iMovie offers the ability to record video clips directly within the application—
just tap the camera icon at the bottom right while editing a project. On
older models of iPhones and all iPads, this doesn’t offer any advantages over
using the built-in Camera app, but on the iPhone 5 and later recording
directly in iMovie has a unique feature: you can switch the recording definition
to 720p HD rather than 1080p HD by tapping the button at the bottom right.
At first glance this might seem undesirable—who would want to record at
less than maximal resolution? However, recording video at 720p using iMovie
boosts the frame rate to 60 frames per second (FPS), rather than 30, which
is the default with 1080p. Higher frame rate (HFR) recordings are much more fluid and lifelike. HFR
was recently used for the first time in mainstream cinema for The Hobbit and
Avatar 2. Additionally, clips recorded in HFR can be converted to slow motion
without significant blurring.
The best proof is to experiment—try recording a scene at 1080p and 30 FPS,
then recording the same scene at 720p and 60 FPS. Watch them consecutively
to see the difference.
