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As I said in my Macguide article that reviewed all the iMovie plug-ins available at the time (Issue 7 - January/February 2003) Volume 3 of the Slick iMovie plug-ins series from GeeThree Software is the plug-in that I would buy if given the choice of only buying one plug-in. It's a nice mix of transitions, effects and titles that would satisfy anyone wanting to move beyond the boundaries of a standard iMovie installation.
At the time of writing this review, iMovie 3 is about 2 weeks old and a lot of reports are appearing over issues with the program. Thankfully, I'm yet to experience them myself, and this time, the plug-in installed with no problems onto my machine. I say that as previously I had a problem with the installation of one of GeeThree's plug-in volumes, but they were quick to respond to my issue at the time.
Along with the installation program, the plug-in comes with a PDF document outlining how to install the plug-in and descriptions of the various effects and transitions you can perform. I congratulate GeeThree software on a simple-to-use document, as every transition, effect and title is represented visually. Printing this out makes a superb quick reference when trying to track down that elusive effect that you know you've used before and want to make use of again.
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The plug-in itself contains over 65 transitions, 11 effects and 55 titles, although I need to point out that some of these are variations on a theme (there's 5 versions of the Aperture transition for example). I had hoped that Apple would introduce pop-up menus into the effects and transition selection screens with iMovie 3, so that we weren't faced with huge lists of transitions, but instead could select one plug-in from a list and see the transitions for that plug-in, but sadly that didn't happen. Instead, as with iMovie 2, the unique character placed at the beginning of the name of each effect tells us this is not a default transition, title or effect, but one belonging to the plug-in.
There's plenty of transitions to satisfy most people and the best thing is that since they are onto volume 3, GeeThree have had to get a bit more creative. So, instead of the traditional "Page Peel", you get a nice "Flap" transition that includes one I quickly grew to like, the "Flutter" variation. I'm sure you can understand just from the name what the transition does. The "Ripple" transition also produced an interesting effect and the "Weave" transition provided a unique and appealing way to movie from one scene to the next. The plug-in also provides a number of variations on standard transitions, as well as zoom transitions that you can use. Keep in mind when using the zoom transitions that any black edges to your film will show up, so make sure you test each transition out as you apply them to your masterpiece.
The effects include aren't extensive, although you can have some fun with the colour tint and Rotate/Scale effects. There are also few effects involving droplets (something tells me it was a rainy day when this plug-in was created) that you can apply, although this effect is one where the visual of rain circles appears on top of the film (almost like art-work) than the actual movie itself being altered into pools of water droplets. There is also a Fish-Eye effect, that although is intriguing, it may not be the most exciting of effects you might want to apply to your clips.
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Where this plug-in has a very pleasing selection, is in the titles section. iMovie 2 sadly lacked anything inspiring in the titles section, but iMovie 3 has significantly increased the amount of title effects available to users. While it's pleasing to see that Apple have increased the range of choices, many titles still feel slightly awkward or of limited use. With Volume 3 from GeeThree, there is a diverse collection that not only includes the slightly gimmicky, but at the same time, title effects that are both tasteful and quite trendy in style. The scratch effect is one such title effect, where your titles are scratched onto the screen as though someone is exposing the letters under a scratch card. It sounds simple, but it quite effective and can be a small but tasteful enchantment to any movie you've created.
And I guess this is where this plug-in fits in to the scheme of things. While some of the other plug-ins available do exceptionally technical work in a product that tries to avoid being technically complex, Slick Volume 3 combines a variety of transitions and effects that will keep people happy who just want a bit more variety, while also pleasing those wanting to actually make their iMovie production look far more professional. Let's face it??although this is a simple and free piece of software, it's time to take iMovie seriously and look at some plug-ins like this one that can actually enhance and improve very professional work.
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The plug-in seems slightly expensive in relation to other plug-ins available, but this must be balanced by the fact that it does contain a nice variety of uses. I personally would like to see all the plug-ins drop slightly in price, but I appreciate the cost of development involved. Nonetheless, this plug-in contains variety, has good installation processes and included documentation, and would be an ideal purchase as the first of many plug-ins you might like to start using.
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