How can I achieve this editing technique?

[Reggie Moser]

I'm interested in doing colorful flashes just like in this video.....I edit with Final Cut Pro 6.....Is there a specific workflow or is this technique done in aftereffects or something similar? Or is it a plugin?

McAfee - Investor's Day Anthem (Canon 7D) on Vimeo

[Steve Nelson]

I believe he describes how he did it in the comments listed below the video. Someone else had a similar question. That being said, you could do it in After Effects as well. Studying Andrew Kramer and a few other sources helped me get my head around AE to the point where I now try to dissect things I see on TV or in the movies to figure out how I might approach the effect. But you need to get familiar with all the tools before that starts to happen. I am not a guru on AE by any means but I have a much better understanding of the product than I did a year ago thanks to Andrew and others.

So, start by thinking through what is going on with the effect. You see flashes, where do they start and end and how do they transform in shape, color, contrast, luminosity etc? Do they interact with other layers or act independent of them? Creating a light source in AE is pretty simple but it's all these other aspects that you have to look at to determine what to shoot for. I know that wasn't probably what you were looking for but it's the thought process one might typically use to reverse engineer something like this. If you're new to AE you'll probably need to get more familiar with the tools before you can figure out which ones to grab for to build these. From what I see, most of those flashes start with a light source just outside of the frame and many of them look like simple lense flares of various colors probably keyed to an artificial light source. The flashing effect can come from keyframing the opacity of the light layer. That's where I would start anyway....

[Cole McDonald]

They look to me like a additive fade between the original shot, a third piece of footage like a film stock end or something pushed with CC to the colors you want, then to the outgoing shot. You can also probably achieve this by butting your in and out going footage on track 1, then putting the second clip on track 2, set the composite mode to something that looks like the middle transition frame, then ramp the opacity from 0 to where you want it to top out (perhaps 100), then down again using the "Rubber Bands".

[David Barnett]

I think it's a lens blur effect. I recall seeing it in a tutorial, but not sure exactly how it's done. I think it was very easy though. Maybe create a mask layer, but I think it was simpler than that. Just an effect you drag over into the timeline in AE. If I come across it, I'll post it.

EDIT: Found it. Or at least what I was thinking of. In After Effects goto Effect > Generate > Lens Flare. You can then grab it & drag it to wherever on the screen you'd like. You'll likely want to make keyframes and adjust the Brightness in order to increase or decrease the size. (Small, Big, Small).


Probably need to create & put these onto an Adjustment Layer but overall looks fairly simple. I think this should give you the look your going for.

[Steve Kalle]

It totally looks like Red Giant's 'Shine' plugin which can be used within FCP. All the light effects look like the ones did in a Red Giant/FCP class I am taking at fxphd.

[Reggie Moser]

Thanks guys for the input....I will be certainly looking into to achieving this effect..Thanks again

[Sigmund Reboquio]

artbeats stock footages

this is stock footage on top of a video, change opacity (lower)
and you're good to go.

However, you have to buy these stock footages.
If you dont want to buy, then AE advise earlier is the way to do it