How Do I Make a Movie on a Mac?

You can use your computer to make a simple movie your audience will enjoy.

If you have a Mac computer, a little digging will reveal that there is way more than one way to make a movie using your computer. Mac's standard iLife software includes iMovie -- a simple program for editing your video and adding in a number of fancy wipes, fades, music and other effects. But before you get to the part where you're making the video fancy, you will need to actually record a movie. This can also be accomplished with just your Mac computer, using the Photo Booth software that comes with most Macs.

Instructions

1. Open the Photo Booth software by clicking on the Photo Booth icon in the Dock, or by searching for the program in your Mac's Finder, which appears as a magnifying glass in the top right corner of your computer screen. If your iSight camera is working properly, you should see an image of yourself pop up on the screen.

2. Click on the "film" icon to switch to movie mode.

3. Click "Effects" to choose the effects for the video you want to record. Choices include giving the video a sepia tone, black and white, or a multicolored "pop art" look. Click the Effect you wish to use, and that effect should then appear in a larger format on the screen.

4. Click the video camera icon under your image to start the video. Click the same button -- which now appears as a square -- to stop the recording.

5. Share the video by clicking its thumbnail image in the pane below the Viewer and dragging it to the desktop. Doubleclick on the movie on the Desktop to open the Quicktime Player. From the Quicktime Player, you can choose "Share" to send the video directly to YouTube, or you can choose "Save As" from the File menu to save the movie to a file on your computer.

Tips & Warnings

• If you wish to edit the movie or add additional effects, open your iMovie program and click "File" then "Import" then "Movies" to import the movie you just made.

Resources

• Apple: iLife