Ken Burns Effect adds movement and emphasis to your digital story. The default project setting in iMovie adds Ken Burns to still images automatically; therefor, you are probably using Ken Burns Effect already without realizing it.
Here’s how to adjust the Ken Burns Effect to your liking.
- In your iMovie project, click on the small crop symbol that on the still image that you wish to edit. In this image, the crop symbol is the dark box in the top left of the still image.
Clicking on the crop symbol will open the editing features in the top right of the iMovie interface. - If Ken Burns Effect has already been applied to your image, the Ken Burns button will appear faded, compared to the darker “Fit” and “Crop” buttons.
You can also tell that Ken Burns Effect is being applied by the green and red boxes. Like a set of traffic lights, the green is the “go” position of the image (the starting crop) and the red box is the “stop” position (where the moving crop finishes). - While viewing the Ken Burns Effect, you can change the positioning and sizes of the green and red boxes. The yellow arrow in the middle gives a sense of the direction the movement will occur.
By decreasing the size of the green box (and centering it on the individual in the image) and increasing the size of the red box, as shown here, I’ve changed the Ken Burns Effect to basically “zoom out” from a close-up of the individual to a wide shot. It creates the feeling that the person is small, compared to his surroundings. - When you are done editing your Ken Burns Effect, click “Done” in the top right.
Now that you know how to use Ken Burns Effect, use it wisely. Avoid huge pans or zooms that would make your audience dizzy. Repeatedly using dramatic Ken Burns Effect can turn off your audience and make them question your taste. As Spiderman says, “With great power comes great responsibility.”