Five Essential Effects in Premiere Pro CC for Advanced Users

There are loads of handy features inside Premiere Pro CC that could be extremely helpful on certain occasions as long as you’re aware of their existence. Specifically, if you look inside of the Effects panel of the NLE, you will find rows upon rows of different audio and video effects hidden in each subfolder.

While as a video editor you’re not required to understand what each effect in the panel actually does, it’s good to learn a few of the essentials for those moments in post-production where you’re either looking to spice up a plain graphics or just needs to find an easier, more efficient way to get something done. Jordy Vandeput of Cinecom.net covers five essential effects inside Premiere Pro that every advanced user should know.

The first effect mentioned in the video is the Unsharp Mask.  Whether or not you’re referring to in-camera or in post-production, a traditional sharpening effect works by adding sharpness to the entire image. Hence why, the use of a traditional sharpen effect is not recommended since the filter also sharpens areas that are not supposed to be in focus, causing unwanted digital noise to appear.

Unlike most of these filters, the Unsharp Mask effect in Premiere Pro CC solves this issue by sharpening only items in the shot that are in focus. Not only that, the tool allows you to fine-tune the additional sharpening with three dedicated settings. The amount, for instance, changes the intensity of the extra sharpness whereas Radius adjusts the width of the added sharpness (best to keep this at a low value). Threshold, on the other hand, controls which parts are affected by the Unsharp Mask effect.

If you’re looking to add some flare to your text or other motion graphics, an interesting effect you might want to consider the Roughen Edges effect. In essence, it allows you to add some style to the edge of your object. There are a lot of parameters you can adjust within the filter to get the look you’re going after.

An example is using the Roughen edge type, which can give your graphics a softer, cloud-esque edge look. Meanwhile, the Rusty Color edge type digs into the graphics/text, perfect if you’re going for a grungy, rusty aesthetics.

Now let’s say you have a clip of a single person in the shot. If you want to give their skin a glowing, soft look, there’s an easy way to do so by using one of the Premiere’s built-in effects. First, add the Compound Blur filter to the clip. This is essentially the opposite of using the Unsharp Mask as it blurs any part of the frame with low contrast. Set the Maximum Blur value to around 12 (although you can adjust later if need be).

Afterward, duplicate the clip and place the latter on top of the original. Delete the Compound Blur effect from the top duplicate layer and under the Opacity settings, change the blending mode to Multiply. This step should bring back some of the sharpness and detail that was lost when you initially applied the Compound Blur to your video.

A fun effect that could potentially come in handy is the Magnify filter. When applied to a clip, you can choose a point in the frame and adjust the size of the affected area. You could use this for comical purposes such as enlarging one’s head or eyes.

Alternatively, you could use the effect as a quick way to magnify an object subtly to create emphasis. It’s worth noting that if you tend to use this effect on a moving subject, you will have to manually animate the position of the modified area so that it can follow your subject.

Lastly, if you want to add a nice transition to your text or other motion graphics, consider using the Linear Wipe. The effect crops into the clip you’ve selected so that the text or graphics reveals itself behind an object of your choice. You can use this in conjunction with a custom shape layer to create some interesting reveal effects with text.

What are your favorite Premiere Pro CC built-in filters and effects? Let us know in the comments below.

[source: Cinecom.net]

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