iMovie: Adding effects to a clip with titles may make it become gray or tinted

If you apply a title to a clip in iMovie 4 or 5 and then add an effect to the same clip, it's possible that the clip may unexpectedly become gray or tinted with the same color as the title text after the effect finishes rendering.

For example, if you add a title using the default white text and then add an effect, the clip might look white or gray. If your title text is blue and you add an effect, you might see that the effect and the clip have taken on a blue tint. This only happens if you use certain combinations of titles and effects.

If this happens to one of your clips after you add an effect, try these steps as a workaround:

1. Undo the effect: From the Edit menu, choose Undo (or press Command-Z).
2. Save your iMovie project.
3. Quit iMovie.
4. Open iMovie.
5. Add the desired effect back to the clip.

The effect should render normally at this point without causing any color shifts. If it's too late to undo the effect, you can either restore the clip back to its original form (from the Advanced menu, choose Revert Clip to Original), or bring a fresh version of the clip into the timeline.

This document will be updated as more information becomes available.