iMovie '11 & iDVD: The Missing Manual

Apple's video-editing program is better than ever, but it still doesn’t have a printed guide to help you get started. That's where this gorgeous, full-color book comes in. You get clear explanations of iMovie's impressive new features, like instant rendering, storyboarding, and one-step special effects. Experts David Pogue and Aaron Miller also give you a complete course in film editing and DVD design.

Edit video like the pros. Import raw footage, add transitions, and use iMovie’s newly restored, intuitive timeline editor.
Create stunning trailers. Design Hollywood-style "Coming Attractions!" previews for your movies.
Share your film. Distribute your movie in a variety of places—on smartphones, Apple TV, your own site, and with one-click exports to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, CNN iReport, and MobileMe.
Make DVDs. Design the menus, titles, and layout for your DVDs, and burn them to disc.

Customer Reviews:

Photos/illustrations are few and poor quality, text confusing

By Tenna Merchent - May 27, 2011

I thought this book was okay at best. I purchased it to learn iMovie for our business. It did not meet my needs, and I am going to go in search of another.

The authors are obviously very informed on the subject, they often referred to earlier generations of iMovie, which honestly didn't interest me at all, and I felt often just confused the issues.

I didn't feel like they explained editing at all. They said you could edit in the project window, if you hadn't edited in the event window, but they hadn't explained how to edit in the event window!

I thought their explanation on page 100 of how to use the Clip trimmer was awful.
"In the trim window, the yellow border shows which piece of the clip you're using in your movie. The extra, thin yellow borders show you what bits the transitions use on either end of the clip. The darkened portions are the ones you've so far eliminated. Above the trimmer window, the arrow between two lines plays your... read more

"iMovie '11 & iDVD: The Missing Manual" by Aaron Miller, David Pogue; O'Reilly Media

By Joe Colantonio - July 7, 2011

Overall, I liked iMovie 11 & iDVD. Being a newbie to iMovie I feel the first couple of chapters really helped me understand the basic functionality of the software.
The book is jam packed with useful info, and I can definitely see myself using it as a reference resource. The book is basically divided into three main parts:

Part One - Covers the basics, including importing footage into iMovie, editing clips, adding effects like music and titles, etc.
Part Two- Once your movie is edited, the authors show you step by step how to export your movie in all of the available formats.
Part Three - Explains how to use iDVD, and how to burn your movie to DVD.

The book also contains appendices full of reference material on subjects such as the iMovie menu commands, how to troubleshot common issues, and cheat sheets.
You can tell that the author really knows his stuff, yet the book is easy to read, and includes helpful picture demonstrations... read more

VERBOSITY plain and simple

By Kikuchiyo "Kikuchiyo" - September 29, 2012

This book is the most verbose piece of literature that I have had to deal with.

I liked earlier versions of this author's introduction to say, iMovie 6, but this one is a total loser.

This book is probably meant for programmers who want to make a better version of iMovie 11. The author tries to intersperse his text with humorous lines, but that does nothing to what users really want. Too technical stuff. No wonder the book is 516 pages. A waste of paper, and a waste of money for whoever buys this book.

I tried looking for a way to simply split a clip. Got as far as page 84. Nothing! I then simply gave up. Well, perhaps it is buried in those first 84 pages somewhere, but go figger where it is.

The author of the book should have thought of producing a book with no rigamarole, and no verbosity. But he didn't. A Manual of 516 pages? Give me a break.

No need to say I ended up buying a more user friendly manual through... read more