Thursday, August 23, 2007
Breaking the mold.
As an avid user of Apple’s iMovie, I met the iLife ‘08 announcement with both awe and trepidation. The newest version of iMovie is more than an upgrade. It’s a rebuild. From the ground up, top to bottom, brand-spankin’ new. What has changed is the way that people will edit movies with this software. Gone is the timeline. Say hello to snippets and “skimming” (which is a cool feature, regardless of how new the interface is).
The question is, did Apple make a mistake with this redesign. If you frequent Apple fan sites, you might think so. After reading and listening to much debate, I’d have to disagree. This is not their top-level professional program. That distinction is left to Final Cut. It’s designed for the consumer, the average consumer, the one that wants to quickly throw together a video or two and show their friends and family (or the whole world if they upload it to YouTube). This is what I mainly use it for as well, although from time to time, I’ll get a little crazy with the Cheez Whiz.
After looking at the time it takes me to set up a normal clip in iMovie HD versus what it could take me to set one up in ‘08, I think I’ll take the plunge, letting the pieces fall where they may. If nothing else, it’s taking a fresh look at an “old” process and possibly making it a better one. Ain’t progress grand?
