Even though I have never gone to a Macworld Expo (and now probably never will, since Apple will no longer present there), I have always enjoyed watching Apple’s infamous keynote presentations via Internet. However, being so familiar with Final Cut Pro, I never thought I would be blown away by the presentation about iMovie 09, which you will see later in this article. I was quite surprised when I heard who was going to present it (Randy Ubillos), by the new features in iMovie 09, and even more so by Randy’s astonishing comment, which I will visit later in this article.
Surprisingly, very few video professionals I meet know who Randy Ubillos is. It reminds my how shocked I am when I observe how few people in the communications field seem to know who Marshall McLuhan was. I am not going to publish Randy’s full bio here. I will limit myself to say that Randy:
Now that you know who Randy Ubillos is, you will take his astonishing comment more in perspective.
iMovie 09 will be part of iLife 09 at end of January. It will be free with new Macs… and cost either US$79 (single user) or US$99 (5-user family pack) for the rest of us.
The titles and transitions are NOT borrowed from LiveType. They are totally new… I know a few people who worked on them
Posted by Richard Harrington on 01/24 at 07:04 PM
Cool piece, Allan. Thanks.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/24 at 10:21 PM
I think you are reading a lot into his words, but I certainly hope that these new interface features wind up in FCP or a new professional product - as much as I love FCP after watching this all I can think about is how dated and primitive the interface actually is!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/25 at 02:49 PM
Hey, you really shouldn’t put people’s email addresses out there for all the spambots to see!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/25 at 02:51 PM
I think you may be reading a bit too much into Randy just saying “this is normally difficult; we’ve tried to make it easy.” iMovie is aimed at a different audience. And for that matter, the iMovie team is a different team than the FCP team, so I wouldn’t assume features in one would automatically appear in the other.
I think this is just Randy enjoying having another shot to redefine video editing yet again. After all, the original version of Premiere was all about making editing easy; iMovie is kind of a chance to return to his roots.
- Chris
Posted by Chris Meyer on 01/25 at 11:33 PM
I was impressed by the presentation as well certainly there could be more out the box thinking with NLE software. It seems at this point it’s more likely to come in a “new” package rather than in an update to an existing pro NLE platform.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/26 at 12:00 PM
I like the new interface that Randy demonstrated, and I hope soon there will be a professional Apple product with that interface, and compatible with the Blackmagic Intensity Pro card. Thank you Allan for those marvelous articles.
Posted by Víctor Martolla on 01/26 at 02:57 PM
I agree. Final Cut Studio needs a graphical make over. I enjoy designing on the neutral dark grey of After Effects and Mocha. I wish I had the option in FCS especially in Motion.
I am intrigued by iMovie 08 and 09 UI. I think the workflow is superior to the current NLEs available. I would love to see a pro version.
Ed Glasheen
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/26 at 05:19 PM
I concur 
I even have to say that I prefer AE’s look now - over FCP. And if FCP looked more like iMovie without loosing functionality - I would be please ooooo.
Posted by Synaptic Light on 01/27 at 12:34 AM
My concern is that Apple’s chief video architect seems to have been heavily with iMovie for the last 2 years. Which is fine, but how much time is he devoting to the FCP team?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/27 at 11:57 AM
oh?
then he better stop, is there not over a million users of FCP? They should be looking win over AVID users, maybe Flame and definitely Premier Pro; not loosing them (even to iMovie)
Posted by Phillip Gibb on 01/27 at 12:03 PM
I can appreciate that there are a lot of FCP users that would like to see these changes, but outside of the pretty look, Sony Vegas has had the functionality, and more, for a long time now. Designers of editing software need to understand that it’s not just a video editing world, or an audio editing world, or a film editing world anymore.
The business is multimedia. The more different formats an editor can work with and the more things an editor can do within one application, then faster one can work and the more creative one can be with one’s time.
Posted by DanConklin on 01/28 at 09:21 AM
When I first saw iMovie 08, the scrubbable video in the capture bins immediatly made me think of Flame and Smoke. Maybe Apple is using these low end systems to get around the legal wrath of Autodesk.
Autodesk could crediably go after Final Cut Pro with patent violations like they are doing with Assimalate Scratch and swipable windows if these features were implemented in FCP first. But would Autodesk go after a $79 iMovie program for these same infringements? No, they would be laughed at and it would degrade the market value of their products which cost $50,000 and up. So maybe this is a way for Apple to backdoor some innovative features into their Pro apps while evading legal trouble.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/28 at 01:49 PM
i used Premiere 3 for years
and still wish FCP was a quick and smooth as that
Randy rocks! i’ve been a fan of his for years
and gotta checkout the new iMovie o9
question…
will the files read back and forth between FCP and imovie?
so we can do quick first edits in iM09
then drill down in FCP??
that would rock
Posted by billS on 02/08 at 02:13 AM
Thanks for your post BillS. I’m glad you liked the article. Greetings to everyone else in Australia! Regarding your questions, it depends what you mean by “files”:
1) Most of the VIDEO files are compatible between iMovie and FCP (everything but ProRes422 to my knowledge, and sometimes the audio is wrapped differently in DV25 files between them, so they sometimes cause rendering).
2) The PROJECT file is not compatible amonge them.
3) Under the “Share” menu in iMovie ‘09, there is option to output FCP XML. There is a note there that specifies:
a) All transitions will be converted to dissolves.
b) The following will be excluded: voiceovers, sound effects, Ken Burns effects, cropping, green screen, PIP, and music tracks.
I hope that answers your question.
Allan Tépper
Posted by Allan Tépper on 02/08 at 01:21 PM
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Posted by slbvkme on 02/11 at 03:46 AM
No editing software can be considered ‘true editing software’ if it doesn’t have a timeline. When Apple abandoned key editing functions from previous iMovie versions and came out with iMovie08 they lost a lot of people. IMovie 08 is cumbersome, laborious and a disaster. Audio editing is a joke.
I feel Apple intentionally deleted important editing functions so they could charge $79 for iMovie 09. What they did is not dishonest, but it is a blow to loyal customers. I bought a new MacBookPro in December thinking it had at least the same functions as iMovie 06. I researched all of the features of the MacBookPro before buying it, but not iMovie08. If I had, I would not have purchased the new Mac computer.
I wish companies, like Apple, wouldn’t take customers for granted. Their loyalty seems to be only focused on short term profits, and not long term gains. That is sad. I feel this is what is wrong with corporate America. With increasing frequency, companies are only caring about making a quick buck, and to hell with customer satisfaction or retaining loyal customers. I am a long time Mac fan, but I am tired of the wanton greed that is devouring anything good or ethical in business.
It doesn’t seem like the ‘brains’ at Apple care about customers. Any damned fool can run a company into the ground. It takes someone who knows how to please and retain customers to keep a company profitable (for the long term).
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 04/12 at 01:03 PM
