Wayne Priestley

A few weeks ago I received my copy of iLife 09, included in the iLife suite is the movie editing application iMovie.


After first using iMovie HD in 2007, then moving on to iMovie 08 which in my opinion Apple made a bit of a mess of, I decided to move to Final Cut Express because of the advanced editing features.

I was quite happy with FCE, despite it being slightly overkill for what I needed if truth be told.

After installing iMovie 09 I decided to edit some footage just to see hoe it compared to iMovie HD and FCE.

After turning on the advanced editing features and setting the preferences to how I wanted them I started editing away for all I was worth…

The improvements over iMovie 08 were immediately obvious from the start, everything I wanted to do could be found in iMovie 09, better editing, transitions and effects were easy to find, add and manipulate.

The easy of use over FCE was also apparent from the beginning, which I did expect. One thing to think about if you are considering FCE is that it’s not an application you can open every few months and get straight back into, less than regular use will result in you having to go through a bit of a learning curve whenever it’s re-opened.

I did however still spend about 6 hours making my iMovie 09 project.

I added a picture slide show in at the beginning, then some video along with many transitions and effects to get it to look just how I wanted.

After exporting and watching the final movie on my Plasma screen I was more than happy with what I had achieved on my first attempt.

Obviously I could have done a little more advanced editing with FCE, but after recently opening it up to do some work I found myself wanting to be back in iMovie 09.

So I’ve decided that I’ll be switching back to iMovie 09 for the time being, or at least until what I need a movie editor for changes from simple home movies to something a little more professional looking.

I’m sure that when I get a little time to go back to FCE and learn what I’ve forgotten I may decide to switch back.