Using Video Effects

iMovie comes with effects you can use to enhance your movie. For example, you can change a clip to black and white, or give it a sharp or soft focus. When you’re feeling really creative, you can add effects such as rain, fog, and even fairy dust!

Effects can be applied to both video clips and still images. You can apply effects to one or all of your clips, and even apply multiple effects to the same clip.

Tips

Real-time video effects

Certain video effects will allow you to edit and preview them in real time, without waiting for rendering. You can also make changes and see them instantly. They render in the background and leverage your computer’s GPU to accelerate the process to save time for saving and exporting. These effects are listed under the category Quartz Composer. Note that the ability to use These effects in real time depends capabilities of your computer.

Apply an effect to part of a clip

There may be times when you want to apply an effect to only part of a clip. For example, in a movie about your dog, you might want to use the earthquake effect only when your dog walks across the floor. Use the crop markers, below the timeline in the Preview area, to select part of the clip. Then select the effect you want to add, and click the Apply button. The effect will be added to the selected portion of the clip.

Apply one effect to multiple clips

You can apply one effect to multiple clips, such as change a series of clips to black and white. To do this, select the first clip in the series. Then hold down the Command key and select the other clips. Click Apply to apply the same effect to all the selected clips.

Deleting a video effect

To delete a video effect applied to a clip, select the clip and press the Delete key. If you have multiple effects applied to a clip, the last effect applied will be removed first.

Speed up a clip to add excitement

Speeding up a clip is a great way to add excitement or fun to your video. For example, speeding up various dancing scenes could be a good way to show people having fun in a wedding video. Speeding up a clip also helps when you wish to get an entire activity in your video, but do not wish to take up the actual time allotted. For example, a congo line is a great candidate for being sped up.

Don’t overdo it with effects

Although effects can be a lot of fun, they can easily distract your audience from the subject of your movie. When adding effects to your movie, think about the purpose of each effect and whether applying it enhances or distracts from the story you’re trying to tell.

Steps

Apply a video effect to a video clip

Click the Editing button and then click the Video FX button.
Select a video clip that doesn’t have a transition applied to it, then select the Fast/Slow/Reverse effect.
Use the Speed slider to change the speed of your video clip. You’ll see a preview of your effect in the Movie monitor.
Click Apply to apply the effect to your video clip. Notice the small square icon added to the top of your clip in the clip viewer. Once the effect has fully rendered, click Play to watch your modified video clip.
With the same clip selected, apply a second effect to it. This time use the the Black and White effect. The a number 2 in the clip icon indicates there are two effects applied to this video clip.
Choose Undo from the Edit menu. Notice the clip icon changes to reflect only a single effect is applied to it.
Save your iMovie project.