How to Make Words Explode in iMovie

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Because iMovie is shipped with a variety of animated text options, including selections with exploding text effects, creating an exploding text block for your iMovie video project is really quite straightforward. The text effects are available in the program's Title screen, where you can preview the text animation choices, and then select an effect that approximates the explosion you want to display. Place the effect in your timeline, and then type the text to display in your clip.

1 Open the video project to edit in iMovie

Open the video project to edit in iMovie.

2 Click the Text option

Click the “Text” option in the left sidebar to open the Title screen. A panel of thumbnails for animated text effects displays on the left side of the screen.

3 Hover the mouse

Hover the mouse over each thumbnail to view the text effect in the right Preview panel. When you find a text effect you want to use, drag the effect into the video timeline.

4 Drag the mouse

Drag the mouse over the text effect in the timeline. The text becomes editable in a box in the right panel.

Type your text in the box in the right panel. The text displays on your timeline.

Move the playhead to the beginning of the text effect, and then click “Play” to view the text explosion in the preview window.

  • Note that you cannot change the color, style or size of many of the animated text effects.
  • Information provided in this article applies to iMovie version 10.x. Instructions may vary slightly or significantly for other versions of the software.

Randall Blackburn has worked for several Fortune 1000 companies as a technical writer over the past seven years. He has produced a wide variety of technical documentation, including detailed programming specifications and research papers. Randall has also acquired several years' experience writing web content. Randall lives and works in Austin, TX.

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