iMovie Tutorial 6

Silent Film Look

iMovie Tutorial 6

Effect	Plugin
B&W, Filtered	Color Effects
Response Curve	Levels & Balances
Glow	Glows & Blurs
Dark Corners	Scratch & Dirt
Flicker	Scratch & Dirt

This tutorial shows how to make a clip look like a Charlie Chaplin era silent film. It uses multiple effects, applied one after another, to give the final look.

We assume that you have read Tutorial #3, and are familiar with the idea of building a look by applying multiple effects one after the other.

Steps

Step 0

Open an iMovie project containing at least one clip of video.

Step 1

Place the clip in the timeline.

The first step is to turn the clip into black and white. There are a number of effects which can do this. We choose one which allows for tweaking of the final black and white intensities. See the variations section for other options.

Step 2

Choose ss| B&W, Filtered in the Effects panel and adjust the sliders as desired.

Step 3

Click the Apply button and wait for the clip to render.

The next step is to increase the contrast of the clip, making the blacks darker and the whites brighter. See the variations section below for a selection of effects which can do this.

Step 4

Choose ss| Response Curve in the Effects panel and adjust the sliders as desired.

Step 5

Click the Apply button and wait for the clip to render.

Now we add a small amount of glow to the clip. We want the white areas of the image to glow a little bit, but keep the rest of the image as is.

Step 6

Choose ss| Glow in the Effects panel and adjust the sliders as desired. We want a slight glow around the bright areas of the image, but not too much.

Step 7

Click the Apply button and wait for the clip to render.

Old cameras often produced uneven exposure across the frame, especially leaving the corners of the image dark. The idea here is to darken the corners slightly, without making it too noticeable.

Step 8

Choose ss| Dark Corners in the Effects panel and adjust the sliders as desired.

Step 9

Click the Apply button and wait for the clip to render.

Finally, we add some flicker to the clip. Being hand-cranked, the cameras of the time produced slightly different exposures for each frame. This effect is very important in giving that "old time" look to clips.

Step 10

Choose ss| Flicker in the Effects panel and adjust the sliders as desired.

Step 11

Click the Apply button and wait for the clip to render.

Variations

FIn several of the steps above, there are a variety of effects which will accomplish the desired look. We encourage you to try them out and see what different looks they can produce.

To convert a color clip into black and white:

Effect	Plugin
Black & White	built in
B&W, Filtered	Color Effects
Monochrome	Color Effects

To adjust the contrast of a clip:

Effect	Plugin
Adjust Levels	Levels & Balances
Boost Highlights & Shadows	Color Effects
Brightness & Contrast	built in
Adjust Gamma	Levels & Balances
Response Curve	Levels & Balances
Response Curve, Extreme	Levels & Balances

To add a glow or glow-like effect to a clip:

Effect	Plugin
Black & White	built in
Glow	Glows & Blurs
Glow, Extreme	Glows & Blurs
Diffusion	Glows & Blurs

An important thing to keep in mind is that we are going for a certain artistic look. There is no such thing as the correct answer, so it is a good idea to become familiar with these effects and investigate how they can be combined to produce interesting visual styles.

For more tutorials and information about iMovie plugins, please visit www.stupendous-software.com