapping the
downward arrow) and trim it
later.

12. STEP 5
Step 5. You can zoom in and out on the timeline by dragging two fingers apart
along the timeline, very helpful when making precise edits. For now, tap on the
video clip to select it, and you’ll see some options appear at the bottom.
Precise Edits on Clips
12

13. STEP 6
Step 6. Tap audio and you can adjust the clip’s volume. It’s useful to see the audio
track, so make sure this is visible by tapping the squiggly line next to the undo
arrow at the top-right of the timeline. Importantly, there’s also a Detach option,
which we’ll use later.
Adjusting the Audio on Clips
13

14. STEP 7
Playback
Step 7. Tap the play button at the
top of the timeline to play your
movie. You can scrub through the
clip by swiping left or right on the
timeline. The white vertical line is
the playback marker. Make sure
the line is in the right-hand half of
the clip before adding another
video to the timeline.

15. STEP 8
Transitions
Step 8. Add another video to the
timeline by repeating step 4 and
you’ll see the transition icon
between the clips. Tap it and the
options appear at the bottom. The
default is dissolve, but the others,
left to right, are straight cut, theme
special, slide, wipe and dip-to-black
(or white). The latter three have
additional options when you select
them.

16. STEP 9
Editing Transitions
Step 9. You can change a
transition’s duration by tapping
the ‘1.0s’ option at the bottom
right, and then choosing either
0.5s, 1.5s or 2.0s. Some
transitions have a sound effect,
which is muted by default. Tap
the speaker icon to toggle
sound on and off.

17. STEP 11
Detaching Audio
Step 11. We’ve added an
establishing shot of the hotel,
followed by a clip showing inside
the room. To give your video a
pro feel, you can make the audio
from the second clip play over
the establishing shot. Tap on the
shot inside the room, then on
Audio, then Detach. The clip’s
audio is shown in blue beneath it.

18. STEP 12
Editing Audio Part 1
Step 12. As with video clips, you can
tap and hold on an audio clip to
move it on the timeline. However, to
keep it in synch with your video,
don’t do this. Instead, select the
video to which it belongs and trim it
by dragging the left-hand yellow bar
to the right. The audio won’t be
trimmed, and will extend beneath
the previous clip – the establishing
shot.

19. STEP 14
Edit Audio Part 2
Step 14. To complete the edit,
tap on the transition between the
two clips and change it from
dissolve to a straight cut. Play the
two clips and you’ll see a
seamless transition between
them, with the continuous audio
making it a lot less jarring. It’s a
technique used in almost every
TV show, and is very effective.

20. STEP 15
Adding Theme Music
Step 15. You’ll want some
background music, so tap the
Audio button at the top-right
corner of the screen. You can
choose iMovie’s own music, or
any other music on your iPad.
Select a song and tap the
downward arrow to add it to
the timeline.

21. STEP 16
Adding Theme Music Pt2
Step 16. iMovie doesn’t allow
gaps, so it will insert the song
at the start of your movie. If
you don’t want that, or want to
have a gap between songs, just
trim the clip to the point where
you want music to start, and
use the slider at the bottom to
reduce the volume to 0%.

22. STEP 17
Adding Theme Music Pt3
Step 17. Now you can repeat step
15, adding the song again (or a
different song). There’s the same
Fade option to fade the song in
and out, and you can adjust the
volume. Note that iMovie will
automatically reduce the song’s
volume during a video clip that
has audio, but will otherwise play
at the volume you set.

23. STEP 18
Changing Themes
Step 18. Continue to add clips, and
perhaps a closing title similar to the
opening title in step 10. Tap on a grey
area of the timeline to deselect any
clips, then tap the cog icon at the
bottom right. This offers options to
fade your movie in from black and out
to black, as well as letting you change
the theme. Changing theme will
change all titles, special transitions
and even transition sound effects.

24. STEP 19
Final Touches & Saving
Step 19. When you’re finished editing,
tap the back-pointing arrow in the top-
left corner and you can tap on the title
to edit it. The play button lets you
watch the movie full-screen, and
tapping the clapper board takes you
back into editing mode. Tap the
upward-pointing arrow to share your
creation. If you want to have the movie
in your Camera Roll, tap Save video and
then choose the highest quality (usually
1080p).

25. PROJECTS & WAYS TO USE IN THE
CLASSROOM
IOS APPS & TOOLS FOR VIDEO CURRICULUM
INTRO TO MOVIE MAKING ON IOS
DAY 1
DAY 2
DAY 3
COMING UP NEXT!

26. THANK YOU!

27. 27
M A R T I N
R I C A R D O
C I S N E R O S
A C A D E M I C T EC H N O LO GY S P EC I A L I S T
E: mcisneros@sccoe.org
Web: sccoe.org/edtech
G+: google.com/+MarHnCisneros
@TheTechProfe
@sccoetech
Digital Media Academy - Union University