Guide to Making Cinematography for Music Video

To visually represent the story in the music video, cinematography shots are helpful. It’ll obviously and pleasing and eye-catchy effect in your video. These major requirements for making that cinematography can be covered as the following:

1. Light a subject
2. Create atmosphere
3. Light a set
4. Camera techniques
5. Aspect ratio
6. Framing
7. Camera movement

Before, we go deeper to the details on how to make a cinematography for music, let us know first about the cinematography for music video. Everything is represented in this article, from the camera movement to the setting of the lights in the studio. You will also learn about aspect ratio and framing while making shots from the DSLR.

What Is Cinematography?

Cinematography covers all aspects of how a movie or music video is made, including choosing the lighting for the scene. The type of camera equipment to use, how to frame your photographs, and how to decide on camera movement are also included in this. Let’s move toward the next lines to get the cool cinematography on display.

Light a subject

Although you may assume that cinematography is just concerned with the usage of the camera, lighting plays an equally important role. While planning your photographs, you should think about how the scene is lit and how your subject is illuminated.

The cinematographer should consider the hard and soft lights for perfect illustrations during shooting. These are depicted with the following requirements!

Hard light and soft light

The cinematographers mainly focus on the hard and soft lights during filmmaking. The hard lights give a softer look to the subject. They are pointing to the light sources which are closer to the subject in the video. It makes the photographs and shots harsher and more dramatic.

The soft light is trying to wrap around the subject. It gives diffused shadows and soft edges to the character of the music video.

Note: To get better results of the soft look, you need to add diffusion to lower the intensity.

Create Atmosphere

You need a haze machine to create the atmosphere and give the environment true vibes. The haze machine gives a foggy appearance in every shoot and scene.

Filmora Video Editor Easily create video with plenty of video effects and filters.

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Light a Set

To give proper lights in the set is illustrated with the help of an example as shown below!

Examples

In this music video of the 3lau’s, the main prop used is a bus, which is presented in the middle of the set and lit very well. The bus is rounded by many tungsten lights, which give a resemblance to those street lights. They are set up automatically in such a way that this stimulates the real movement of the bus on the road.

The three projectors are set to give the street footage at the back scene to add more realism.

The three lights are set in the queue by the production team to get the memory of the protagonist. In the setup, soft lights are also added on top of all the upper windows of the bus to give blue interior light to the bus.

Camera Techniques

The cameras used during filming play a major role in giving the cinematographic shots. All the techniques shown below are applied to the DSLRs and even the smartphones you use for filming.

Prime lenses

The foremost and most helpful lenses in filming are called prime lenses, which have fixed focal lengths. There is no Johns to zoom out and zoom-in in prime lenses.

For filming, we need to choose the right level of zoom, which the DP does by picking the right lens for the footage.

In the close-up scenes, there is a requirement for a wider field of view which also depends on the aspect ratio of shooting.

Aspect Ratio

In filmy view, the most appropriate aspect ratio is 2.35, which is also a cinematic ratio. There is also another ratio of 16:9, which is a wider ratio. While 2.35 gives a more narrow perspective as compared to the prior one.

Note: The narrow ratio is helpful in showing the relationships between the subjects.

Whenever we use a microscope, we are dealing with the aspect ratio and narrowing down to the required point where we want to look, and this is all about framing, which is discussed as shown below!

Framing

Framing is a way used to illustrate the concepts such as the rule of thirds and leading lines. To give customized headroom to the subject, the framing is used from the top of the head and the top of the frame.

Camera Movement

The camera movement actually shows the real story presented in the music video. The camera movements used for filming are mainly the pedestal, truck, pan, tilt, and roll.

Whenever the protagonist looks out the bus’s window, the camera operator will use the “Dolly” and “Trucking” movements.

Trucking Movement

The trucking movement of the camera is done in left-to-right motion in the filming. This is used for emotional purposes and whenever the subject is in a pull-out shot.

Dolly Movement

The dolly movement of the camera is done by moving towards or away from the subject. This often gives a sense of importance to the character.

Final Words

The above article gives the exact preferences of the “Tokyo” song by which you learned a lot of techniques for your future use. By following the above rules and tips, you’ll obviously come up with a viral music video.

Create Atmosphere

You need a haze machine to create the atmosphere and give the environment true vibes. The haze machine gives a foggy appearance in every shoot and scene.

Filmora Video Editor Easily create video with plenty of video effects and filters.

Free Download Free Download Learn More

Light a Set

To give proper lights in the set is illustrated with the help of an example as shown below!

Examples

In this music video of the 3lau’s, the main prop used is a bus, which is presented in the middle of the set and lit very well. The bus is rounded by many tungsten lights, which give a resemblance to those street lights. They are set up automatically in such a way that this stimulates the real movement of the bus on the road.

The three projectors are set to give the street footage at the back scene to add more realism.

The three lights are set in the queue by the production team to get the memory of the protagonist. In the setup, soft lights are also added on top of all the upper windows of the bus to give blue interior light to the bus.

Camera Techniques

The cameras used during filming play a major role in giving the cinematographic shots. All the techniques shown below are applied to the DSLRs and even the smartphones you use for filming.

Prime lenses

The foremost and most helpful lenses in filming are called prime lenses, which have fixed focal lengths. There is no Johns to zoom out and zoom-in in prime lenses.

For filming, we need to choose the right level of zoom, which the DP does by picking the right lens for the footage.

In the close-up scenes, there is a requirement for a wider field of view which also depends on the aspect ratio of shooting.

Aspect Ratio

In filmy view, the most appropriate aspect ratio is 2.35, which is also a cinematic ratio. There is also another ratio of 16:9, which is a wider ratio. While 2.35 gives a more narrow perspective as compared to the prior one.

Note: The narrow ratio is helpful in showing the relationships between the subjects.

Whenever we use a microscope, we are dealing with the aspect ratio and narrowing down to the required point where we want to look, and this is all about framing, which is discussed as shown below!

Framing

Framing is a way used to illustrate the concepts such as the rule of thirds and leading lines. To give customized headroom to the subject, the framing is used from the top of the head and the top of the frame.

Camera Movement

The camera movement actually shows the real story presented in the music video. The camera movements used for filming are mainly the pedestal, truck, pan, tilt, and roll.

Whenever the protagonist looks out the bus’s window, the camera operator will use the “Dolly” and “Trucking” movements.

Trucking Movement

The trucking movement of the camera is done in left-to-right motion in the filming. This is used for emotional purposes and whenever the subject is in a pull-out shot.

Dolly Movement

The dolly movement of the camera is done by moving towards or away from the subject. This often gives a sense of importance to the character.

Final Words

The above article gives the exact preferences of the “Tokyo” song by which you learned a lot of techniques for your future use. By following the above rules and tips, you’ll obviously come up with a viral music video.

8 Tips to Apply Cinematic Color Grading to Your Video

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After a successful video shoot, video editing tends to wrap up the video production process. However, a video cannot be enlivened by using simple video editing tools, i.e., cut, crop, and trim, but rather tools such as cinematic color grading. Usually, directors want their video to evoke their intended ambiance and appear more realistic – This can only be achieved through cinematic color grading.

Color grading is the alteration and enhancement of color in a video, motion picture, or still image. Color grading is an essential tool for videographers since it enables them to enhance the mood or tone. Stick to this article and learn about the eight tips to apply cinematic color grading to your video.

In this article

01 Don’t Make These Mistakes!

02 8 Tips to Apply Cinematic Color Grading to Your Video

Don’t Make These Mistakes

Even though to err is human, there are some mistakes that colorists and video editors need to avoid at all costs. It is not only because they will make them look amateurish but also undermines the message and impact of the video.

Some people assume color grading is as simple as adding filters to their Instagram photos which they are absolutely wrong. Color grading is a long and frustrating process, and it only requires “persons with a thick skin.”

Some mistakes are not only committed by amateurs alone but also professional colorists who are in a rush to complete their projects on due time. Usually, these mistakes degrade the quality output. Some of the mistakes that one needs not make include:

1. Using a Poorly Calibrated Monitor

Almost every videographer and colorist’s goal is to design footages that distinctively display their primary colors and decipher the intended message. And this can only be achieved using a properly calibrated monitor.

Before working on a project, you ought to crosscheck your monitor calibration. Most people assume that the calibration is accurate since they possess a new, out-of-the-box monitor. It is utterly wrong since retailer shops usually adjust the monitor settings to overblown saturation and contrast to attract customers.

Furthermore, if you opt to edit your videos without adjusting your monitor calibration, you will have a poor footage.

2. Poor Prepping of the Video Footage

One major mistake that videographers often make is not prepping their video correctly. A poorly prepped footage is one that has a bad color space conversion. Usually, the outcome result of poorly prepped footage is an imbalanced image.

Prepping footage is not as easy as an apple pie. Besides, most videographers tend to follow a shortcut by starting messing with the gains and individual nodes, forgetting that a shortcut is often a wrong cut.

The best way of prepping a video is to start by making separate nodes and labeling them differently.

3. Imbalancing the Shadow

Have you ever seen video footage with partially opaque shadows? And when you look keenly, you see tinted greens and reds. Usually, this is a result of an imbalanced shadow.

This mistake is not only carried out by beginner videographers but also professionals who are always in a hurry to complete a project. When you look at your scope, you see the shadows are lifted or down in other scenarios – This is also a result of shadow imbalance.

4. Overusing LUTs

A mistake that beginner editors often make is overusing LUTs. Footages with overly used LUTs often appear to be dull. A thing that videographers need to observe when using LUTs is consistency.

When using LUTs, you need to ensure that your project has similar saturation, colors, and contrast throughout your video project. Moreover, it would be best to choose your LUTs based on the film color palette and your story.

5. Having Limited break

Having enough break enables one’s eyes to recalibrate. As a colorist, your eyes are often considered the main asset. Sitting for long periods in your workstation and staring for long hours at your monitor may cause one to add more saturation and contrast, thus making the video dull. Therefore the best remedy is to take a break from your monitor.

Besides, coming from a break enables one to have another different perspective about the color grading of the project.

8 Tips to Apply Cinematic Color Grading to Your Video

When it comes to creating cinematic looks in video footage, the camera type is usually non-essential. What matters is that you capture quality videos with the right angles then leave the rest to color grading.

For a video clip to look more cinematic, a couple of elements are put together. Here, we will look at those elements and create stunning videos.

1. Use Lumetri Color to adjust brightness, contrast, and saturation

The Lumeri color is an essential color grading functionality in most premiere software, including Wondershare Filmora, Adobe After Effects, and Davinci Resolve 17. With this functionality tool, you can carry out a wide range of customizable settings such as hue, saturation, contrasts, brightness, and tone.

The lumetri panel contains a histogram, vectorscope, parade scope, and waveform monitor. In your lumetri panel, you can measure the brightness and tonal values using a histogram, the light intensity with a waveform monitor, saturation and hue using vectorscope, and color channel using parade scope.

Adjusting the brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, and tone to moderate levels will give your video clip that cinematic look.

2. Use Cosmo functionality to adjust skin tones

Due to the light effect, shots taken during the day will have inconsistent color matches, especially skin tone. In the post-production process, one needs to make uniformity in skin tone and the clip. To rectify this, you need to involve a professional color grading functionality, Cosmo.

With cosmo, you can adjust the skin color, squeeze the skin, and soften the skin. Generally, Cosmo makes people in video clips look their best.

3. Use Highlights and Shadows adjustment

A clip will look more cinematic when the shadows and highlights are brought out as separate entities. The shadows become more vivid when adjusted to either teal, purple or blue. You can go a mile and adjust the highlights to become crystal clear by making the footage become yellow, red, or orange.

When carrying out color grading, you need to know the various video demands, such as the horror clips demand more of the dark shadow.

4. Use Vectorscope to get the accurate adjustment

Naked eyes cannot effectively see all the errors in a video project, which is the essence of having a vectorscope. A vectorscope provides all the quantitative information about a video image – This lessens work for video editors.

Vectorscope provides extensive details, such as how intense a given color is – This will help you make necessary adjustments to your footage.

5. Use the black and white functionality to change the opacity

Even though you can change your footage to black and white using the hue and saturation functionality, the black and white tool gives you more control.

This functionality feature can make your footage blend with the soft light part. Besides, it is best to first lower the contrast of your image or video to black and white to be able to highlight the unclear parts.

6. Use levels to unveil the whites, blacks, and mids of an image

Levels is a functionality feature that displays the blacks, whites, and mids of footage. With this functionality, you can make the highlight parts lighter and the shadows appear darker, which is essential in making cinematic videos.

In the levels histogram, the left slider defines the darkest part, the right defines the brightest part, and the top defines distributions.

In software such as Adobe After Effects, you can set this functionality to automatic or customize it based on your preference.

7. Use Vibrance to control other levels of saturation

The saturation of video footage or a clip can be regulated using vibrance functionality. With vibrance, you can alter the saturation levels of your clip while simultaneously minimizing clippings for the colors to approach complete saturation.

When you want to use this functionality in After Effects, you drag and drop it right on top of your footage – The exact part you want to apply it.

8. Use a Vignette to fade edges

To increase the point of focus, you need to fade your edges. In color grading, you can only fade your edges with a vignette.

This functionality allows you to center images or certain video parts and make the edges unclear. Your emphasis will be more on the central region.

Bottom line

● Color grading is not a piece of cake. Besides, you should not use it as an excuse for making simple mistakes such as the ones highlighted above. You need to pay close attention when color grading your films, and you will have your video project mapping out its intended meaning.

● Moreover, you need not be a pro to carry out cinematic color grading. You need to follow the above eight tips altogether to apply color grading to your video. You will create stunning video files that leave your viewers’ eyes gorged out.

Try It Free Try It Free

After a successful video shoot, video editing tends to wrap up the video production process. However, a video cannot be enlivened by using simple video editing tools, i.e., cut, crop, and trim, but rather tools such as cinematic color grading. Usually, directors want their video to evoke their intended ambiance and appear more realistic – This can only be achieved through cinematic color grading.

Color grading is the alteration and enhancement of color in a video, motion picture, or still image. Color grading is an essential tool for videographers since it enables them to enhance the mood or tone. Stick to this article and learn about the eight tips to apply cinematic color grading to your video.

In this article

01 Don’t Make These Mistakes!

02 8 Tips to Apply Cinematic Color Grading to Your Video

Don’t Make These Mistakes

Even though to err is human, there are some mistakes that colorists and video editors need to avoid at all costs. It is not only because they will make them look amateurish but also undermines the message and impact of the video.

Some people assume color grading is as simple as adding filters to their Instagram photos which they are absolutely wrong. Color grading is a long and frustrating process, and it only requires “persons with a thick skin.”

Some mistakes are not only committed by amateurs alone but also professional colorists who are in a rush to complete their projects on due time. Usually, these mistakes degrade the quality output. Some of the mistakes that one needs not make include:

1. Using a Poorly Calibrated Monitor

Almost every videographer and colorist’s goal is to design footages that distinctively display their primary colors and decipher the intended message. And this can only be achieved using a properly calibrated monitor.

Before working on a project, you ought to crosscheck your monitor calibration. Most people assume that the calibration is accurate since they possess a new, out-of-the-box monitor. It is utterly wrong since retailer shops usually adjust the monitor settings to overblown saturation and contrast to attract customers.

Furthermore, if you opt to edit your videos without adjusting your monitor calibration, you will have a poor footage.

2. Poor Prepping of the Video Footage

One major mistake that videographers often make is not prepping their video correctly. A poorly prepped footage is one that has a bad color space conversion. Usually, the outcome result of poorly prepped footage is an imbalanced image.

Prepping footage is not as easy as an apple pie. Besides, most videographers tend to follow a shortcut by starting messing with the gains and individual nodes, forgetting that a shortcut is often a wrong cut.

The best way of prepping a video is to start by making separate nodes and labeling them differently.

3. Imbalancing the Shadow

Have you ever seen video footage with partially opaque shadows? And when you look keenly, you see tinted greens and reds. Usually, this is a result of an imbalanced shadow.

This mistake is not only carried out by beginner videographers but also professionals who are always in a hurry to complete a project. When you look at your scope, you see the shadows are lifted or down in other scenarios – This is also a result of shadow imbalance.

4. Overusing LUTs

A mistake that beginner editors often make is overusing LUTs. Footages with overly used LUTs often appear to be dull. A thing that videographers need to observe when using LUTs is consistency.

When using LUTs, you need to ensure that your project has similar saturation, colors, and contrast throughout your video project. Moreover, it would be best to choose your LUTs based on the film color palette and your story.

5. Having Limited break

Having enough break enables one’s eyes to recalibrate. As a colorist, your eyes are often considered the main asset. Sitting for long periods in your workstation and staring for long hours at your monitor may cause one to add more saturation and contrast, thus making the video dull. Therefore the best remedy is to take a break from your monitor.

Besides, coming from a break enables one to have another different perspective about the color grading of the project.

8 Tips to Apply Cinematic Color Grading to Your Video

When it comes to creating cinematic looks in video footage, the camera type is usually non-essential. What matters is that you capture quality videos with the right angles then leave the rest to color grading.

For a video clip to look more cinematic, a couple of elements are put together. Here, we will look at those elements and create stunning videos.

1. Use Lumetri Color to adjust brightness, contrast, and saturation

The Lumeri color is an essential color grading functionality in most premiere software, including Wondershare Filmora, Adobe After Effects, and Davinci Resolve 17. With this functionality tool, you can carry out a wide range of customizable settings such as hue, saturation, contrasts, brightness, and tone.

The lumetri panel contains a histogram, vectorscope, parade scope, and waveform monitor. In your lumetri panel, you can measure the brightness and tonal values using a histogram, the light intensity with a waveform monitor, saturation and hue using vectorscope, and color channel using parade scope.

Adjusting the brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, and tone to moderate levels will give your video clip that cinematic look.

2. Use Cosmo functionality to adjust skin tones

Due to the light effect, shots taken during the day will have inconsistent color matches, especially skin tone. In the post-production process, one needs to make uniformity in skin tone and the clip. To rectify this, you need to involve a professional color grading functionality, Cosmo.

With cosmo, you can adjust the skin color, squeeze the skin, and soften the skin. Generally, Cosmo makes people in video clips look their best.

3. Use Highlights and Shadows adjustment

A clip will look more cinematic when the shadows and highlights are brought out as separate entities. The shadows become more vivid when adjusted to either teal, purple or blue. You can go a mile and adjust the highlights to become crystal clear by making the footage become yellow, red, or orange.

When carrying out color grading, you need to know the various video demands, such as the horror clips demand more of the dark shadow.

4. Use Vectorscope to get the accurate adjustment

Naked eyes cannot effectively see all the errors in a video project, which is the essence of having a vectorscope. A vectorscope provides all the quantitative information about a video image – This lessens work for video editors.

Vectorscope provides extensive details, such as how intense a given color is – This will help you make necessary adjustments to your footage.

5. Use the black and white functionality to change the opacity

Even though you can change your footage to black and white using the hue and saturation functionality, the black and white tool gives you more control.

This functionality feature can make your footage blend with the soft light part. Besides, it is best to first lower the contrast of your image or video to black and white to be able to highlight the unclear parts.

6. Use levels to unveil the whites, blacks, and mids of an image

Levels is a functionality feature that displays the blacks, whites, and mids of footage. With this functionality, you can make the highlight parts lighter and the shadows appear darker, which is essential in making cinematic videos.

In the levels histogram, the left slider defines the darkest part, the right defines the brightest part, and the top defines distributions.

In software such as Adobe After Effects, you can set this functionality to automatic or customize it based on your preference.

7. Use Vibrance to control other levels of saturation

The saturation of video footage or a clip can be regulated using vibrance functionality. With vibrance, you can alter the saturation levels of your clip while simultaneously minimizing clippings for the colors to approach complete saturation.

When you want to use this functionality in After Effects, you drag and drop it right on top of your footage – The exact part you want to apply it.

8. Use a Vignette to fade edges

To increase the point of focus, you need to fade your edges. In color grading, you can only fade your edges with a vignette.

This functionality allows you to center images or certain video parts and make the edges unclear. Your emphasis will be more on the central region.

Bottom line

● Color grading is not a piece of cake. Besides, you should not use it as an excuse for making simple mistakes such as the ones highlighted above. You need to pay close attention when color grading your films, and you will have your video project mapping out its intended meaning.

● Moreover, you need not be a pro to carry out cinematic color grading. You need to follow the above eight tips altogether to apply color grading to your video. You will create stunning video files that leave your viewers’ eyes gorged out.

Try It Free Try It Free

After a successful video shoot, video editing tends to wrap up the video production process. However, a video cannot be enlivened by using simple video editing tools, i.e., cut, crop, and trim, but rather tools such as cinematic color grading. Usually, directors want their video to evoke their intended ambiance and appear more realistic – This can only be achieved through cinematic color grading.

Color grading is the alteration and enhancement of color in a video, motion picture, or still image. Color grading is an essential tool for videographers since it enables them to enhance the mood or tone. Stick to this article and learn about the eight tips to apply cinematic color grading to your video.

In this article

01 Don’t Make These Mistakes!

02 8 Tips to Apply Cinematic Color Grading to Your Video

Don’t Make These Mistakes

Even though to err is human, there are some mistakes that colorists and video editors need to avoid at all costs. It is not only because they will make them look amateurish but also undermines the message and impact of the video.

Some people assume color grading is as simple as adding filters to their Instagram photos which they are absolutely wrong. Color grading is a long and frustrating process, and it only requires “persons with a thick skin.”

Some mistakes are not only committed by amateurs alone but also professional colorists who are in a rush to complete their projects on due time. Usually, these mistakes degrade the quality output. Some of the mistakes that one needs not make include:

1. Using a Poorly Calibrated Monitor

Almost every videographer and colorist’s goal is to design footages that distinctively display their primary colors and decipher the intended message. And this can only be achieved using a properly calibrated monitor.

Before working on a project, you ought to crosscheck your monitor calibration. Most people assume that the calibration is accurate since they possess a new, out-of-the-box monitor. It is utterly wrong since retailer shops usually adjust the monitor settings to overblown saturation and contrast to attract customers.

Furthermore, if you opt to edit your videos without adjusting your monitor calibration, you will have a poor footage.

2. Poor Prepping of the Video Footage

One major mistake that videographers often make is not prepping their video correctly. A poorly prepped footage is one that has a bad color space conversion. Usually, the outcome result of poorly prepped footage is an imbalanced image.

Prepping footage is not as easy as an apple pie. Besides, most videographers tend to follow a shortcut by starting messing with the gains and individual nodes, forgetting that a shortcut is often a wrong cut.

The best way of prepping a video is to start by making separate nodes and labeling them differently.

3. Imbalancing the Shadow

Have you ever seen video footage with partially opaque shadows? And when you look keenly, you see tinted greens and reds. Usually, this is a result of an imbalanced shadow.

This mistake is not only carried out by beginner videographers but also professionals who are always in a hurry to complete a project. When you look at your scope, you see the shadows are lifted or down in other scenarios – This is also a result of shadow imbalance.

4. Overusing LUTs

A mistake that beginner editors often make is overusing LUTs. Footages with overly used LUTs often appear to be dull. A thing that videographers need to observe when using LUTs is consistency.

When using LUTs, you need to ensure that your project has similar saturation, colors, and contrast throughout your video project. Moreover, it would be best to choose your LUTs based on the film color palette and your story.

5. Having Limited break

Having enough break enables one’s eyes to recalibrate. As a colorist, your eyes are often considered the main asset. Sitting for long periods in your workstation and staring for long hours at your monitor may cause one to add more saturation and contrast, thus making the video dull. Therefore the best remedy is to take a break from your monitor.

Besides, coming from a break enables one to have another different perspective about the color grading of the project.

8 Tips to Apply Cinematic Color Grading to Your Video

When it comes to creating cinematic looks in video footage, the camera type is usually non-essential. What matters is that you capture quality videos with the right angles then leave the rest to color grading.

For a video clip to look more cinematic, a couple of elements are put together. Here, we will look at those elements and create stunning videos.

1. Use Lumetri Color to adjust brightness, contrast, and saturation

The Lumeri color is an essential color grading functionality in most premiere software, including Wondershare Filmora, Adobe After Effects, and Davinci Resolve 17. With this functionality tool, you can carry out a wide range of customizable settings such as hue, saturation, contrasts, brightness, and tone.

The lumetri panel contains a histogram, vectorscope, parade scope, and waveform monitor. In your lumetri panel, you can measure the brightness and tonal values using a histogram, the light intensity with a waveform monitor, saturation and hue using vectorscope, and color channel using parade scope.

Adjusting the brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, and tone to moderate levels will give your video clip that cinematic look.

2. Use Cosmo functionality to adjust skin tones

Due to the light effect, shots taken during the day will have inconsistent color matches, especially skin tone. In the post-production process, one needs to make uniformity in skin tone and the clip. To rectify this, you need to involve a professional color grading functionality, Cosmo.

With cosmo, you can adjust the skin color, squeeze the skin, and soften the skin. Generally, Cosmo makes people in video clips look their best.

3. Use Highlights and Shadows adjustment

A clip will look more cinematic when the shadows and highlights are brought out as separate entities. The shadows become more vivid when adjusted to either teal, purple or blue. You can go a mile and adjust the highlights to become crystal clear by making the footage become yellow, red, or orange.

When carrying out color grading, you need to know the various video demands, such as the horror clips demand more of the dark shadow.

4. Use Vectorscope to get the accurate adjustment

Naked eyes cannot effectively see all the errors in a video project, which is the essence of having a vectorscope. A vectorscope provides all the quantitative information about a video image – This lessens work for video editors.

Vectorscope provides extensive details, such as how intense a given color is – This will help you make necessary adjustments to your footage.

5. Use the black and white functionality to change the opacity

Even though you can change your footage to black and white using the hue and saturation functionality, the black and white tool gives you more control.

This functionality feature can make your footage blend with the soft light part. Besides, it is best to first lower the contrast of your image or video to black and white to be able to highlight the unclear parts.

6. Use levels to unveil the whites, blacks, and mids of an image

Levels is a functionality feature that displays the blacks, whites, and mids of footage. With this functionality, you can make the highlight parts lighter and the shadows appear darker, which is essential in making cinematic videos.

In the levels histogram, the left slider defines the darkest part, the right defines the brightest part, and the top defines distributions.

In software such as Adobe After Effects, you can set this functionality to automatic or customize it based on your preference.

7. Use Vibrance to control other levels of saturation

The saturation of video footage or a clip can be regulated using vibrance functionality. With vibrance, you can alter the saturation levels of your clip while simultaneously minimizing clippings for the colors to approach complete saturation.

When you want to use this functionality in After Effects, you drag and drop it right on top of your footage – The exact part you want to apply it.

8. Use a Vignette to fade edges

To increase the point of focus, you need to fade your edges. In color grading, you can only fade your edges with a vignette.

This functionality allows you to center images or certain video parts and make the edges unclear. Your emphasis will be more on the central region.

Bottom line

● Color grading is not a piece of cake. Besides, you should not use it as an excuse for making simple mistakes such as the ones highlighted above. You need to pay close attention when color grading your films, and you will have your video project mapping out its intended meaning.

● Moreover, you need not be a pro to carry out cinematic color grading. You need to follow the above eight tips altogether to apply color grading to your video. You will create stunning video files that leave your viewers’ eyes gorged out.

Try It Free Try It Free

After a successful video shoot, video editing tends to wrap up the video production process. However, a video cannot be enlivened by using simple video editing tools, i.e., cut, crop, and trim, but rather tools such as cinematic color grading. Usually, directors want their video to evoke their intended ambiance and appear more realistic – This can only be achieved through cinematic color grading.

Color grading is the alteration and enhancement of color in a video, motion picture, or still image. Color grading is an essential tool for videographers since it enables them to enhance the mood or tone. Stick to this article and learn about the eight tips to apply cinematic color grading to your video.

In this article

01 Don’t Make These Mistakes!

02 8 Tips to Apply Cinematic Color Grading to Your Video

Don’t Make These Mistakes

Even though to err is human, there are some mistakes that colorists and video editors need to avoid at all costs. It is not only because they will make them look amateurish but also undermines the message and impact of the video.

Some people assume color grading is as simple as adding filters to their Instagram photos which they are absolutely wrong. Color grading is a long and frustrating process, and it only requires “persons with a thick skin.”

Some mistakes are not only committed by amateurs alone but also professional colorists who are in a rush to complete their projects on due time. Usually, these mistakes degrade the quality output. Some of the mistakes that one needs not make include:

1. Using a Poorly Calibrated Monitor

Almost every videographer and colorist’s goal is to design footages that distinctively display their primary colors and decipher the intended message. And this can only be achieved using a properly calibrated monitor.

Before working on a project, you ought to crosscheck your monitor calibration. Most people assume that the calibration is accurate since they possess a new, out-of-the-box monitor. It is utterly wrong since retailer shops usually adjust the monitor settings to overblown saturation and contrast to attract customers.

Furthermore, if you opt to edit your videos without adjusting your monitor calibration, you will have a poor footage.

2. Poor Prepping of the Video Footage

One major mistake that videographers often make is not prepping their video correctly. A poorly prepped footage is one that has a bad color space conversion. Usually, the outcome result of poorly prepped footage is an imbalanced image.

Prepping footage is not as easy as an apple pie. Besides, most videographers tend to follow a shortcut by starting messing with the gains and individual nodes, forgetting that a shortcut is often a wrong cut.

The best way of prepping a video is to start by making separate nodes and labeling them differently.

3. Imbalancing the Shadow

Have you ever seen video footage with partially opaque shadows? And when you look keenly, you see tinted greens and reds. Usually, this is a result of an imbalanced shadow.

This mistake is not only carried out by beginner videographers but also professionals who are always in a hurry to complete a project. When you look at your scope, you see the shadows are lifted or down in other scenarios – This is also a result of shadow imbalance.

4. Overusing LUTs

A mistake that beginner editors often make is overusing LUTs. Footages with overly used LUTs often appear to be dull. A thing that videographers need to observe when using LUTs is consistency.

When using LUTs, you need to ensure that your project has similar saturation, colors, and contrast throughout your video project. Moreover, it would be best to choose your LUTs based on the film color palette and your story.

5. Having Limited break

Having enough break enables one’s eyes to recalibrate. As a colorist, your eyes are often considered the main asset. Sitting for long periods in your workstation and staring for long hours at your monitor may cause one to add more saturation and contrast, thus making the video dull. Therefore the best remedy is to take a break from your monitor.

Besides, coming from a break enables one to have another different perspective about the color grading of the project.

8 Tips to Apply Cinematic Color Grading to Your Video

When it comes to creating cinematic looks in video footage, the camera type is usually non-essential. What matters is that you capture quality videos with the right angles then leave the rest to color grading.

For a video clip to look more cinematic, a couple of elements are put together. Here, we will look at those elements and create stunning videos.

1. Use Lumetri Color to adjust brightness, contrast, and saturation

The Lumeri color is an essential color grading functionality in most premiere software, including Wondershare Filmora, Adobe After Effects, and Davinci Resolve 17. With this functionality tool, you can carry out a wide range of customizable settings such as hue, saturation, contrasts, brightness, and tone.

The lumetri panel contains a histogram, vectorscope, parade scope, and waveform monitor. In your lumetri panel, you can measure the brightness and tonal values using a histogram, the light intensity with a waveform monitor, saturation and hue using vectorscope, and color channel using parade scope.

Adjusting the brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, and tone to moderate levels will give your video clip that cinematic look.

2. Use Cosmo functionality to adjust skin tones

Due to the light effect, shots taken during the day will have inconsistent color matches, especially skin tone. In the post-production process, one needs to make uniformity in skin tone and the clip. To rectify this, you need to involve a professional color grading functionality, Cosmo.

With cosmo, you can adjust the skin color, squeeze the skin, and soften the skin. Generally, Cosmo makes people in video clips look their best.

3. Use Highlights and Shadows adjustment

A clip will look more cinematic when the shadows and highlights are brought out as separate entities. The shadows become more vivid when adjusted to either teal, purple or blue. You can go a mile and adjust the highlights to become crystal clear by making the footage become yellow, red, or orange.

When carrying out color grading, you need to know the various video demands, such as the horror clips demand more of the dark shadow.

4. Use Vectorscope to get the accurate adjustment

Naked eyes cannot effectively see all the errors in a video project, which is the essence of having a vectorscope. A vectorscope provides all the quantitative information about a video image – This lessens work for video editors.

Vectorscope provides extensive details, such as how intense a given color is – This will help you make necessary adjustments to your footage.

5. Use the black and white functionality to change the opacity

Even though you can change your footage to black and white using the hue and saturation functionality, the black and white tool gives you more control.

This functionality feature can make your footage blend with the soft light part. Besides, it is best to first lower the contrast of your image or video to black and white to be able to highlight the unclear parts.

6. Use levels to unveil the whites, blacks, and mids of an image

Levels is a functionality feature that displays the blacks, whites, and mids of footage. With this functionality, you can make the highlight parts lighter and the shadows appear darker, which is essential in making cinematic videos.

In the levels histogram, the left slider defines the darkest part, the right defines the brightest part, and the top defines distributions.

In software such as Adobe After Effects, you can set this functionality to automatic or customize it based on your preference.

7. Use Vibrance to control other levels of saturation

The saturation of video footage or a clip can be regulated using vibrance functionality. With vibrance, you can alter the saturation levels of your clip while simultaneously minimizing clippings for the colors to approach complete saturation.

When you want to use this functionality in After Effects, you drag and drop it right on top of your footage – The exact part you want to apply it.

8. Use a Vignette to fade edges

To increase the point of focus, you need to fade your edges. In color grading, you can only fade your edges with a vignette.

This functionality allows you to center images or certain video parts and make the edges unclear. Your emphasis will be more on the central region.

Bottom line

● Color grading is not a piece of cake. Besides, you should not use it as an excuse for making simple mistakes such as the ones highlighted above. You need to pay close attention when color grading your films, and you will have your video project mapping out its intended meaning.

● Moreover, you need not be a pro to carry out cinematic color grading. You need to follow the above eight tips altogether to apply color grading to your video. You will create stunning video files that leave your viewers’ eyes gorged out.

How to Add Adjustment Layer in Premiere Pro

Are you using Premiere Pro frequently? Adobe Premiere Pro is considered advanced software for editing video clips proficiently. You can find a diverse range of features in Premiere Pro that allows you to transform your videos immensely.

If you want to be a professional video editor, you must know the basic techniques of executing video editing. In Premiere Pro, there are various options and features that can help you in enhancing your productivity. For instance, the use of adjustment layers in video editing can make a huge difference. By reading this article, you can come to know about the Premiere Pro adjustment layer efficiently.

Part 1: What is Adjustment Layer in Premiere Pro?

In Premiere Pro, you can save time efficiently by editing each layer individually. To do so, you can find the feature of the adjustment layer in Premiere Pro that enables you to apply the same effect to multiple clips instantly. This will eventually save you time and manual effort. However, you must ensure that the adjustment layer has been placed on top of the layers stack section.

In an adjustment layer in Premiere Pro, you can add multiple effects to create a captivating illustration in your video clips. Moreover, you can also create multiple adjustment layers in Premiere Pro to handle and apply the effects in your clips proficiently. Also, you can easily move, remove, or cut the Premiere Pro adjustment layer anytime within a few clicks.

Furthermore, you can also remove the adjustment layer from your timeline easily without modifying the composition settings of your video. If you get a basic understanding of creating and managing the adjustment layer in Premiere Pro, you can efficiently enhance the visual appeal of your videos. To learn more about the Premiere Pro adjustment layer, continue reading.

Part 2: How to Add an Adjustment Layer in Premiere Pro?

In this section, we will briefly address how to add an adjustment layer in Premiere Pro in a simpler manner.

Step1 Once you have uploaded your project in Premiere Pro, go to the “File” tab and select the “New” option. Afterward, tap on “Adjustment Layer.”

Step2 You can also go to the bottom of your project’s panel and tap on the “New Item” icon. After clicking on this icon, you can click on the “Adjustment layer” option. Afterward, you can modify the video settings to change the settings of the adjustment layer. Once done, hit the “OK” button.

Step3 Once the adjustment layer has been created, you can drag and drop it into the timeline. To change its name, you can right-click on it.

Part 3: Three Ways to Use Adjustment Layer in Premiere Pro

Do you want to use the Premiere Pro adjustment layer significantly? In this section, we will highlight three ways through which you can use the adjustment layer in Premiere Pro to edit your videos.

1. Color Grading

Color grading in Premiere Pro can help you to adjust the balance and tone of your video. You can use the color grading effects and tools to set the exposure, brightness, saturation, and light according to your preference. It will also let you redefine the colors in your video efficiently. To use the adjustment layer for color grading, you can read the below instructions:

Step1 After uploading the video clip in Premiere Pro, create a new adjustment layer in the timeline. Drag and adjust it according to the duration of your video clip. Once done, go to the “Effects” tab and search for “FilmConvert Nitrate.”

Step2 Apply this effect to the adjustment layer and choose your camera to match the color profile. Afterward, you can adjust the saturation, exposure filmstock, and curves according to your choice. You can also increase the vibrancy and hue saturation curves for more enhancement. You can also navigate to the basic correction section to modify the contrast value accordingly.

2. Transition

To merge multiple video clips smoothly and efficiently, transitional effects can assist you. By adding a suitable transition effect, you can make your whole video look clean and cinematic. Moreover, you can use adjustment layers in Premiere Pro to add transition effects to your effect professionally. To do the transition effect, you can proceed to the following instructions:

Step1 First, drag and drop your video clips into the timeline. Once done, create the adjustment layer and apply it above the layers of video clips. Once done, search the “Offset” effect and apply it to the adjustment layer.

Step2 Now add the keyframe to the position where you want to start and end the transition effect. Afterward, right-click on the first keyframe and select “Temporal Interpolation.” From there, choose “Ease Out.” Repeat the same process with the last keyframe. Once done, add the “Directional blur” effect to the adjustment layer for a smoother look.

3. Mask

By using masks in Premiere Pro, you can efficiently blur, highlight, or add an effect to a specific area of your video clip. With this tool, you can draw different mask shapes, such as ellipses, rectangles, etc. Thus, it’s a great way to edit any particular part of the video clip effortlessly. Here are the simple steps to add masks to the video clips using the adjustment layer:

Step1 Add the adjustment layer to the timeline and head to the “Effects” library to locate the “Crop” effect. Add this effect to the adjustment layer and then head to the Effects control.

Step2 Now enhance the top and bottom properties to 15%. You can also adjust the headspace of the person accordingly. Also, you can animate the black bars to produce a more cinematic look in your video.

Part 4: FAQ about Adjustment Layers in Premiere Pro

If you have some questions or concerns about using the adjustment layer in Premiere Pro, we have discussed the commonly asked question below.

Why is the adjustment layer greyed out in my Premiere Pro?

To fix grayed adjustment layer in Premiere Pro, there are two methods that you can follow:

Method 1: At the bottom of your project panel, click on the “New Item” icon and select “Adjustment Layer.” Once done, adjust the settings and press the “OK” button. Now you can drag and drop the adjustment layer in the timeline.

Method 2: Click on your “Project Panel” and then navigate to the “File” tab. From there, select “New” and then click on “Adjustment Layer.” Once done, you can drag and drop the adjustment layer at the timeline.

Conclusion

Premiere Pro is a famous video editing software that lets you enhance your videos proficiently. In this tool, using adjustment layers can help you in making your editing process quicker and easier. That’s why, in this article, we have focused on how to add an adjustment layer in Premiere Pro. Moreover, we have also shed light on how to use the adjustment layer precisely with various effects to enhance your videos.

Are you using Premiere Pro frequently? Adobe Premiere Pro is considered advanced software for editing video clips proficiently. You can find a diverse range of features in Premiere Pro that allows you to transform your videos immensely.

If you want to be a professional video editor, you must know the basic techniques of executing video editing. In Premiere Pro, there are various options and features that can help you in enhancing your productivity. For instance, the use of adjustment layers in video editing can make a huge difference. By reading this article, you can come to know about the Premiere Pro adjustment layer efficiently.

Part 1: What is Adjustment Layer in Premiere Pro?

In Premiere Pro, you can save time efficiently by editing each layer individually. To do so, you can find the feature of the adjustment layer in Premiere Pro that enables you to apply the same effect to multiple clips instantly. This will eventually save you time and manual effort. However, you must ensure that the adjustment layer has been placed on top of the layers stack section.

In an adjustment layer in Premiere Pro, you can add multiple effects to create a captivating illustration in your video clips. Moreover, you can also create multiple adjustment layers in Premiere Pro to handle and apply the effects in your clips proficiently. Also, you can easily move, remove, or cut the Premiere Pro adjustment layer anytime within a few clicks.

Furthermore, you can also remove the adjustment layer from your timeline easily without modifying the composition settings of your video. If you get a basic understanding of creating and managing the adjustment layer in Premiere Pro, you can efficiently enhance the visual appeal of your videos. To learn more about the Premiere Pro adjustment layer, continue reading.

Part 2: How to Add an Adjustment Layer in Premiere Pro?

In this section, we will briefly address how to add an adjustment layer in Premiere Pro in a simpler manner.

Step1 Once you have uploaded your project in Premiere Pro, go to the “File” tab and select the “New” option. Afterward, tap on “Adjustment Layer.”

Step2 You can also go to the bottom of your project’s panel and tap on the “New Item” icon. After clicking on this icon, you can click on the “Adjustment layer” option. Afterward, you can modify the video settings to change the settings of the adjustment layer. Once done, hit the “OK” button.

Step3 Once the adjustment layer has been created, you can drag and drop it into the timeline. To change its name, you can right-click on it.

Part 3: Three Ways to Use Adjustment Layer in Premiere Pro

Do you want to use the Premiere Pro adjustment layer significantly? In this section, we will highlight three ways through which you can use the adjustment layer in Premiere Pro to edit your videos.

1. Color Grading

Color grading in Premiere Pro can help you to adjust the balance and tone of your video. You can use the color grading effects and tools to set the exposure, brightness, saturation, and light according to your preference. It will also let you redefine the colors in your video efficiently. To use the adjustment layer for color grading, you can read the below instructions:

Step1 After uploading the video clip in Premiere Pro, create a new adjustment layer in the timeline. Drag and adjust it according to the duration of your video clip. Once done, go to the “Effects” tab and search for “FilmConvert Nitrate.”

Step2 Apply this effect to the adjustment layer and choose your camera to match the color profile. Afterward, you can adjust the saturation, exposure filmstock, and curves according to your choice. You can also increase the vibrancy and hue saturation curves for more enhancement. You can also navigate to the basic correction section to modify the contrast value accordingly.

2. Transition

To merge multiple video clips smoothly and efficiently, transitional effects can assist you. By adding a suitable transition effect, you can make your whole video look clean and cinematic. Moreover, you can use adjustment layers in Premiere Pro to add transition effects to your effect professionally. To do the transition effect, you can proceed to the following instructions:

Step1 First, drag and drop your video clips into the timeline. Once done, create the adjustment layer and apply it above the layers of video clips. Once done, search the “Offset” effect and apply it to the adjustment layer.

Step2 Now add the keyframe to the position where you want to start and end the transition effect. Afterward, right-click on the first keyframe and select “Temporal Interpolation.” From there, choose “Ease Out.” Repeat the same process with the last keyframe. Once done, add the “Directional blur” effect to the adjustment layer for a smoother look.

3. Mask

By using masks in Premiere Pro, you can efficiently blur, highlight, or add an effect to a specific area of your video clip. With this tool, you can draw different mask shapes, such as ellipses, rectangles, etc. Thus, it’s a great way to edit any particular part of the video clip effortlessly. Here are the simple steps to add masks to the video clips using the adjustment layer:

Step1 Add the adjustment layer to the timeline and head to the “Effects” library to locate the “Crop” effect. Add this effect to the adjustment layer and then head to the Effects control.

Step2 Now enhance the top and bottom properties to 15%. You can also adjust the headspace of the person accordingly. Also, you can animate the black bars to produce a more cinematic look in your video.

Part 4: FAQ about Adjustment Layers in Premiere Pro

If you have some questions or concerns about using the adjustment layer in Premiere Pro, we have discussed the commonly asked question below.

Why is the adjustment layer greyed out in my Premiere Pro?

To fix grayed adjustment layer in Premiere Pro, there are two methods that you can follow:

Method 1: At the bottom of your project panel, click on the “New Item” icon and select “Adjustment Layer.” Once done, adjust the settings and press the “OK” button. Now you can drag and drop the adjustment layer in the timeline.

Method 2: Click on your “Project Panel” and then navigate to the “File” tab. From there, select “New” and then click on “Adjustment Layer.” Once done, you can drag and drop the adjustment layer at the timeline.

Conclusion

Premiere Pro is a famous video editing software that lets you enhance your videos proficiently. In this tool, using adjustment layers can help you in making your editing process quicker and easier. That’s why, in this article, we have focused on how to add an adjustment layer in Premiere Pro. Moreover, we have also shed light on how to use the adjustment layer precisely with various effects to enhance your videos.

Magic Effects Video Making [How To]

Magic inspires and fascinates everyone. Editors often rely on it to create suspense and attraction in their films. With an all-in-one video editor, Filmora, you can get creative and use ample stupefying effects to amuse your viewers. Before delving into the details of step-by-step guides of some magic effects, let’s examine these effects.

Part 1. What Are Magic Effects?

In terms of video editing, visual effects which imply the presence of supernatural forces (the ones having power over natural forces) are called magic effects. They could belong to any of the effects of charm, i.e., sudden appearance, vanishing, transposition, transformation, etc. For example, in Harry Potter’s classic scene, everyone waves a lit magic wand. To make this kinetic effect ourselves at home, read on.

Part 2. How to Create a Magic Effect with Filmora

An easy-to-use and all-in-one video editing software is necessary to realize this magic fully. Here, we use Wondershare Filmora . It can personalize anything in detail. You can also use footage from its stock media with unlimited options. By using this platform for editing, you can reduce your lengthy hours.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

There are many different ways you can do spellbound editing on Filmora. To learn the complete step-by-step instructions, continue scrolling.

Step1 Download and Install Wondershare Filmora

Launch the most recent version of the software on your computer to produce an outstanding film. To do this, take the following actions:

• You must first download Wondershare Filmora and open it on your PC or Mac.

Step2 Import Your Photos and Videos

When you open Wondershare Filmora, you will notice the main import window in the top left corner.

• Click in the center of the import window upon the import icon.
• After clicking, Wondershare Filmora will automatically direct you to your PC library.
• Browse to where your target Clips or Images are stored.
• Select all the objects you want to import.
• Click on Open, and you will have imported files.

Step3 Add Your Photos and Videos to the Timeline

Your next step will be to add the imported videos and images to the timeline. When you have many videos and photos imported into the timeline, you can add them simultaneously.

Or you can also add them one by one wherever you need. To add an item to your timeline, follow the steps mentioned.

• Right-click on the photo or video you want to add to the timeline.
• Keep holding the right-click and drag it down to the timeline.

Step4 Adding the Magic Imitating Effect

After these initial setups, you must add the effects from filmstock to our clips. These are pre-made presets of different clipart and graphics, executing unique movements and effects. For their introduction in the video, read along with the following procedure:

• After dragging and dropping the clip onto the first track on the timeline, go to the stickers tab on the top left ribbon, click it, and scroll down to the filmstock dropdown.

• From there, open the Bling Bling Effect Pack and choose the bling light effect of your liking. Then, drag and drop that effect onto the second video track on the timeline.

• Adjust the element’s scale according to your required size from the editing menu after double-clicking the element.

• Move the playhead to locate the brightest moment of the element. Now, right-click and select Add Freeze Frame. It will freeze the element at that exact frame

• Find the spot on the base clip’s timeline where the corresponding LED used while shooting turns on. Then, bring the element to the second track and adjust its position.

Note: ensure the element’s freeze frame starts when the anticipated magic wand light is glowing.

• Adjust the duration to match the end of the two clips on the timeline.

Step5 Adding Keyframe Movement to the Element

It is time to add some keyframes. Once you have successfully added the effect element onto your editing workspace, you have to make it do the magic. Attaching the magic effect bling to the base (background) video is like painting your canvas for the magic to occur. It is a crucial step for bringing out those Harry Potter-like magical feats. Continue scrolling for step-by-step instructions.

• Double-click the effect element and open the Editing Menu.

• In the basic tab, as visible above, Check the key-shaped button in front of the Transform button. It will create a Keyframe in the default form of your motion element. Then adjust the element’s position at the wand’s tip on the preview window.

Step6 Detailing the Effect Through Keyframing

This part of the procedure is iterative. You will see how keyframing can open several doors of creative freedom in front of you and how many motion effects are possible through it.

• Move the playhead further right and stop where the element is not on top of the magic wand’s tip. Then, add another keyframe following the same procedure and adjust the element’s position onto the wand’s tip.

Repeat the above step for as long as the wand is in motion in the clip. Feel free to spend more time on this step. The more keyframes you add, the more seamless your stunt will look.

Finally, it is time to look at the results. Witness how you have curated a magical masterpiece.

Conclusion

Magic amazes us all, and experiencing it while being creative with your projects makes it even more exciting. Filmora provides multiple tips and tricks to build the supernatural realm onto your screens. Whatever you wish to bring to the screen from the unrealistic realm, Wondershare Filmora is your genie friend. Here’s to every Filmora enthusiast casting spells onto their screens. We are eager to witness the tricks and wonders you have up your sleeves. Happy creating!

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

There are many different ways you can do spellbound editing on Filmora. To learn the complete step-by-step instructions, continue scrolling.

Step1 Download and Install Wondershare Filmora

Launch the most recent version of the software on your computer to produce an outstanding film. To do this, take the following actions:

• You must first download Wondershare Filmora and open it on your PC or Mac.

Step2 Import Your Photos and Videos

When you open Wondershare Filmora, you will notice the main import window in the top left corner.

• Click in the center of the import window upon the import icon.
• After clicking, Wondershare Filmora will automatically direct you to your PC library.
• Browse to where your target Clips or Images are stored.
• Select all the objects you want to import.
• Click on Open, and you will have imported files.

Step3 Add Your Photos and Videos to the Timeline

Your next step will be to add the imported videos and images to the timeline. When you have many videos and photos imported into the timeline, you can add them simultaneously.

Or you can also add them one by one wherever you need. To add an item to your timeline, follow the steps mentioned.

• Right-click on the photo or video you want to add to the timeline.
• Keep holding the right-click and drag it down to the timeline.

Step4 Adding the Magic Imitating Effect

After these initial setups, you must add the effects from filmstock to our clips. These are pre-made presets of different clipart and graphics, executing unique movements and effects. For their introduction in the video, read along with the following procedure:

• After dragging and dropping the clip onto the first track on the timeline, go to the stickers tab on the top left ribbon, click it, and scroll down to the filmstock dropdown.

• From there, open the Bling Bling Effect Pack and choose the bling light effect of your liking. Then, drag and drop that effect onto the second video track on the timeline.

• Adjust the element’s scale according to your required size from the editing menu after double-clicking the element.

• Move the playhead to locate the brightest moment of the element. Now, right-click and select Add Freeze Frame. It will freeze the element at that exact frame

• Find the spot on the base clip’s timeline where the corresponding LED used while shooting turns on. Then, bring the element to the second track and adjust its position.

Note: ensure the element’s freeze frame starts when the anticipated magic wand light is glowing.

• Adjust the duration to match the end of the two clips on the timeline.

Step5 Adding Keyframe Movement to the Element

It is time to add some keyframes. Once you have successfully added the effect element onto your editing workspace, you have to make it do the magic. Attaching the magic effect bling to the base (background) video is like painting your canvas for the magic to occur. It is a crucial step for bringing out those Harry Potter-like magical feats. Continue scrolling for step-by-step instructions.

• Double-click the effect element and open the Editing Menu.

• In the basic tab, as visible above, Check the key-shaped button in front of the Transform button. It will create a Keyframe in the default form of your motion element. Then adjust the element’s position at the wand’s tip on the preview window.

Step6 Detailing the Effect Through Keyframing

This part of the procedure is iterative. You will see how keyframing can open several doors of creative freedom in front of you and how many motion effects are possible through it.

• Move the playhead further right and stop where the element is not on top of the magic wand’s tip. Then, add another keyframe following the same procedure and adjust the element’s position onto the wand’s tip.

Repeat the above step for as long as the wand is in motion in the clip. Feel free to spend more time on this step. The more keyframes you add, the more seamless your stunt will look.

Finally, it is time to look at the results. Witness how you have curated a magical masterpiece.

Conclusion

Magic amazes us all, and experiencing it while being creative with your projects makes it even more exciting. Filmora provides multiple tips and tricks to build the supernatural realm onto your screens. Whatever you wish to bring to the screen from the unrealistic realm, Wondershare Filmora is your genie friend. Here’s to every Filmora enthusiast casting spells onto their screens. We are eager to witness the tricks and wonders you have up your sleeves. Happy creating!

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