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User profile for user: Brooks Bergreen
Brooks Bergreen Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Changing the Thumbnail (poster frame) of a video in 2021

Ive looked around and Im not able to find out how to change the poster frame of a video anywhere. Im using iMovie and while there is a way to scroll through the video when exporting from iMovie there doesn't seem to be a way to set the poster frame as a few posts mentioned. Also there doesn't appear to be a way to do this is QuickTime anymore.


I do see that you can do this in photos, by clicking on the video and then edit. At the bottom on the timeline you can click another image and then on make key photo. Took me a while to figure this out.


But, would be nice to not have to import everything into photos then reexport it again. Also, this may have been a glitch, but I DID set the key frame and then it somehow reverted back once I shared it to a shared album.


Any this seems to be basic functionality in 2021, any ideas on what Im missing?


Thanks very much,



Posted on Jul 26, 2021 9:02 AM

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User profile for user: Rich839
Rich839
User level: Level 8
47,628 points

Posted on Jul 26, 2021 10:19 AM

Unfortunately IMovie has no feature for changing the poster frame. iMovie randomly sets the poster frame as that of a frame in the center of the movie. So, if you can change the center point, say by adding a black background of suitable duration at the end of the movie, or by trimming back one or more clips in the movie, or by rearranging clips, you can change the poster frame that way. However, even then you could not precisely select the frame that you want unless you insert it yourself into the center of the movie. Of course, an inserted frame would play on the screen when you run the movie.


Another way that you can try is to share the project to your desktop. Then do Control-Click, Get Info, on the desktop movie's icon. At the top of the Get Info page you will see a little postage stamp sized thumbnail icon that displays the movie's poster frame. Click on it to select it.



Then, from your desktop open a still image that you want to be the poster frame. Do an Edit/Copy of the open image, and then Edit/Paste it into the Get Info thumbnail icon. That should change the poster frame. Problem is that the change will not carry over to other apps. The change is organizational to the Mac system and does not change the meta data of the movie clip itself. So, for example, if you drag the movie into the Photos app the poster frame will revert to the original default one. When you drag it back out from the Photos app to your desktop, the poster will revert to the changed poster. The changed poster frame will carry over to other finder folders on your Mac or on an external drive. Likewise, if you change the poster frame in the Photos app, when you export it it will not carry over. I don't know if a changed poster thumbnail would carry over if posted on the internet. I would think not.


-- Rich


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User profile for user: Rich839
Rich839
User level: Level 8
47,628 points

Jul 26, 2021 10:19 AM in response to Brooks Bergreen

Unfortunately IMovie has no feature for changing the poster frame. iMovie randomly sets the poster frame as that of a frame in the center of the movie. So, if you can change the center point, say by adding a black background of suitable duration at the end of the movie, or by trimming back one or more clips in the movie, or by rearranging clips, you can change the poster frame that way. However, even then you could not precisely select the frame that you want unless you insert it yourself into the center of the movie. Of course, an inserted frame would play on the screen when you run the movie.


Another way that you can try is to share the project to your desktop. Then do Control-Click, Get Info, on the desktop movie's icon. At the top of the Get Info page you will see a little postage stamp sized thumbnail icon that displays the movie's poster frame. Click on it to select it.



Then, from your desktop open a still image that you want to be the poster frame. Do an Edit/Copy of the open image, and then Edit/Paste it into the Get Info thumbnail icon. That should change the poster frame. Problem is that the change will not carry over to other apps. The change is organizational to the Mac system and does not change the meta data of the movie clip itself. So, for example, if you drag the movie into the Photos app the poster frame will revert to the original default one. When you drag it back out from the Photos app to your desktop, the poster will revert to the changed poster. The changed poster frame will carry over to other finder folders on your Mac or on an external drive. Likewise, if you change the poster frame in the Photos app, when you export it it will not carry over. I don't know if a changed poster thumbnail would carry over if posted on the internet. I would think not.


-- Rich


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User profile for user: Brooks Bergreen
Brooks Bergreen Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jul 26, 2021 10:30 AM in response to Rich839

Thanks, yes I was aware of the get info finder solution, but agree that its only good for your own file system and doesnt seem to travel with the file anywhere else. Even photos app doesnt appear to sync the poster frame once you've edited it in the app, as it doesnt sync over to the rest of my devices.


When I edit a movie, I always get a black screen as the poster frame because I assume im using a transition and the first frame of the video is black.


Anyone aware of any other apps that would help with this?


Thanks!

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User profile for user: Rich839
Rich839
User level: Level 8
47,628 points

Jul 26, 2021 1:11 PM in response to Brooks Bergreen

I did a brief internet search and found that Adobe Premier has the same issue. One can change the thumbnail but the change won’t carry over. You might poke around more on the internet and see if you can come up with an app that can change the metadata of the video.

Hopefully there may be others on this forum who know of such an app and will chime in.


— Rich

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Changing the Thumbnail (poster frame) of a video in 2021

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