How to load projects in iMovie 10?

First let me say I am extremely shocked at the extent that iMove 10 was "gutted". Then again, this is Apple we're talking about, who has a habit of heavy handedly changing things and pissing people off. There are now only 2 options under Preferences. Really? Many other options have just been eliminated, or as Apple calls it, streamlined.

Anyway, I thought I'd give iMove 10 a try, before I run out and buy Adobe Premiere Elements. One thing I've always hated about iMovie is that there is no concept of projects. At least in the sense that from the menu you can select File -> Open Project.
I don't understand why Apple does not seem to understand the need for projects in iMovie (and iPhoto and Aperture), but it would certainly make project management much simpler. (That was sarcasm).

With the previous version of iMovie, I could copy the .rcproject file, and related events, to an external drive mounted on /Volumes/Media Library. Then I was able to edit the same video from my Macbook or iMac. Now I don't see how to load the .rcproject and related events into iMovie, from an external drive. The ability to view external drives in the side bar has been "streamlined".

So given the .rcproject and events folder below, how would I load them from an external drive?


EVENTS
Family Video Highlights 2009

PROJECT
Wedding Video Highlights-2009.rcproject

Look at the thread below regarding the issue of projects/events on an external drive. This is effing insane! Again, I don't understand why the concept of projects which can simply be opened from a menu seem to elude Apple.

I'm not going to endure this ********, I plan on buying Adobe Premiere Elements to create my family video highlight movies moving forward. I'm already using Lightroom 5, which is vastly superior to iPhoto or Aperture. Apple is losing me as a customer, one screwup at a time.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5474757?start=0&tstart=0

If you've upgraded your Mac to Mavericks, then your old version of iMovie should still be in your Applications folder, in it's own folder.

MightyGem said:

If you've upgraded your Mac to Mavericks, then your old version of iMovie should still be in your Applications folder, in it's own folder.

Click to expand...

No, my projects are not in "it's own folder". Since iMove lacks project management, what I've done historically is keep events and projects in an archive directory on an external drive (See below) Then when I want to edit a movie I'd just copy the project and event folder to iMove Events and iMovie Projects, so iMove could then find it. This is no way to manage movie projects!

I just purchased Adobe Premiere Elements 12 for $64 at amazon.com, and guess what? You can actually save projects, media files, cache directories, wherever you want! I can open the same project from my Macbook or iMac on an external drive, without having to jump through hoops! After using iMovie 11 and now iMovie 10, I can tell you PE is vastly superior. Don't take my word for it, for $64, try it yourself.

Archived\ iMovie\ Projects/
├── Archived\ iMovie\ Events
│** ├── Bernie3\ Highlights\ 2009
│** ├── Bernie3\ Highlights\ 2010
│** ├── Bernie3\ Highlights\ 2011
│** ├── Bernie3\ Highlights\ 2012
│** ├── Bernie3\ Highlights\ 2013
│** └── Engagement\ Video
└── Archived\ iMovie\ Projects
├── Bernie\ III\ Video\ Highlights-2009.rcproject
├── Bernie\ III\ Video\ Highlights-2010.rcproject
├── Bernie\ III\ Video\ Highlights-2011.rcproject
├── Bernie\ III\ Video\ Highlights-2012.rcproject
└── Karen\ and\ Bernie\ Engagement.rcproject