Creating That Old Film Look 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

Let's begin:
Traditionally old film is not in color. Turning your video to black & white or sepia gives it that old fashioned look.

Download Film Sample Project here -- If you experience problems with downloading, right click and choose 'save as' option

Download Old Film Sample movie here

Black & White

• Select the desired clip in the time line.
• Choose Effects > Video Filters > Color Correction > Color Corrector 3-Way.
• Double click on your clip and then select the Color Corrector 3-way tab in the viewer. Drag the Sat (Saturation) slider tab to the far left.
• Drag the Whites slider to the right and the Blacks slider to the left slightly, this will add more contrast to your clip and make it feel more dimensional.

Sepia

• Select the desired clip in the time line.
• Choose Effects > Video Filters > Image Control > Sepia.
• Double click on your clip and then select the Filters tab in the viewer.
• Change the highlight amount to give the clip a more realistic sepia color. I find 33 works well for a lot of clips but it does vary.
• Click on the triangle in the Tint Color box and then adjust the S slider to give your clip a more faded look. I find 58 works well in a lot of situations.

This is where you get to add all of the visual effects that are associated with old or damaged film.

• Mark in and out points on the timeline of the clip or clips you wish to give that old film look to.
• Choose File > Export > Using Quick Time Conversion.
• Give the clip a name, locate where you would like to place it and select what format would work best.
• Click the Options button. In the video settings section select the Filter button.
• Click on the triangle next to the text Special Effects. Then select Film Noise.

• Click on the Hairs button and change it to Scratches. Set Scratch Density to 0.
• Adjust the Dust and Film Fading > Film Fading setting to None.
• Change the Hairs settings and the Dust and Film Fading settings to your liking. I adjusted the Hairs > Hair Density to 48, while I bumped the Hair > Hair Length to 47.
• Click Ok and then click Ok again in the Movie Settings box. Then click on the Save button.
• When the clip is done exporting your in and out points remain on the timeline. Repeat steps A through D and then change the Scratches > Scratch Density from zero to around 6. Don’t worry about the scratches looking fake, that will be remedied in the next section.
• Click Ok and then click Ok again in the Movie Settings box. Then click on the Save button.

This section will take the edge off of the fake looking scratches.

• Import the two clips and drag them into the timeline.
• Place the clip with the scratches on top of the clip with out.
• Drop the opacity of the top clip to about 30 percent.

This step adds that extra touch of believability to that old film look.

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

• In the drop down menu drag the mouse to the word Matte. Then click on the word Color from the menu that pops out of the side.

• In the Viewer select the Controls tab and then click on the gray box.
• Change the color to black and hit OK.
• Select the Video tab and then drag the matte to the track above your two clips in the Timeline.
• Click on the Clip Overlays button on the Timeline and lower the clips’ opacity to 17.
  

• Select the pen tool from the Tool Pallet.
• Add a keyframe to every four frames of the matte. Then drag every other keyframe to zero opacity.

Voila! You can now enjoy adding old fashioned charm to your video clips for a price that is hard to argue with. Feel free to discuss this technique in the Final Cut Pro forum at Creativecow.net.