Posted by cmashieldscapting on 03/24/06 10:09

Okay, so I've been trying for three months to edit a short sequence in
iMovie 3.0.3 on a Mac G4 using OS 10.4.5 and burn it to DVD--a project
over which Murphy has not only prevailed, but which may have broken
whole new records in Murphydom.

I've edited several songs into sort of music videos using this method:

"Retaining the audio under pasted video
You can paste a new video clip over an existing clip while retaining
the audio from the original clip. You can use this feature to paste
related scenes over a narration, for example.

Before you try this, make sure "Extract audio in paste over" is
selected in iMovie preferences. (Choose iMovie > Preferences.)

To replace a length of video with new video:

1 Select the video that you want to insert.
2 Choose Edit > Cut or Copy.
3 Position the playhead at the first frame to be replaced, or use the
crop markers to select the video frames to replace. The new length of
video replaces an equal length of video.
4 Choose Advanced > "Paste Over at Playhead."
The audio track of the original video is retained and appears in audio
track 1 of the timeline viewer.

If you use the crop markers and the video you paste is longer than the
selected frame range you are replacing, the excess video is not pasted.
If the video you paste is shorter than the selected frame range, the
extra space is filled with a black clip (or the still image, if you
paste a still image)."

I've been back and forth between the Clips Pane and the Clips Viewer so
many times I've lost all hope of possibly keeping them straight and
will refer to them as the "Upper Clips Thingy" (where video is
imported) and the "Lower Clips Thingy" (the alternate view to the
timeline.)

On the first song, as I recall, this method worked fine. The pasted-in
sequences showed up, silent, as they were meant to. On the second
song, the audio was extracted and I deleted it, which eliminated
overlapping audio. In a few cases on the second song, I transferred a
sequence from the Upper Clips Thingy to the Lower Clips Thingy,
extracted the audio, deleted it, and pasted in the silent sequence and
that stayed fine--without its own sound returning, and retained the
audio in the original sequence which I wanted.

When I went to edit the third song, NOTHING WORKED! The first time I
tried using the method above. The audio was retained in the clip (not
extracted--never showed up in the audio track in the timeline--just
stayed, creating overlapping sound.) I tried extracting the audio from
the whole sequence, then pasting in the silent picture. STILL
overlapping sound! I tried a number of things, including reimporting
the whole sequence twice and making copies to put in the Upper Clips
Thingy before TOUCHING the copy in the Lower Clips Thingy, meaning I
had to re-edit a place I already had perfect about five times! When I
tried playing the problem spot on a copy I knew I'd done NOTHING to,
the phantom audio was STILL THERE!

"Then I became intelligent." (Don't get excited, just momentarily.
Not enough to do lasting good.) I dragged that sequence from the Lower
Clips Thingy BACK to the Upper Clips Thingy and played it. Sure
enough, no overlapping audio! The audio glitch was in the place where
the original error occurred--perhaps compounded by doing over several
times, hard to tell.

Of course, unchecking the box in the lower audio track removed the
phantom audio--unfortunately, it also removed audio in a whole lot of
sequences I want to keep, so I had to recheck it. I again tried the
instructions above and got the video in the right place, and this time
it did extract the audio, but doesn't give the "Unlock Audio Clip"
option, so I can't get rid of the unwanted audio that came with the
video. At least I can see it, unlike its companion(s), which I can
hear and not see. They are just STUCK THERE in the place where the
original error occurred, meaning that even when I move this sequence to
earlier in the timeline, that will fix it, but whatever gets pushed
into that spot in its place gets stuck with the weird audio!

1. How can I at least activate the "Unlock Audio Clip" option to
remove the audio I do see? Selecting the clip does nothing
whatsoever--the option doesn't even show up on the menu!

2. Is there any way I can remove the unwanted phantom audio I don't
see and retain the audio I want?

Anyone who can help with this may save my sanity, and I do thank you
for that.

If THE WORST COMES TO THE ABSOLUTE WORST, I may have to be instructed
how to transfer the huge mass of clips I do want to keep to a WHOLE NEW
iMOVIE PROJECT, then delete the original project! To compound things,
if it's to be deleted I want to give it another name and put the
original name on the new project, and I can't figure out how to retitle
an iMovie project, if that's even possible! PLEASE, PLEASE HELP!!!
Thanks again.

Cori

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