Accessing iMovie 10 Advanced Tools

The iMovie 10’s Preferences menu doesn’t contain an option to show advanced tools. The advanced tools are located in a toolbar above the large thumbnail image in the editor.

The row of icons above the large thumbnail image includes many advanced capabilities:

A magic wand performs automatic video and audio correction Title settings for entering and editing text Color balance Color correction Cropping Stabilization Volume Noise reduction and equalization Speed Clip filter and audio effects Clip information

You may not see all of these tools at the same time, depending on the type of clip you are working on.

Some of the older advanced tools (such as the green screen) are only visible after you use them. Adding a new, overlapping clip to your timeline causes a drop-down menu to appear. This menu provides options for how two overlapping clips should be processed: Cutaway, Green/Blue Screen, Split Screen, or Picture in Picture.

Depending on the options you choose, additional controls display, such as positioning, softness, borders, shadows, and more.

How to Turn on Advanced Tools in iMovie 11

To turn on Advanced Tools in iMovie ‘11, go to the iMovie menu, select Preferences > Show Advanced Tools, and then close the iMovie Preferences window.

Two new buttons appear to the right of the Horizontal Display button in the top right corner of the Project browser window:

Comment tool: This is the left one. Drag it to a video clip to add a comment, like adding a sticky note to a document. Chapter Marker: This is the right button. Drag it to each place in a video that you want to mark as a chapter.

There are two other buttons on the horizontal menu bar that splits the iMovie window in half:

The Pointer (arrow): Closes any tool that is currently open. The Keyword (key): Adds keywords to videos and video clips to make it easier to organize them.