I’ve still not come to a grand idea what to do with the media I collected last year in the StoryBox. Some I am using as I work on spinning new stories and tales in Cowbird (where I continue to lag a month behind last year’s schedule).
One of the gifts that has continued since I wrapped things up at the end of 2011 is that my friend and fellow traveler GNA Garcia has continued to send bits of media, photos, audio, and video from where ever she goes. Sometimes 2 o3 3 a week. Heck, I just got a funny one just a few minutes ago.
After watching the Unplug’d 2012 video she and Giulia Forsythe assembled I got inspired to use the same side by side technique in iMovie and remix a lot of the stuff GNA had sent me. Just a little thank you for being a faithful one Storybox contributor:
The key for this in iMovie (versions 8 and later I believe) is to go to the preferences and enable the advanced tools. This gives you the ability to do more when you drop clips in (I have used the PIP before to insert a video within another). If you drag a video or image clip over another, you get a menu of more choices:
Selecting Side by Side works well with GNA’s typical vertical format! In some ways this gives you aspects of video editing of multiple channels (I stack audio as well in iMovie- the audio options for ducking, fading, and controlling volume are very handy)
I know people who groan at iMovie, and I heard Andy Rush gush the last few months about the new Final Cut Pro, but I am able to do most of what I need to do for video editing and ds106 work with iMovie. I have tons of sympathy for my students stuck with Windows Movie Maker (which sadly in this decade still does not natively support MPEG4 video?)
Anyhow, thanks GNA! It’s a treat to see this little surprises arrive, without announcement or expectation, kind of like a little note.
