Free Clips

Here are some low res versions of the Vol.1 clips available as a free download. They are being made available under a Creative Commons licence and as such are free to use in non commercial projects. To kick this off, here are what may be the most useful set of clips to most people. The flash frames and film flare. For a tutorial on how to get started with these, you can read below or for a more in depth version please visit my tutorial page at Exposureroom

Film Flare Samples

These files are compressed Quicktimes, that should be editable after download. They are free to use and are ideal as transitions. You can preview the demos and free clips in the player above or right click the links below to download the Quicktime versions. You will need Quicktime 7.XX to open these. If you can’t edit these in your NLE or compositing software, I suggest using MPEG Streamclip to convert to your codec of choice. Rite 2 and Rite4 are two PAL DV mattes, one is for scrubbing on text. The other can be used as a wipe.

Download the files:

Red Flare

Orange Flare

16mm Flicker

B&W Flicker

Film Flare Transitions Tutorial

Here is a technique for adding the effect of a film camera stopping and starting and the resultant flash frames or flare that sometimes occur. While years ago this was something that was mostly edited out, with the more recent search for the elusive film look, a lot of people have been adding this effect back in. I haven’t seen any tutorials on how to achieve this, even though I hear a lot of people asking how it is done. So if you aren’t happy with using normal flash frame dissolves then read on.

Firstly you will need a clip of film flare that will last anything from a few frames, to a second or two. You can get these for free from my site chillfactorfilms.com/scratchtapes ( plug, plug ), the internet archive at archive.org or buy one of the Artbeats or similar discs.

If you happen to have a 16mm or Super8 projector with some old reels laying around, it might be worth having a scan through these to see what you can find on them, which can be a lot of fun, but becomes a lot more work.

I’ve written the steps below for anybody who has a basic understanding of FCP, Motion, After Effects etc.

1. Add a clip to the timeline, making sure the clips out point is not at the last frame of the clip.

2. Add a second clip to the timeline, following the first, this time setting an in point which is not the first frame of the clip.

3. Add your film flare clip to the timeline, immediately above the edit point, so that the film flare clip is centered over the edit point of the two clips below ( again you may want to experiment with this ).
Now set the clips Composite mode to something like Screen or Overlay ( you may want to experiment with this, the clip in this example uses Overlay ).

4. Render the area, if need be. to see how it looks. If the flare effect is too over the top or jumping in and out too much, try shortening it, say to something like 7 to 10 frames and then adjusting it’s opacity at it’s in and out points ( fade it in and out ).

5. If you want the the edit to be soft, then add a very short cross dissolve between the 2 lower clips.

Another touch you can add to this technique is to ramp up the speed of the out going clip, just over the last couple of frames. Even just splitting the last few frames of the clip and doubling it’s speed can give quite a realistic effect.
It’s all about experimenting and seeing what works best for any given scenario.

Good luck.