Experimentation on Final Cut

My initial knowledge before hand, of the software is fairly limited so by doing this

experimentation I was able to learn new technical elements, which can hopefully benefit me

in the future.

Colour Grading -

I thought I should experiment using the software of Final Cut Pro. For our sequence in

particular the colour tones and lighting played a huge part in setting the mood for the rest

of the film. My initial knowledge of the software is fairly limited so by doing this

experimentation I was able to learn something new and technical which can hopefully

benefit me in the future.

Colour:

Surprisingly alternating the colours was very simply done! The software had four possible

choices: global, which would turn the entirety of the photo any colour you desired. Shadows,

changed the colours of the dark shade within the photograph, mid tones gave the photo a

subtle alteration and finally highlights changed the colours for the brighter parts of the

photo. Below are some of the outcomes, which came with experimenting with each section.

Saturation:

The next feature I explored was Saturation this allowed me to either heighten the colour or

in contrast, weaken the colour. The software enabled me to experiment with it, so easily and

I was able to create three different moods from just one setting. If I choose to apply this to

my film, we will want to heighten the colours slightly to exaggerate the use of mise en

scene and genre. When combining that element with the alteration of colours as well: we

hope to illustrate something, which is going to capture the simplicity of it.

Exposure:The final aspect was Exposure, this also came me the choice of global, shadows, midtones and highlights similarly to the colour adjustment. I played around with moving each one to create different effects, which was really interesting. Visually they created two contrasts,

one being a washed out colour and the alternative was this beautiful deep darkness, which created a warmer effect to the picture. If I do choose to alter this when it comes to the

editing process, we defiantly will choose weakening the exposure as it sets a dark tone and eerie feeling.

Splitting the Screen-

I went back to YouTube to where there were a range of tutorials with a step-to-step guide on how to create this technique! However, we never used this element in our Final Cut as

we found them unnecessary and it would alter with the simplicity of the film.

Key Framing-

Using this software, I played around with adding this technique called ‘Key Frames‘ where by you can alter the position, rotation, scale and anchor of your video clip over time. Looking back now, this was probably the most beneficial technical element, which I learned. I found that I could apply it to anything on both After Effects and Final Cut and it really allowed me

to alter things to just how we wanted them to be.