Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
chapter 15
Applying the Finishing
Touches
Color correction and
adding titles and credits are usually the last phase in the post-production process. Color
correction or grading can have a huge impact on your completed movie, and there are many reasons why you
would choose to color-correct your footage. It may be to correct exposure or color balance errors, to match each
shot within a scene to achieve a consistent look, or to create a specific mood and atmosphere for the film. You do
this by manipulating the brightness, contrast, color, and saturation of each shot in the Timeline. Final Cut Pro has
an assortment of color correction tools that can help you achieve this.
Color correction is a vast subject, which we can't possibly do justice in a single chapter, but we hope to provide
some basic tools and techniques for you to build on and encourage you to explore this subject further.
Color Correction and Grading
All the colors in the video spectrum are made up of red, green, and blue, with pure white made up of all three of
these colors in equal amounts. If you reduce each of these three color channels equally by half, you'll produce
gray. Reducing the red, green, and blue channels to zero produces black. Unless you're aiming for a stylized look
for a film, you're normally seeking a realistic representation of the colors on screen. For instance, to avoid any
color-cast issues, the brightest parts of an image should be balanced to pure white without any trace of color, and
the darkest parts of an image should be balanced to pure black without any trace of color.
Color manipulation can be achieved manually by making adjustments in Final Cut Pro's Color Board. Before we
visit the Color Board, let's look at some of the other, simpler ways that Final Cut Pro allows us to play with color.
In the Effects Browser, under the Looks and Basics categories, you can find a selection of color filters, which you
can use to affect the color of your shots. These filters are applied in the same way as other effects in the Effects
Browser (see Chapter 14). Many of the filters found here, such as the Bleach Bypass or 50s TV filters, give your
shots a highly stylized look, while others, such as the Broadcast Safe filter have more practical uses. The Broad-
cast Safe filter helps keep your video's white levels from exceeding 100, which is an important requirement when
distributing your movie to television or on DVD. To apply the Broadcast Safe filter, place your entire movie in-
side a Compound clip and drag the Broadcast Safe filter onto the Compound clip.
Final Cut Pro offers other automatic color correction solutions, which can provide a quick fix to a minor color
balance issue or quickly match the look of one shot to another. These solutions may be all you need to resolve an
issue and save you time from having to make corrections manually.
