Popular documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has now revealed that he almost turned down Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 2002, when Jobs asked to name a new iMovie feature after him. As reported by Business Insider, speaking in an interview with GQ, Burns recalled that he received a phone call from Apple co-founder, inviting him to Apple’s headquarters in Silicon Valley.
The feature known as the “Ken Burns Effect,” has since become a staple of Apple’s video editing software on both Macs and iPhones, remaining popular more than two decades later.
Burns was initially skeptical, but then thought it couldn’t be Steve Jobs on the line.But to his surprise it was a real call and later the two met to discuss a new feature for iMovie 3 which was scheduled to debut in 2003.
What began as a hesitant “no” turned into a lasting collaboration between Burns and Jobs During their discussion on the feature, Jobs proposed the idea of naming the feature after Burns’ signature documentary style. The iMove feature includes slow panning and zooming of still photographs. The feature enable the users to animate photos in slideshows and videos. Burns also acknowledged that while the feature is a simplified version of his craft, it has helped millions of people to preserve memorials of weddings, vacations and other family milestones. Now after the time period of two decades the Ken Burns effect feature is still embedded in Apple’s ecosystem.
Since then, the Ken Burns Effect became one of the most recognisable features of iMovie.