Click and Drag Editing
In the last installment of this series, I just finished demonstrating how to import movies into the Shelf window. That is iMovie’s raw video holding area in the upper right hand corner of your computer screen.

Drag and drop the clip into its location in the Clip Viewer.

What makes iMovie such a nice basic video tool is that most of your hard work is as simple as click and drag. As shown by the graphics to the right, it is easy to prepare a rough-cut of our raw video. First, choose a thumbnail image of clip you like from the Shelf window. As you click on the thumbnail image, the border will turn yellow. That shows that it is the current video clip selected. You will also notice that the first frame of that clip will appear in the large Monitor window in the upper left area of your screen.

Then click and drag the selected clip to the Viewer window at the bottom of the screen. The Viewer will show a dark area representing where your clip will go. As you release the mouse, the thumbnail image of your clip will snap into the Viewer. Notice that the original will then disappear from the Shelf. You can continue to assemble a sequential rough cut of your video from clicking and dragging selected clips from the Shelf to the Viewer.

Rearranging Your Clips
Can you rearrange your clips in the Viewer? You bet! You might decide that one clip in your Shelf would look best between two clips in your Viewer. That's an easy one. Simply drag the clip from the Shelf and point it between the two clips in your Viewer. The Viewer will create a small gap between the clips and allow you to insert the new clip in between. Release the mouse and your new clip will snap into its place between the previous clips in the Viewer.

What about changing the order of video clips in the Viewer? Easy. Just choose a clip in the Viewer and drag it to a new location within the Viewer. Your clip will snap into its new location.

What if you really did not want a clip in the Viewer? Good question. Just drag the offending clip from the Viewer and drop it into an empty slot in the Shelf. The clip will disappear from the timeline in the Viewer and reappear in the Shelf.