kentbrew · February 26, 2011 20:14 · zeusjfk · Aug 20, 2013 · roevason · Sep 12, 2015
diff --git a/Rotating an iPhone Movie b/Rotating an iPhone Movie
 Here be some notes on the insane set of gymnastics I have to go through every time 
 I fuck up and start recording video with my iPhone held vertically.  

 I do this a LOT.  I don't know why it happens.  Often I am standing over something and 
 recording it, and the phone doesn't understand that I actually mean to hold it 
 horizontally.

 META QUESTIONS:

 Why isn't there a way to prevent the phone from shooting video in vertical format?  Who 
 DOES this?  

 Once you've blown it and shot a video vertically, why isn't there a way to rotate it 
 RIGHT THERE ON THE PHONE?   

 Apparently QuickTime used to do this.  It doesn't any more; you have to buy QuickTime 
 Pro to make it happen.  If on the other hand you're like me and have already spent a 
 hundred bucks or more on Apple's sweet tasty all-in-one iLife suite, you must use 
 iMovie.  To do this, clear about an hour on your schedule and follow these sixteen easy 
 steps:

 1) Import your video.  To do this, you plug in your phone, stop iTunes from autosyncing 
 everything--which will bring your system to a crawl--and wait for iPhoto to pop up and 
 start munging through your picture.  If iPhoto doesn't come up, you'll need to start it.  

 2) Once you're sure your movie has been imported by iPhoto, fire up iMovie. 

 3) Look for the video you just imported in your Media folder, which I sincerely hope is 
 on the bottom right of your iMovie screen.  If it's not there, you'll need to find it 
 and open up Last Import, because that's where your movie clip should be.

 4) Swear, because THE VIDEO YOU JUST GOT DONE IMPORTING INTO IPHOTO IS NOT THERE.

 5) Open up iPhoto and look in Last Import.

 6) Swear some more, because THERE IT IS. RIGHT THERE IN LAST IMPORT.  WHAT THE FUCK, 
 APPLE?  I MEAN, SERIOUSLY?  HOW COULD A MOVIE I SHOT WITH AN IPHONE AND IMPORTED WITH 
 IPHOTO NOT BE IMMEDIATELY COMPATIBLE WITH IMOVIE?

 7) Drag the movie from Last Import onto your desktop.  This will make a copy, which you 
 will want to delete later when we're all done.   

 8) Bumble your way into the iMovie Import menu (currently this is in File: Import: 
 Movies) and blindly guess about what you want it to do.  (Do you want to optimize? 
 copy? move? add it to an "event?"  What the hell is an "event," anyway?)

 9) Import your movie.  Say "no" if it wants to generate thumbnails or do anything else 
 movie-related.  You just want to rotate it.

 10) Create a new "project," again blindly guessing about what settings you want for it; 
 go with the default none of anything.

 11) Select all of your movie clip and drag it into your new project.  Hopefully it 
 showed up as a new "event" on the bottom left side of iMovie.

 12) Click the clip to select it.  It will have a yellow line around it if you do it 
 right.  If you double-click, you will get an "inspector" you'll want to "dismiss."

 13) Select the Crop tool, which is a completely unidentifiable square-ish thing, between 
 a thing that looks like a skinny ice cream cone and a thing that looks like a lower-
 case "I" in a black circle.         

 14) Assuming you have successfully selected your clip, you should see the mysterious 
 phrase "Ken Burns" overlaid on a larger view of your clip, top right.  Next to Ken are a 
 pair of curved arrows, one pointing left and one pointing right.  These are your rotate 
 arrows; click one until your clip is oriented correctly.

 15) You must now "export" your "project" back down to a movie.  You would think that a 
 task like this would be in the File menu, but you would be wrong.  

 16) To save your movie, you need to go to Share, then Export Movie.  I export HD video, 
 because that (as far as I know) is what my iPhone is shooting.
	Here be some notes on the insane set of gymnastics I have to go through every time
	I fuck up and start recording video with my iPhone held vertically.

	I do this a LOT. I don't know why it happens. Often I am standing over something and
	recording it, and the phone doesn't understand that I actually mean to hold it
	horizontally.

	META QUESTIONS:

	Why isn't there a way to prevent the phone from shooting video in vertical format? Who
	DOES this?

	Once you've blown it and shot a video vertically, why isn't there a way to rotate it
	RIGHT THERE ON THE PHONE?

	Apparently QuickTime used to do this. It doesn't any more; you have to buy QuickTime
	Pro to make it happen. If on the other hand you're like me and have already spent a
	hundred bucks or more on Apple's sweet tasty all-in-one iLife suite, you must use
	iMovie. To do this, clear about an hour on your schedule and follow these sixteen easy
	steps:

	1) Import your video. To do this, you plug in your phone, stop iTunes from autosyncing
	everything--which will bring your system to a crawl--and wait for iPhoto to pop up and
	start munging through your picture. If iPhoto doesn't come up, you'll need to start it.

	2) Once you're sure your movie has been imported by iPhoto, fire up iMovie.

	3) Look for the video you just imported in your Media folder, which I sincerely hope is
	on the bottom right of your iMovie screen. If it's not there, you'll need to find it
	and open up Last Import, because that's where your movie clip should be.

	4) Swear, because THE VIDEO YOU JUST GOT DONE IMPORTING INTO IPHOTO IS NOT THERE.

	5) Open up iPhoto and look in Last Import.

	6) Swear some more, because THERE IT IS. RIGHT THERE IN LAST IMPORT. WHAT THE FUCK,
	APPLE? I MEAN, SERIOUSLY? HOW COULD A MOVIE I SHOT WITH AN IPHONE AND IMPORTED WITH
	IPHOTO NOT BE IMMEDIATELY COMPATIBLE WITH IMOVIE?

	7) Drag the movie from Last Import onto your desktop. This will make a copy, which you
	will want to delete later when we're all done.

	8) Bumble your way into the iMovie Import menu (currently this is in File: Import:
	Movies) and blindly guess about what you want it to do. (Do you want to optimize?
	copy? move? add it to an "event?" What the hell is an "event," anyway?)

	9) Import your movie. Say "no" if it wants to generate thumbnails or do anything else
	movie-related. You just want to rotate it.

	10) Create a new "project," again blindly guessing about what settings you want for it;
	go with the default none of anything.

	11) Select all of your movie clip and drag it into your new project. Hopefully it
	showed up as a new "event" on the bottom left side of iMovie.

	12) Click the clip to select it. It will have a yellow line around it if you do it
	right. If you double-click, you will get an "inspector" you'll want to "dismiss."

	13) Select the Crop tool, which is a completely unidentifiable square-ish thing, between
	a thing that looks like a skinny ice cream cone and a thing that looks like a lower-
	case "I" in a black circle.

	14) Assuming you have successfully selected your clip, you should see the mysterious
	phrase "Ken Burns" overlaid on a larger view of your clip, top right. Next to Ken are a
	pair of curved arrows, one pointing left and one pointing right. These are your rotate
	arrows; click one until your clip is oriented correctly.

	15) You must now "export" your "project" back down to a movie. You would think that a
	task like this would be in the File menu, but you would be wrong.

	16) To save your movie, you need to go to Share, then Export Movie. I export HD video,
	because that (as far as I know) is what my iPhone is shooting.