Different ways to make a clip look like a memory?

Ferret Lady

Ferret Lady

Well-known member
Hey. I was just hoping you guys could share some different effects used to make a clip look like a memory.

i have some really beautiful footage from a music video in which some parts are supposed to be like, a guy thinking about the past when he was happy with his girlfriend, walking on the beach kissing, etc. i was gonna just make those 'memory' clips black and white, but it really pains me to do so with such beautiful footage!

what other ways are there to show this is the past / a memory? blurry or something right? any time i google 'how to get that memory look in final cut pro' i get a bunch of documents about RAM.. .hahahha..

would like to hear your different styles... again, i have fcp, and motion... thanks!
 
Which version of FCP are you on? I'd think some light diffusion would do the trick, maybe a vignette like mentioned, or if you want to take it further, the effect "light rays" (FCP 6) could be toned down to really make it stylized.
 
great suggestions, just what i was looking for!!! ryan, i have fcp 6.. light rays toned down is totally cool!!! i'm trying to decide between that and the vignette right now, but either one definitely beats the b&w!

sweet.
 
Yeah I think there's a lot of different ways to go with it. You could do what they sometimes do on CSI. Add a vignette, desaturate(but not completely to black and white- more a removal of say 50% of the color) tint to a blue or similar tone, increase contrast/decrease brightness and maybe add some grain.

Noah
 
cool i'm gonna try that right now noah. i think i know which effect you are talking about, could be awesome!

quick question, maybe you guys can help with this.. actually i'm sure you can. i have a widescreen matte on all my clips. when i add these effects like the vignette, it's affecting the matte and i don't want that. so to avoid this, i'm opening a new sequence, adding the vignette to the clip i want, exporting the clip as a quicktime mov, then re-importing that mov file to my original timeline and adding the widescreen matte there.

please tell me there is an easier way!!!!!!
 
Sure- what you do is edit the sequence normally without the matte. Then make a new sequence, drag the original sequence into it- this is called nesting. Then drop the widescreen matte onto that nested sequence. It will be applied properly and consistently to all clips. To adjust the filters for the whole clip, alt-double click on the nested sequence.

Noah
 
oh really? hm. i guess that's what i'll do. i just really like seeing what it looks like with the widescreen matte AS i'm editing.. but basically you're saying i need to edit everything first and add the matte last, to the sequence as a whole.

well i guess i should probably start doing things the right way at SOME point so may as well be now.. heh. thanks Noah!! (i always wondered what nesting was but never got curious enough to look into it)
 
When you have the original sequence dropped in its entirety into a new sequence just drag the widescreen filter onto that. It should appear all as one clip.

Noah
 
Noah knows. And Id use his suggestion for creating the dream like sections. Be really careful when you apply filters in FCP, often they dont look so good when overdone.
 
i think i'm gonna use the vignette with a slight drop in saturation.. i tried the blue tint and high contract/lowered brightness etc but it was a bit much for the situation. i'm defintely trying to keep it toned down.. but it really looks fantastic!!!! such a big improvement over how i had it before... i'd love to hear more tips on cool effects to use in music videos!

question. is it ok to have a sequence that's a mixture of regular clips and nested clips? see most of my sequence already has the widescreen matte on it cuz i was doing it one clip at a time before..so now i'm just take out a few clips here and there, apply the vignette etc., nesting, copying and pasting back into my original sequence.. that's cool right??

thanks!
 
It might end up inconsistent looking. You ultimately want a nested sequence with a single widescreen filter applied. That said, it will probably work out as the sequence filter will cover over any widescreen filters applied to individual clips.

Noah
 
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