What can I do to make a video imported to iDVD look brighter?

Question

I made my first video in iMovie06. I transfered it to Quicktime. From QT to iDVD06 and it looks very dark. So I did it directly from iMovie06 to iDVD and the results are the same: Dark.What did I do wrong? How can I enhance my production?

Answer 1

Instead of transferring from iMovie to iDVD, save the project in iMovie and close it. Launch iDVD and choose the movie project from the Media Pane (Customize > Media > Movies), then drag and drop it to iDVDs main window. Click on Preview to see how it is.

Have you tried burning it on a DVD to see what it looks like?

You could also Archive the iDVD project to your HDD and view it with DVD Player to see how it is.

Answer 2

I don't know Mac apps so I can't give you specific advice.  I'd start by finding out where things are going wrong - is your raw footage too dark?  If it is, you might be able to adjust the brightness in iMovie - be careful not to overdo it and give everything a washed out look.  You'll probably need to play with the contrast and colour balance as well.

If your footage is OK, does it look OK when you're previewing it in iMove and before you make any edits?  If it doesn't, I'd start looking at your project settings - I can't think of anything that would make an entire video too dark though!  After that, keep editing and try to see where it's going wrong.