Bad TV Effect for Final Cut Pro

Stephen Smith Lone Peak Productions, Inc. Salt Lake City, Utah, USA ©Copyright 2005 Stephen Smith and Creativecow.net. All Rights Reserved

Download short movie here
Download project files here
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Let's begin:

Noise is a key element for indicating poor television reception; the good news here is that noise is easy to create. 

A. In the Viewer click on the A in the film strip. 

B. Scroll the mouse down to the word Render on the generator pop-up menu. Select Noise on the generator submenu.

 

 

C. Click and hold the mouse button on the clip in the Viewer and drag it onto the timeline.

D. In the Viewer click on the A in the film strip again.

F. This time move the mouse to the word Matte on the generator pop-up and then select Color.

G. In the top of the Viewer click on the Controls tab and then click on the gray box.



 

H. Change the color to black and hit OK.

I. Click on the Filters tab and then choose Effects from the main menu. Move the mouse to Video Filters > Matte > Eight-Point Garbage Matte

J. Change the parameters of the Eight-Point Garbage Matte to the settings shown in the image below.

 

 

K. Select the Motion tab. Click on the triangle next to the text Opacity and then change the Opacity settings to 39.

 

 

L. Click the Video tab and then drag the matte to the track above your noise clip in the Timeline.

J.  Select the noise and color matte. Choose Sequence from the main menu and then click on Nest Item(s)... .

K. FCP will ask you the give the nest a name. Call it Bad TV Nest and hit OK. This will place both clips into another sequence within the sequence you are already working in. This will make it so you can change both the noise and color matte together.

This step will not only add a little spice to the noise but it will also make it appear as if the TV signal is getting better so the real image can be seen clearly.

 

A. Control + click the clip and select Duration from the pop-up menu. Type 10 and then click enter or hit the return key twice. 

B. Using the blade tool cut the last five frames so they are independent from the clip.

C. Click on the 6th frame a.k.a. the first independent frame so it becomes highlighted. Next hold down Option + shift + click on the same clip. Then drag the mouse up to the second track and let go of the mouse button. This will make a copy of the clip you clicked on.

D. Use the crop tool to make the last five frames look like the five frames shown below.

 

 

E. Lower the last three frames' opacity to 82, 70 and 56.

F. Select all of your clips and move them up one track. Place the Cow.jpg or your desired clip below the animating noise. Control + click the clip and select Duration from the pop-up menu. Type 123 and then click enter.

G. Place the BadTVAudio1.aiff clip in the timeline so it lines up with the Noise clip.

This is where the video appears to be rolling out of the TV set due to a weak signal. When this happens on a television set in the movies the actor will most likely hit the TV to try to get the signal back.

 

A. Using the blade tool to cut the Cow.jpg about 18 frames into the clip. Then move the playhead six more frames and make another cut. For the purposes of this article, we will call this clip the 'mid clip'.

 

 

B. Double click on the newly created clip (mid clip). Then choose Effects from the main menu. Move the mouse to Video Filters > Stylize > Replicate.

C. In the Viewer click the Filters tab. Change the number in the Horizontal setting to 1 and the Vertical setting to 4.

D. Make sure the playhead is on the first frame of the clip. Click on the keyframe button which is the circle with the diamond in the middle to create a key frame. This will create a green diamond.

 

 

E. Hit the right arrow key four times to move four frames further down the time line. Change the Vertical setting to 11. Hit the arrow key one more time and change the Vertical Setting to 5.

 

 

F. Highlight the last five noise frames, next hold down Option + click on the same clips. Release the option key and drag the mouse so the newly copied frames will be in the track above the mid clip.  Make sure the ends of the two clips line up as shown.

 

 

G. Place the BadTVAudio2.aiff clip in the timeline so it lines up with the mid clip.

When a TV is turned off it does not immediately turn black, but instead has a flash of light as the image stops projecting. This section shows you how to replicate that effect.

 

A. Using the blade tool, separate the last frame of the Cow.jpg clip.

B. Double click on the newly created single frame. Then choose Effects from the main menu. Move the mouse to Video Filters > Matte > Mask Shape.

C. In the Viewer click on the Filters tab and change the Horizontal Scale to 119 and the Vertical Scale to 62.

D. Choose Effects from the main menu. Move the mouse to Video Filters > Matte > Mask Feather. In the Viewer change the Soft level to 17.

E. In the Viewer click on the Video tab, then click on the A in the film strip. Move the mouse to the word Matte on the generator pop-up and then select Color.

F. In the top of the Viewer click on the Controls tab and then click on the gray box. Change the color to white and hit OK. Place the color matte next to the newly created single frame. Control + click the clip and select Duration from the pop-up menu. Type 2 and then click enter or hit the return key twice. 

G. In the timeline place your playhead at the beginning of the color matte and then click on the keyframe button in the Canvas.

 

 

H. Double click on the color matte. Then click on the Motion tab in the Viewer. Click on the triangle next to the word Crop. Change the Crop settings to Left 5, Right 5, Top 49 and the Bottom to 49. Move to the next frame by hitting the right arrow key. Change the Crop settings to Left 37, Right 37, Top 49.5 and the Bottom to 49.5.

 

 

I. Repeat steps E through F except place this color matte above the one just created.

J. Double click on the new color matte and select the Filters tab. Choose Effects from the main menu. Move the mouse to Video Filters > Matte > Mask Shape. In the Viewer change the shape to an Oval. Set the Horizontal Scale to 23 and the Vertical Scale to 11. Make sure your playhead is at the beginning of the color matte, click on the Horizontal and Vertical Scale keyframe buttons.

 

 

K. Move to the next frame by hitting the right arrow key. Change the Horizontal Scale to 11 and the Vertical Scale to 6.

L. Place the BadTVAudio3.aif under the single frame and the two color mattes at the end of the project.

 

 

By following these simple steps, you can create the effect of poor television reception. Used sparingly, this effect can really enhance your video projects.

 

  Feel free to discuss this technique in the Final Cut Pro forum at Creativecow.net.