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On the heels of demoing Apple’s latest iPhoto ’11, the company showed off the slick new features of iMovie ’11, both part of the updated iLife ’11 suite.
Apple’s Chief Architect of Video Applications, Randy Ubillos, took the stage Wednesday at the company’s “Back to the Mac” media event to unveil the new features of iMovie ’11, one of the principal components of the iLife ’11 package which has been refreshed today.
Among the new features of iMovie ’11 are all-new audio editing features, which Apple CEO Steve Jobs claims were one of the most requested by customers. The update also gains slick new one-step effects, a People Finder function that taps into the company’s existing facial recognition technology, news and sports themes added to the existing templates, and an amazing function that lets you easily create movie trailers from your own footage with just a few clicks.
All-new audio editing capabilities in iMovie ’11 will help you go from indie filmmaker to master sound editor. Sound effects, voiceover and music -- you control them all. iMovie now shows you detailed audio waveforms for all of your clips, complete with color coding so you can see where the audio is overpowering. Adjust audio levels quickly by dragging the volume slider, both for full clips or just parts of a clip.
Home videos are always more entertaining with visual effects, and with iMovie ’11 you can now make them happen with just a click. Add jump cuts and flip effects perfectly timed to music. Transition parts of clips from color to black and white, sepia or even a dream haze. With one-step effects, you just choose a clip, choose from over 12 effects and click to apply.
Apple has leveraged the facial recognition technology first introduced in iPhoto to create People Finder for iMovie ’11, making it easy to find your stars without digging through hours of footage. People Finder analyzes your video and identifies faces, then tells you how many are in each scene -- be they close-ups, medium shots or wide angles.
iMovie ’11 also includes a host of new themes focused on sports and news, and also lets you publish your movies in more ways than ever. In addition to exporting them to iTunes to watch on your iPhone, iPad, iPod or Apple TV, you can now share finished videos with friends on Facebook or premiere them on YouTube or Vimeo. Video podcasts can also be created in iMovie and sent directly to Apple Podcast Producer.
Finally, iMovie’s new Movie Trailers feature lets you create your own cinema-style previews with 15 templates to choose from in almost every genre, including adventure, drama, romantic comedy and more. You’ll get stunning graphics and titles as well as legendary London Symphony Orchestra music to make your bland home videos “go Hollywood.”
iMovie ’11 is part of the new iLife ’11 suite, available today for only $49 for a single-user edition or $79 for a family pack.
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