Adjust Cinematic mode video clips in iMovie on Mac

To make any adjustments to a Cinematic clip, you must first show the Cinematic controls.

1. In the iMovie app on your Mac, select the Cinematic clip in the timeline.

2. Click the Cinematic button above the viewer.

   

   The Depth of Field controls appear.

1. In the iMovie app on your Mac, select the Depth of Field checkbox.

   

   If the Depth of Field checkbox doesn’t appear, click the Cinematic button above the viewer.

2. Drag the slider to adjust the depth of field of the Cinematic effect.

   A shallower depth of field increases the Cinematic effect, and a deeper depth of field reduces the effect.

1. In the iMovie app on your Mac, Control-click a Cinematic clip in the timeline and choose Show Cinematic Editor from the shortcut menu (or press Option-Command-F).

2. Scroll the timeline so that the playhead appears where you want to add a focus point.

   In the viewer, yellow brackets show the tracked object currently in focus. White rectangles indicate additional recognized objects that aren’t currently in focus.

3. Click a tracked object (such as a face, person, or animal) in the viewer.

   A manual (yellow) focus point is added to the Cinematic Editor at the point where you clicked, with the focus on the clicked object.

When you record in Cinematic mode on iPhone, the Camera app automatically focuses on the object you’re most likely to want in focus. However, you can lock the focus on any tracked object, so that as the objects in the clip move, the focus remains on your selected object. You do this by using AF Tracking Lock.

1. In the iMovie app on your Mac, Control-click a Cinematic clip in the timeline and choose Show Cinematic Editor from the shortcut menu (or press Option-Command-F).

2. Do one of the following:

   • Lock the focus on the object currently in focus: Click the object in the viewer with yellow brackets around it.

   • Lock the focus on an object not currently in focus: Click the object in the viewer so that yellow brackets surround the object, then click the object again.

The yellow brackets surrounding the focused object change to a solid yellow box, indicating that AF Tracking Lock is on. The focus will remain on the object until the next manual focus point or the end of the clip.

You can lock the focus on any point in your video, not just a tracked object. This is called AF Lock. For example, you may want to lock the focus on a specific area in your video that is in the middle distance (called the middle ground), so that a blurred subject in the background comes into focus as it moves into the middle ground, and then becomes blurry again as it moves toward the camera (called the foreground).

1. In the iMovie app on your Mac, Control-click a Cinematic clip in the timeline and choose Show Cinematic Editor from the shortcut menu (or press Option-Command-F).

2. In the viewer, click any object or area not being tracked.

In the viewer, a small yellow square with tick marks indicates that AF Lock is on, and a manual (yellow) focus point is created in the Cinematic Editor. The focus remains on the object or area you selected until the next manual focus point or the end of the clip.

1. In the iMovie app on your Mac, Control-click a Cinematic clip in the timeline and choose Show Cinematic Editor from the shortcut menu (or press Option-Command-F).

2. Click a yellow focus point in the Cinematic Editor, and then click Delete Focus Point.