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Order of Filters on a Clip
This may be a really silly question but I was wondering if the order of filters I apply to a clip truly mattered.
For example: If I do color corrections and apply a smooth tone then move on to a chroma key and levels but go back and add sharpen or smooth cam. Then I look again at my clip and want to add another color correction and then drop broadcast safe or something on it….whew…when dealing with multiple filters should I follow a guideline? I noticed when changing the order of filters sometimes my clip changed for the better…sometimes for the worst.
Any help satisfying my curiosity (and perhaps saving multiple projects from my unskilled Final Cut hands) would be greatly appreciated
Thank you,
Heather -
7 Replies
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Yes the order does matter. FCP renders from the top down in the filter order. So what you want rendered last goes on the bottom.
With color correction I want my CC filter, Broadcast Safe, then Levels in that exact order so Levels renders last.
When applying blurs and other effects, you’ll see that the order of the effects changes what you see.
Do a color correction and then apply a blur to the scene. Now reverse the order of the filters. Does the look of the clip change? You can play with a lot of filters and you’ll see by simply changing the order of them, you change the look, especially when it comes to blurs.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media -
That makes it clearer. But to just get this straight in my head, let me use this one clip I am working on as a further example/question.
I have 6 filters on it. They should order CC, Smooth Tone, Sharpen, Broadcast safe, Levels and finally the chroma? Or CC, BS, Levels,smooth tone, sharpen then chroma?
Do I usually keep the CC, BS and levels together unless there is something like brightness that would affect the color? And do chroma keys list at the bottom or top of a filter list?
So appreciate the helpful advice.
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Levels should always be last.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media -
I have read several post on here today. Should have done that first instead of posting a new thread. Sorry about that. I also watched a couple non creative cow tutorials on filter order. My question now (since I have seen and read two different opinions in the last hour) is how does final cut read the filters? Is it going to be reading up…so it would read the levels filter first?
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[Heather Gulledge] “Is it going to be reading up…so it would read the levels filter first?”
Walter was right. It is top down. Personally if I was using chroma sharpen, it would be before CC.
It is easy to drag and swap position so you can see the cumulative effect. That will also reconfirm the top down reading characteristic.
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[Michael Gissing] “Personally if I was using chroma sharpen, it would be before CC.”
I agree with Michael.
There are some effects designed to improve or fix the raw footage footage before processing.
That happens with de-noisers or chroma filters (for down-sampled footage).
rafael -
Thank all of you so much for your help. You are all so kind to take pity on a Final Cut beginner. Makes perfect sense now and playing with the clips more helps me understand too. Until my next crisis….
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