Visual Effects/Editing GuideLaurence Hisee, Ben Davis

What are Visual Effects?

Visual effects are components of film production and are generally used to enhance the quality of the item you are working on. They can range from filter effects or down to small adjustments like slowing down clips or speeding them up. All visual effects are created during post production, as the majority of them are actually artificial and are used to make things look better. The purpose of visual effects is to achieve things that are either very hard or impossible to film. For example, aliens attacking the earth is an impossible occurrence to film so we use visual effects to do it. An example of a software that is used for visual effects is Adobe After Effects.

What is Editing

Editing is used in the post production process of film making and is absolutely vital in making a successful film. Editing softwares allow the editor to move, cut, adjust and alter any clip that is put on the system, so when putting together a film, things come together much easier when you are able to move the clips and cut them down to the desired size. The main thing that editing focuses on is taking an original clip, which would involve the director speaking and the actors listening, and then cutting that out, so they have the bit that they need, rather than the bits that aren’t necessary.

The Basics of Final Cut

To the left is a broken down image of what the separate panels are in Final Cut Express. The Browser is where you will find all of your newly imported footage and clips, you can then double click on these to play them in the Viewer. The viewer is where you can watch specific clips. You can drag footage from the browser onto the Timeline and then you can slide them across to choose a time of entry and exit. When you click play on the Canvas it will play whatever is on the timeline, so this panel will be used to watch your actual edit.

1 Advanced Technique

Although this is a beginners guide it is never too early to learn at least one advanced technique. A technique I prefer to use in almost all of my films is the Letterbox Effect, an effect used by all film makers, to make the film more professional. So here is a step by step guide of how to do it on Final Cut Express.

Open your Project. Focus on the Browser Panel

Click on the Effects Tab Click on the video filters tab

Click on the Border tab

Drag the Basic border selection onto your desired clip – Letterboxwill be added