Add video to a project

You build a movie project by adding video clips to it from your Event Library, which contains your source video (Events). You can use video from multiple Events in a single project.

To add video to a project:

  1. Create a new project or open an existing one by double-clicking it in the Project Library.

  2. In the Event Library, select an Event (click its name) whose footage you want to add to your project.

    The Event footage appears in the Event browser on the right. You can use video from more than one Event for any project. Simply select another Event in the Event Library when you want access to its footage.

  3. In the Event browser, select a range of video frames or an entire video clip.

  4. Do one of the following:

    • Drag your video selection to the Project browser. You can drag it anywhere: to the beginning or end of the project, or between clips you’ve already added.

      To split a clip in your project and insert the video between the two segments, drag the video on top of a clip, and then choose Insert from the menu that appears. If automatic transitions are enabled for your project, a transition is added before and after the inserted clip.

    • Click the “Add to Project” button, or press the E key, to add the clip after all other clips in the project.

      See the task below to learn how to use the “Add to Project” tool to add selected clips to your project quickly.

      Image of the "Add to Project" button

    • If you have a Mac whose trackpad supports Multi-Touch gestures, swipe up using three fingers.

To use the “Add to Project” tool to add video:

If you want to add a lot of video to a project quickly and then fine-tune your selections later, use the “Add to Project” tool.

  1. Open a project, and then make sure Advanced Tools are enabled in iMovie.

  2. In the Event Library, select an Event whose footage you want to add to your project.

  3. Click the “Add to Project” button, shown below.

    The pointer’s appearance changes, when you move the pointer over a video clip, indicating that it’s in tool mode.

    Image of the "Add to Project" button

  4. Do either of the following:

    • Click some video in the Event that you want to add to your project.

      By default, iMovie selects four seconds of video, starting from the point where you clicked, and adds it to your project. You can change this default setting so that clicking automatically selects more or less video.

    • Drag to select a frame range in the Event.

    When you click video or select a frame range, the video is immediately added to the end of the project. Continue selecting video to add to the end of your project.

  5. When you’re finished adding video to your current project, click the Pointer button to leave tool mode.

    Image of the Pointer button

Event video that’s been added to a project is marked along the bottom with an orange stripe in the Event browser, so you can see at a glance which video you’ve used. You can add the same video to multiple projects.

If you’re adding video from multiple sources and it doesn’t all fit within the aspect ratio you’ve set for the project, iMovie can automatically crop it to fit your aspect ratio as you add it.